Cuts of meat?

[Kea]

Not one for the veggies here....

After almost three years in NZ I'm still trying to figure out which are the best cuts of meat to buy. Last month I accidentally bought a Beef Bolar roast. About an hour before I wanted to eat it I started looking up recipes and discovered it needs to be cooked for several hours. The next day I boiled it for few hours and it was lovely. I haven't found a good roasting cut of beef yet.

I used to buy shoulders of lamb to slow roast Jamie Oliver style but haven't managed to find that cut here. Yesterday I bought a lamb banjo which I'm going to try cooking the same way.

Anyone have any advice about which cuts you prefer? Preferably one's I don't need to take out a second mortgage to buy.

[newarrival]

For the lamb- have you tried the forequarter? That should be shoulder with some chops on it and I used it for slow- roasting recipes several times with very good results.

[Duncan74]

Have you tried asking a butcher? OH is a veggie, and so we normally eat veggie stuff, but when we have carnivourous guests then I get put on cooking duty. As you mention, the UK recipe books are a bit tricky as not all the ingredients are available, and the names of the cuts are different. I've had pretty good success talking to the butcher, admitting I'm out of my depth and letting the 'experts' advise.

[peebles16]

Ask a butcher our one in New World is very helpful and for cheaper option than lamb we buy hogget joint when slow roasted is lovely and tender

Cheers
karen

[lin]

Last month I accidentally bought a Beef Bolar roast. About an hour before I wanted to eat it I started looking up recipes and discovered it needs to be cooked for several hours. The next day I boiled it for few hours and it was lovely. I haven't found a good roasting cut of beef yet.

I did the same, bought a Bolar Roast thinking it would be like the 'continental cut' beef my Mum used to roast back home, so was very disappointed to find it wasn't. I cooked it in the slow cooker and it turned out quite nice though.

I use this website: http://www.beeflambnz.co.nz/index.pl..._methods&m=276 to see what it what when it comes to the different cuts here. (Actually I compare it to a similar Irish website when I'm trying to figure out which joints my mother used to cook!) If you click on the link to the 'brochure' it gives you cooking instructions suitable for the different cuts. (Note to self: must remember to print and file!)

[Kea]

Thanks for the replies. I slow roasted my lamb banjo and it turns out to be a shoulder joint (I think!).

If my two year old allows me I'll try asking the butcher next time I shop. Last time I did that he sold me something very expensive though!

[Falcon_XR6]

Why not just go with Beef Rib on the bone, that roasts very well and being on the bone it makes some rather nice gravy. You might have to ask the butcher to leave both bones in as they tend to remove the larger bone here and just leave the rib bone in place.... Hmmm, I feel rather hungry now after talking about roast beef and gravy... and it's only 7:30 in the morning !!

Cheers
G

[sophiedb]

My MiL gave me a book for Xmas one year, it's actually quite useful now that we're in NZ!

"A Manual for the NZ Kitchen" by Lynette Williams - A5 sized book, not very thick, red cover... seems to have been self-published.

It's a culinary dictionary really, with lots of blatantly obvious stuff (e.g. definition of "strawberry"), but very useful for uniquely Kiwi things like cheerios and strange meat cuts!

[juxtajenny]

I agree with previous post, Roast Rib of Beef is excellant, must admit we have found the red meat to be of an excellant quality here.

[Falcon_XR6]

I agree with previous post, Roast Rib of Beef is excellant, must admit we have found the red meat to be of an excellant quality here.

Agreed, the quality of beef here really is far superior to beef available in the UK, and it's way cheaper too, Bought a full fillet for Christmas dinner (only used 1/2 of it) and it cost $70... It would cost twice that in £'s in the UK. If you want any fat leaving on the meat here you have to ask for it as our Butcher in Waikanae cuts all the fat and bone out of any cut of meat before weighing it (UK was weigh first, get price, remove bone and other bits, throw bone and bits in a bin... so you end up paying the premium price of the meat for the bone, which you don't even get to keep, and it gets sold to dog owners or people wanting to make stock, so it gets charged for twice) Mini Rant in brackets... sorry about that !!!

Cheers
G