Local versus Chain

I thought looooong and hard where to put this. I put it here because, if it tastes better, has a better color and a better texture - it's GOT to be better for me - right!!?

Can I get a HELL YEAH!?

So, there is a running joke in my family that my hubby is just not a very good BBQer. He can fry the hell out of a turkey, he can cook the hell out of some chili, he can do some rocking smash-burgers (BLESS YOU Kenji Lopez!) on the grill, he can even boil some crawfish - but when it comes to slow cooking on the pit, just NO! Not chicken. Not steak. Not ribs or fish. None of it EVAH turns out good. I mean never, ever.

We have bought from Publix, Kroger, Ingles, Sprout, Fresh Market, Whole Foods. All absolute CRAP! With varying degrees of expense. Mostly over-paying. We have a Weber grill and wanted to put the blame there, but we read those kinds of forums too and follow the directions to no avail.

Until today.

TODAY we bought local, sourced in Georgia, where we live. IT WAS AMAZING! First off, there was the color. Me, my hubby and our teen all agreed we have never seen THAT color before. But, having been burned for many years, we were still skeptical and jaded. We bowed down to Kenji on how to cook it, because, well, he IS Kenji and he is always right. It was Food Lab being so damn right on everything else that made us question the meat itself. We had followed his instructions on previous attempts and it wasn't good. So we rolled the dice. We took a chance on our LOCAL butcher. It was a safe bet! It. Was. So. Damn. Good!

My question ATS is this - does anyone else have similar stories? What the hell are chain stores feeding us? I used to swear up and down by Publix but now...I'm dubious. Has there been any official analysis of the stuff they peddle in chain stores?

I'm pretty worried, TBH. We don't eat a bunch of red meat but we do eat chicken and fish and they both seem to come with caveats. I'm simply disgusted .

a reply to: kosmicjack

My question ATS is this - does anyone else have similar stories? What the hell are chain stores feeding us? I used to swear up and down by Publix but now...I'm dubious. Has there been any official analysis of the stuff they peddle in chain stores?

Typically we get our mean from a local store that uses a butcher a few towns over. Excellent meat and competitive prices. When we get the other "stuff" from the bigger stores it's hard to prepare it in a manner that pleases the palette.

I've no idea what they do to it but I have to imagine that there at the very least is something put in/on the meats to keep them fresher longer. It must rob it of some of the taste (if there ever was any) of the meat. To illustrate that point, when you cook fresh venison, you taste it. Every bit of the meat, you taste. Sparing the details of what each taste could be, that in contrast to difficult to prepare and eat big box meat!

We buy a half of a grass fed organic cow every year from a farmer. It hangs for between two and three weeks. We pop a steak out of the freezer and thaw it out and it tastes really great on the grill or on the fire pit. I like it cooked over maple the best.

I make chicken in the dutch oven with baby reds, organic carrots, and onions with a few cloves of garlic. a little butter is good too. It tastes pretty damn good that way in that big dutch oven with the coals on top. Twenty minutes before it's done we add the blobs of mixed bisquick on top and add some fresh coals to the top and they brown nice.

I know locally grown chicken is much better than the stuff in stores. But chicken has up to eight percent water added, actually they are clorinated with gas then they dump them into a sodium containing solution and it makes a weird salt out of the clorine gas. It does not need to be on the label because chemicals used in the process do not need to be listed if they are neutralized. That is something I read on the FDA site. Then they squish the chicken breaking it's back rib bones, which wind up into the stuffing we make, during the packaging process. Buy real chickens, they are more expensive but I noticed a real chicken has more taste and you get satisfied with a lot less.

a reply to: rickymouse

Ho. Lee. Crap.

a reply to: rickymouse

I've not yet had the pleasure of having a freshly harvested whole chicken. I do get whole chickens from the store from time to time however. Lots of meals out of that one bird.

a reply to: kosmicjack

This crap we shove down our gullets is definitely what's killing us. We finally have access to clean food and people are gobbling up cheez-it's.

I always tried to eat good when I was younger but it wasn't until I starting cooking in restaurants professionally that I really learned what a good quality product is. Supermarket chicken is usually disgusting. It's the wrong color. The fat is the wrong color. I refuse to eat it. The pork in supermarkets is flavorless. And the lamb is just a waste of cash.

I'm lucky enough to live in NYC where I have access to some amazing products. I really recommend D'artgnan for online ordering.

Amazing quality products

And side note...... is kosmicJack the name any reference to jack Flanders?

a reply to: TheAlleghenyGentleman

As fate would have it, this past week I have been looking about, trying to find deals on quality meat. As a reference, the burger in the link you provided is $12/lb . If that is amazing quality, do you happen to have a line on just "good" quality?

a reply to: JinMI

I have never had the burger. But I have had the wild boar roast, the goose, selected charcutie, duck, rabbit, wagyu beef, bacon, lamb and chicken. They are all insanely good with amazing quality. For my birthday this year I'm going to order the small suckling pig.

If it's any consolation resident snob Augustus also loves d'artgnan and lives close enough to shop from the warehouse. He also raves about it.

a reply to: TheAlleghenyGentleman

I'm not doubting the quality! Just a little rich for my blood, I've kids to feed. I'm no stranger to price = quality but surely there is a intermediary from big box junk and amazing delicacy?

a reply to: JinMI

May I ask where you are basically located so I can have an idea of what you have access to?

a reply to: TheAlleghenyGentleman

West Michigan. We have a large amount of local butchers to choose from, mostly raised here as well. It may be a fools errand. It was worth asking however.

a reply to: JinMI

I think the problem is that either the meat is properly raised or it's not. And there is a dollar amount associated with that nation wide. If you were seriously trying to find the right products in your area I would do a couple things. Going to your local farmers markets can be eye opening. Focus on finding the right farms. Maybe look at your local butcher shops websites and see where they source from.

Buy a fresh chicken. It will probably be anywhere from 12-20 bucks for a whole one. But, you will see the difference, you will taste the difference. You want you chickens to be dry, not sitting in goo. It should be a nice white color with white clean chicken fat. Look at the chickens in your local market and you will see how they are a dirty yellow with yellow fat. That is the wrong color.

originally posted by: JinMI
a reply to: rickymouse

I've not yet had the pleasure of having a freshly harvested whole chicken. I do get whole chickens from the store from time to time however. Lots of meals out of that one bird.

One day about a month ago we were in Walmart and decided to buy a Tyson chicken, it was only ninety seven cents a pound. We have had them before and they usually do not have much flavor, but I figured I could make soup out of it. When I unpacked it to make soup, it was big, I noticed the fat was the real color and the meat and skin looked like it was a real chicken. So we decided to stuff and roast it. To our surprise, it tasted like a real chicken.

What the hell happened, did someone start selling real chickens to Tyson? So we went back a couple of days later and bought another big one, it was crap. I guess some stray real chicken must have got sold to Tyson, maybe the farm owners pet was added to the shipment. How disappointed we were when we got a piece of flavorless cardboard the next time we bought one. We haven't been back since. We usually go to the Coop and buy the Gerber chickens. They have "Just Bare" chickens there we tried, no flavor, they are a division of golden plump. The Coop here has local farm raised free range chickens but they run about three fifty a pound, that is way more expensive. But they do taste good, they are frozen birds processed in a local facility that does organic processing. The cost comes from the buck twenty five a pound cost of processing the chickens. That raises the price up a lot.

I eat McDonalds because it's good for you. And it's all locally sourced and can be traced to the source. I trust Ronald.

Aside from RickyMouse's info on the chemicals used I'm going to add Google Meat Glue. Suppliers are cobbling together roasts out of scraps and selling them as actual cuts of meat.

You find this almost everywhere now. So while it may seem more expensive to purchase meat at the butchers you're actually paying the REAL price for the cut of meat. The artificial low prices in chain stores are because you're getting smaller bits glued together. This also is why what used to be a good cut of meat is now cooking up with tough spots etc....

There was a thread on here a few years ago about it.
I know the vid is from AU but the US has been doing this for a number of years now as well. Unfortunately it got no real press.

a reply to: kosmicjack

We got rid of our Weber.
Could not find steaks worthy of the grill.
We splurge a couple of times of year at an excellent local steak house....great beef and we get pampered....and the lunch prices are fairly reasonable.

We did find local Amish store that has beef, but those steaks don't have enough fat, and we pan-fry them.
We do buy ground beef, pork, pork sausage, chicken and [rarely] buffalo from them.

We have not bought grocery store beef in years....and years.
Krogers should be ashamed.
Cannot stand meats or fish from Trader Joe's.
Some Spartan stores have good meats.

Most "specialty" stores sell mostly mediocre beef, and fish.
The chicken if fair, as is the pork.
Good cheese and lunchmeats as well.

The local butcher has good beef and chicken, but lousy pork.
A fairly good seafood store...local....although the fish is mostly not.
The county farmers market does sell local walleye and salmon in the warm months....and cannot be beat.

We have found a "new" specialty store about 10 miles form home.....we're going to try their meats in the near future.

a reply to: TheAlleghenyGentleman

lot's of chicken ranch's in NYC?,where at on rooftops

a reply to: Oldtimer2

Here's a few farms where I get my meat from.

Kinderhook Farm

Kinderhook Farm is one of the largest producers of 100% grass-fed beef and lamb in the Hudson Valley. With over 1,000 acres of rolling hay meadows and pastures, they raise their cattle and sheep on a 100% grass and legume diet that includes no grain, antibiotics, growth hormones or animal by-products. Learn more about Kinderhook.

Meili Farm

Meili Farm's Tamworth-Berkshire hogs are all raised on pasture in the most humane way possible. All of their hogs are bred, born and raised on the farm, and are hand-fed twice daily a mix of natural grains, vegetables, hay and goat milk whey from a local cheesemaker. Learn more about Meili.

Autumn's Harvest Farm

At Autumn's Harvest Farm, all of the animals are rotated daily to fresh grazing areas. In addition to this they are fed high quality natural feed ensuring the healthiest possible outcome without jeopardizing the animals quality of life. Autumn's Harvest prides themselves on being a family friendly farm that is dedicated to their animals and to their consumers. Learn more about Autumn's Harvest.

Arcadian Pastures

Arcadian Pastures is a small family-run heritage breed farm in Schoharie county, NY. Their belief is that animals raised outdoors, on high quality pasture, and that are treated with respect, produce the most nutritionally-dense and best tasting meats. All of their meats are hormone and antibiotic free and are never exposed to herbicides or pesticides. Learn more about Arcadian Pastures.

a reply to: kosmicjack

I'm with you on this KJ, I try to limit what I buy at the supermarket. I typically go to the farmer's market for produce since for me there are still plenty of farms in the Garden State and many do hot house over the winter so you can still get fresh veggies. I get my meat from an Italian butcher who sources from either New Jersey of New York farms. I have a fish monger a town over who goes to Fulton in the Bronx every morning so it is super fresh. Plenty of bakeries in the area so I can get fresh bread if I am not making my own.

And last, but not least, I am right up the road from perhaps the country's greatest specialty purveyor's warehouse, D'Artagnan, so I can do walk up purchases on anything from their extensive offerings.

a reply to: TheAlleghenyGentleman

I like Riverbend Farms and Fossil Farms which are both fairly local to me. I used a good deal of Fossil's offerings along with D'Artagnan's when I was still in the biz.