"Phred" > wrote

> In article >, "Nancy Young"
> > wrote:

>>> I think it was the idea of making a beef stew with brisket that
>>> brought out the worst in me.
>>
>>I think that sounds good. Like a pot roast only cut up.
>
> Here, brisket is the corned beef of choice (of everyone except the fat
> avoidance freaks who buy that tasteless, dry, corned silverside).
> I've never considered brisket as a "fresh" beef cut.

Ah, then I can see why that would sound awful in stew. I love
corned beef, but I also love beef brisket, with is not corned.
It's a treat.

> I use topside or round steak for beef stews -- though have tried shin
> too, now that it's priced beyond dog food and my old standards are
> priced beyond reason.

I use chuck roast, mostly

> Also, ox tail makes a *great* stew, though not
> sure if you would classify that as "beef" or as "offal". [See second
> chart below, if you can afford the download.

Just curious, do you mean afford as in money?

> The first one is just
> the Oz "primal" cuts; the second shows some "derivatives" too.]

Interesting, though presented with a slaughtered side of
beef, I'd never manage to cut it up into anything you'd recognise
here. I also saw something called oyster, I remember once I'd
inquired here, what is this I saw at the store, oyster cut? Now
I know.

>>> I'll try to keep my sordid concoctions
>>> to myself in future. (Did I mention I always chuck in a handful of
>>> raisins too? Oops... Sorry.)
>>
>>Probably the chocolate covered kind,
>
> Chocolate covered raisins? Is there no limit to your excesses?
> Gawd, I won't even buy choc-chip muesli bars!

Raisinettes! You eat them at the movies! (laugh) No,
it's not health food, but I doubt raisins alone are all that
much in the health department, either.

>>along with some beets... Some people.
>
> Never tried to cook beets, with or without other stuff. In fact
> fresh beets have only "recently" become available around here.
> (Say in the past 20 years or so?)
> Some people seem to think they're very good. Not you?

Beets all my life meant canned beets. Not wild about them to
start with, then they get that annoying red juice all over the good
food.

Year or so ago, I thought I'd try fresh beets, maybe I'd like them.
I roasted them. They were so sweet they almost made me nauseated.
Queasy. I'll try it again sometime, maybe I wasn't feeling well to
start with. I'm really not that picky about vegetables as it might seem.

Turnips, no, bad experience being forced to eat them growing up.
Well, I don't have to eat them now. I fail to see the allure.

nancy