The Carefree Gourmet
by Joyce McCombs - October 29
Glen and Meat
Several columns ago we spoke with local butcher, Glen Cotton, who
gave some wonderful professional advice on how to care for kitchen
knives. During that interview, he offered to speak with me another
time about cuts of meat both from his point of view as a butcher
and as a guy who just loves to tuck into a good steak.
It was one of those offers I couldn’t refuse, and an interview I
really looked forward to. One day last week we had a great chat in
the Deli at IGA and Glen shared some advice on America’s favorite
main dish.
I wasn’t sure where to start – the subject of meat covers a lot of
territory, so I tossed the opening line over to Glen and he
immediately summed up the meat question in one word: “Confusion”.
Glen said there continues to be so much confusion about meat, the
different cuts, how to get the best value for your money, and
especially one main issue: Do you buy lean cuts to save calories
and sacrifice taste, or the fattier cuts to enjoy better flavor
and forget your diet?
As you probably already know, the leaner cuts can easily turn dry
and tough if overcooked, and nobody likes chewing on something
that resembles shoe leather Glen advised that if you choose to go
lean, try cooking the meat rare or medium rare at the most and as
long as the internal temperature reads 165 on your meat
thermometer. Cuts like London Broil, Eye of Round and Top Round
work especially well in this category and slow cooking over lower
heat will give the best results.
Fattier cuts, like rib or T-bone steaks, should be well marbled
throughout the piece, with a rim of fat around the edges to
prevent drying. Glen’s personal favorite is a one and a half inch
thick T-bone with a good half-inch of fat around the outside, and
he gleefully admitted he’s a true carnivore when it comes to
steak.
He did cringe a bit when I asked what people do to ruin a good
steak, and he said removing every trace of fat will just about
guarantee a dry, tough piece of meat. Salting before cooking is
also not recommended and when I mentioned catsup, he had just one
word: “EGAD ” and a look of pain and agony crossed his face. He
likes a little salt and pepper to bring out the flavor of the
meat, maybe a touch of Worcestershire once in a while for a
change. He only uses marinades on cheaper, less tender cuts, like
ribs for the barbecue.
We moved on to different cuts of meat, starting with Prime Rib, a
perennial favorite at McCombs holiday tables for years. Glen’s
favorite Prime Rib Rub is simple – lots of minced garlic mixed
with fresh cracked pepper, (notice, no salt ) and patted all over
the outside of the meat. Slow, even roasting keeps things moist
until the internal temperature reaches that magic 165 degrees, and
be sure to let the roast sit a good ten minutes for the juices to
re-absorb before you slice it. Glenn’s also partial to a
commercial product called Snyders Prime Rib Seasoning, because it
lets the good roasted flavor of the meat come through without an
overwhelming amount of spices. And here’s a butcher’s secret I
never knew – you can order a Prime Rib done in the “easy carve”
style. Your friendly butcher will slice the meat 90% away from the
bone, tie it back into shape and send it home with you to roast.
When it’s done, you simply cut the string and the slices fall
perfectly apart and all you have to do is slice between the spare
ribs to serve. To save cooking time, you can also order a boneless
Prime Rib, and it will cook in about half the time.
We moved on to pot roast, which I will make anytime, anywhere,
under any circumstances, for any occasion, I like it that much. I
thought I knew all there was to know about pot roast (add onions,
potatoes, carrots and put it in the crockpot with a bullion cube
and water over low heat for ten hours), but boy, did I get a big
education from Glen. He asked me if I knew the difference between
pot roast and roast beef, and at first I thought he was kidding
Aren’t they both the same thing? Glen said nope, and I got ready
to take some serious notes.
Pot roast, the joy of Yankees everywhere, is of course that lovely
stringy beef that comes from a shoulder roast, a chuck roast, or
cross rib roast, all originating from the front part of the cow.
It takes a slow, moist roast very well and falls tenderly apart as
soon as you remove it from its broth.
Roast Beef is another story entirely. It has a steak like texture
and will stand firmer when sliced and comes from cuts like round
sirloin tip, eye of round and London broil – all butchered from
the back part of the animal.
We were both getting a little hungry by now, talking about all
this good beef, so I told Glen that I always like to see how far I
can make a roast go, and asked if he ever did the same at home. We
agreed that the first night, you just enjoy that good roast and
all the trimmings. The second night is usually French Dips at our
house, and Philly Cheese steaks with Greek peppers at the
Cotton’s. Shredded beef with barbecue sauce comes up on both our
menus for another night, and using the beef drippings as the base
of a stew is another favorite. If by chance there’s any meat left
after that, roast beef hash with plenty of onions and diced
potatoes is the perfect grand finale.
I’d always wondered about the difference between short ribs and
the spare ribs and Glen said it’s just basic cow anatomy. There
aren’t too many short ribs on a cow and they are located high and
up front. They’re very fatty, but deliciously marbled and that’s
where those delicious Korean style thin sliced ribs come from.
Spare ribs are the actual ribs on the animal, they are usually
cheaper since they are more numerous and a bit tougher, so they
lend themselves to a good marinade before cooking.
We moved on to pork and Glen says the same rules apply for lean
cuts and fatty cuts, just like beef. He recommends those oven safe
plastic roasting bags to keep pork moist and to tenderize cuts
like pork loin. Of course, no rare or medium rare here – always
cook pork until no pink remains in the center.
Glen thinks that pork shoulder makes the best barbecue since it
strings up nicely and the texture remains firm for a good solid
bite in your pulled pork sandwich. Look for well-marbled, bone-in
shoulder cuts which are the most flavorful cuts of pork. I asked
how Glen liked his pork chops, since the McCombs men have been
known to practically weep with joy when they are on the menu and
his answer made me laugh. “I like pork chops on someone else’s
plate,” he said, his trademark eye twinkle going full blast. “I’m
a steak man. A carnivore. Except for bacon, and I’ll take all of
that I can get away with.”
Bacon reminded me that I wanted to ask Glen about wrapping meat
(and when will someone invent an easy open and store bacon
container?) and so we moved on to how to handle meat in the
freezer.
Now here I was really surprised. I was all ready to show off my
expertise on cutting and wrapping meat, having been one of the
assembly line crew processing venison and elk as a kid like I
mentioned to you in the last column. Glen started out by saying
that one of the best things you can do is get as much plastic wrap
in contact with the surface of the meat as possible. This makes an
excellent air barrier, and air is the enemy when it comes to
freezing meat. He also likes those vacuum pack machines that
remove all the air and then self seal the pouches. I was taking
bunches of notes and was all ready to talk butcher paper when Glen
paused and thoughtfully said that if he had a preference, he’d
rather wrap his meat in three layers of plastic than in butcher
paper. I was really surprised, since I thought that was how all
meat should be wrapped, but his point was well taken. Wrapping in
butcher paper is good if you need to label your meat, and it does
help keep the plastic from being punctured. But Glen prefers
double or triple wrapping the meat in plastic, and then tucking a
family size portion into a heavy-duty zip lock bag, before putting
it in the freezer. He admitted it’s a personal preference and kind
of radical for butcher to not like butcher paper, but he’s found
over the years this process works very well for him, and the meat
seems to keep just fine. I asked him how long he’d keep meat in
his refrigerator before he worried and he said at once “four days,
and then I’d toss it in the freezer.” Glen says there’s absolutely
nothing wrong with thawing or refreezing meat, as long as it’s
kept cool and sealed the entire time. He also said you could
probably keep a steak in your freezer for years and years, and as
long as it was sealed tightly against freezer burn, it would never
go bad, since freezing prevents aging just fine. (I wonder if that
works for wrinkles, too?)
The last thing I wanted to ask Glen was about “spare parts” – all
those bits and pieces of strange organ meats that we hear about
but rarely see in the butcher case, like tripe, heart, marrow,
tongue, and even headcheese. He said that Americans are so much
better off financially in these days that eating every bit of the
animal just isn’t seen as necessary anymore. The exception might
be tongue, since there are only two to three pounds per animal,
and it’s a matter of supply and demand. During the depression
years, every part of a cow or pig except for the moo and the oink
was considered edible. And in Europe, these spare parts have a
long tradition as a culinary delicacy. I asked Glen what became of
the spare parts these days in America, since we don’t see them in
the stores and he grinned and said, “Yes you do Where do you think
hot dogs come from?”
We were running out of time and there is one more bit of butcher
lore that Glen shared. The phrase “eating high on the hog” has a
history that actually makes sense. The cheaper parts, the feet,
hocks, belly and ribs are “low” on the hog, while the more
expensive hams, loins and chops are “high” on the critter and
eating them was a sign you were moving up in the world, at least
at the dinner table.
And finally, it’s not a conversation with Glen Cotton unless he
leaves you with a joke, and here it is. He asked me very kindly if
I knew what to call a cow with no legs. Of course, I was
mystified, and he laughed as he turned to go back to the butcher
counter and said, “Ground beef ” I wasn’t the only one in the Deli
groaning at that little gem.
My profound thanks to Glen Cotton for sharing his time and so much
interesting information with CG readers this week – I really
appreciate.
