/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>14750731
wholesale is nearly always more economic. If you have a big deep freeze then go ahead.

>>14750731
If you're sure you're gonna eat it, and more importantly have enough freezer space to store it, then it's a fantastic deal. Way better than anything you can get at the grocery store.

>>14750731
Will it be precut op? If not you better know how to butcher it yourself. If it isn't it's not worth it.

>>14750738
>>14750740
Just got a if deep freezer from a family member. That’s what gave me the idea

>>14750742
The cuts I’m getting will be precut. I did consider doing half a hog or something like that, but I think the thing would be dry aged by the time I got done fucking with it.

>>14750748
do you already have a hook-up to buy from an employee sale or are you just expecting to walk in demanding to buy? most places won't let you do that
my main advice is to measure your freezer and ask about the dimensions of the boxes they use, the litreage of your freezer won't matter if you can't tetris them in, also make sure that freezer works properly before buying anything, turn it way down, inhouse the pork is stored at -14c, fattier cuts will last a lot longer.
keep in mind you'll get sick of pork sooner, and you'll just be eating it to feel like you arent wasting money, so get half of what you're considering I'd say

>>14750748
Are they packaged ready for the freezer? Might wanna invest in a foodsaver or similar device to portion everything if not.

>>14750748
my dad's deep freeze is stuffed full of meats. He knows a rancher so he gets free beef cuts sometimes. Last time I was over he had half a fucking deer (processed already) in there.

>>14750786
They have a front of house where they sell things wholesale. I honestly just found out, I didn’t think they sold to the public but it turns out they do. It might be a good idea to get a bit less pork, thanks for that bit of advice. I could definitely see myself suffering through so I feel like I didn’t waste my cash. I’ve got the freezer turned on now and it’s all ready to go, I’m going to make damn sure I have more than enough space. Fridge is big though.

>>14750797
This I do not know. I have a feeling they may not be. I did consider this but didn’t know if it was worth it. I may as well place an order for one now if you figure it’ll help with longevity

>>14750806
Man... I wanna be a rancher. I cannot think of a better life.

>>14750731
is it your first time? I've bought from a few people and the last time was a local farmer and they put 40 lbs of chicken quarters in a bag and froze it. I'm pretty pissed off because it's huge and I have to thaw it somehow and rebag it or whatever. make sure they are worth your business before you drop a $500 order or something. I was spending less than $1/lb for chicken and I'm still pissed off

>>14750852
It would be my first time. Post like this are why I asked. I know it’s dumb but I didn’t consider how big of a pain in the ass that thawing big 10-20 pound bags of meat would be. I’ll probably try and separate it into smaller quantities with zip lock bags now before it goes into the freezer. Seems like that would save me a ton of grief. Thanks for that

>>14750860
just make sure to have a conversation with the farmer/seller. most of the people out here will just send their cattle off to the meat plant and then the meat plant does their thing and you can pay more/less for special packaging and spiced sausage or whatever. it's just up to however they do it. I bought this chicken from a sale that was only in 40 lb lots and ended up unhappy getting entire 40 lb cases in a bag. you will probably do better with beef but definitely ask ahead about how they package. all of the beef sellers around me package better than the grocery store

>>14750852
And yeah my grandad has done business with these people for god knows how long. He speaks highly of them, and I haven’t seen any complaints online. Maybe I should start a little lower now thinking about it. I would be irrationally angry if I felt like I paid 500 bucks for a cluster fuck pain in the ass.

>>14750875
Well.. I’m getting chicken too so.. I’ll see how they do it. Don’t want to be in your boat.

>>14750877
the only way I'd spend that much on beef is if I was specifically buying like a tenth or quarter or half and I had experience dealing with it all. definitely don't buy like a hundred pounds of meat for a freezer if you've never done it in the past. dip your toes in the water this year and then do more next year once you've gotten more comfortable. you can get better deals if you put a deposit down on larger lots and wait until they have been sent to slaughter, but I do not personally have experience with that, just know friends who do.
>>14750882
it sounds like you should probably just ring up your pappy and talk with him about it. he could be really helpful

>>14750748
>I did consider doing half a hog or something like that
I've got family that get a whole lamb done now and then, it's a fucking pain when you have a full animal because there's a lot of cuts that no one really wants and they aren't that tasty. Honestly better getting a wholesale deal on what you want rather than fucking around with pieces of meat you don't just to save a few bucks.

>>14750742
>If not you better know how to butcher it yourself.

I have a band saw

>>14750897
Grandad said the same exact thing. Lots of shit cuts and only a few you really want. I wish lamb was made just of its ribs. Would make life a little bit better

>>14750894
Yeah I spoke to him earlier today. He would buy whole hogs for pig pickins and quarter or half cow for some charity he liked. Only thing he really said was to get some of their sausage. So, I guess we’ll see tomorrow. I might try and limit it to 200 bucks now. I appreciate the insight man

>>14750922
the processors near me just give you ground cuts and stuff, there's a menu to order from. the other anons talking about all of the offal or whatever you might end up with are probably wrong since you'll need to ask for it if you want it. a lot of these places will adjust fat content of ground sausage and beef and they won't worry about the cost of adding fat since they have so many trimmings

>>14750897
Wow that webm is pretty impressive. Hope he doesn't slip and cut his fucking arm off.

Any less favorable cuts I get from hunting I put in stews usually. Shame to throw anything away but I had some deer cuts in my freezer for a couple years I ended up feeding it to my dogs. They sure enjoyed it.

>>14750808
they'll either be loose polywrapped on large items, wrapped in bags for medium items or groups of smaller items, or fully vac-sealed on value-added type items most likely.
if it's anything like where I used to work, you'll also want to avoid boxes most porkchop miscuts, it's basically just a solid block of pork frozen together and they're just riddled with slivers and shards of bone, marrow sprinkled about, good way to chip a tooth.
consider asking about part-boxes if they do it as orders from the warehouse, depending on the person they might do it for you, good way to get more variety while getting less product

>>14750875
>40lb block of chicken and bones
for any you've thawed and refrozen already, good fucking luck with that, but some advice on any others you might still have
thawing out the whole block to separate them is not the ideal way, the surface moisture will freeze them together again, likely worse than before.
i had a stainless steel crowbar for prying frozen meat apart, a knife steel can do in a pinch you'll be prying and chipping but either way it's a pain
but if you separate them while frozen you can store them frozen without being stuck, dropping that box a few times on a cement surface will loosen them up too

>>14750911
I do not recommend using a bandsaw to cut meat unless it's one made for it
even the meat ones get full of rust and they're nearly all stainless
the blood and fat will build up in the top and bottom wheel compartments and leak into every crevice, without a powerwasher and good degreaser you might ruin your saw
if you wanna saw do it with a hack saw you don't like and a clean blade, your tools will thank you

>>14750808
Foodsaver is the way to go to prevent freezer burn. Plus you can make your own MREs, waterproof bags for matches and stuff, and fuck around with sous vide.
Costco has them for a decent price.

>>14750936
I fucking hate you tripfag pos had you filtered for a long time now but figured I'd check the comment. I threw away the 40 lb block of chicken. I don't even give a fuck. don't even bother with shit like that. you're retarded btw

>>14750947

>>14750937
I make my own deep dish pizza MREs

When I get those costco packs of chicken breast, I put in the fridge what I plan on cooking fresh that day and then separate each breast into individual ziploc bags. God thawing and refreezing is ALWAYS a bad idea.

the chicken breasts I got last time came in 10 lb bags so they were manageable. there were some of the largest breasts I've ever seen. here one is next to a pork butt. I am going to thaw it out and make the biggest chicken parm /ck/ has ever seen when I do cook it

>>14750959
kek you actually vacummed it too! Do you reheat?

>>14750978
Jesus christ that's a mutant-tier chicken breast. Do you mind I ask where you bought that?

>>14750979
I've done a quarter pizza before but not a whole one. I had a friend over and wanted to show off my new vacuum sealer. I should have partially fozen the pizza first because some of the sauce did run out when it drew the vacuum, otherwise I shoulda used the pulse vac mode and cut it off short.

>>14750986
it's from Montaire Farms in alabama. they had a covid outbreak and had to shut down earlier and from my understanding the meat supply chain is kinda tight. I wonder if the disruption to a butchering facility ended up with really fat chickens when they had to be slaughtered later. I have a few more this size in this box. some people suggested I try out stuffed chicken breast too. I wonder what a chicken parm the size of a meatloaf is like though

>>14751011
Yeah that actually makes sense. I doubt they'd over-fatten their stock on purpose. I went to a slaughterhouse once with my dad and the fucking smell is unbearable. I don't know how people can work in a chicken plant.

I'd like to try the stuffed breast, too. I had a Turducken once which was pretty fantastic. Was a big fat turkey stuffed with duck/chicken meat, not the three birds all jammed up one another's asses.

I usually hand-flatten chicken breasts (literally just punch them flatter so they cook more evenly). A huge breast like that for a parm will take longer to cook. It's tricky because if you leave 'em in too long you lose the juices. I usually do 400F for 18-20 minutes.

When I do them up on the BBQ I just wrap 'em in and they stay nice and juicy. Looking forward to seeing your thread when you cook it. When you do parm do you put cheese on it?

>>14751011
that sounds pretty plausible, usually they're slaughtered as poults

>>14751042
whoops I totally meant chicken cordon bleu for the really big one. pound it then and roll it up with ham and cheese and bread it. chicken parm isn't particular to a large chicken breast more than a schnitzel is. I always wondered how they made those huge schnitzels though. I've deboned and rolled a turkey before and it turned out nice and juicy I bet this would work well.

>>14751042
when I brought up the chicken breast previously they suggested I do a spinach stuffed breast so it will be some kind of spinach cream cheese filling probably. I will try to cut it down the side instead of the length so it can be stuffed full

>>14751113
You're making me hungry. That sounds awesome. If you really roll it out you can get them pretty big. I'd say a big breast like what you have there would be wide. You'll have to eat it off of a big charger. Hope you post the results.

>>14751129
yeah I meant chicken cordon bleu not parm so it will be rolled up in a giant log instead of a huge flat thing

>>14751129
a chicken parm like this would be crazy though I have no clue how you'd cook it

>>14751128
>filename

A huge breast like that is prime candidate for a stuffed dish. You could wrap it in bacon, too if you're into that. You can use broccoli instead of spinach too.

>>14751138
I could do bacon wrapped stuffed smoked chicken breast thought it would be nice if it looked less like a maggot

>>14751137
>The fucking bun

Is that chicken or pork schnitzel?

Check this out also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nU_ezx3VCQ

>>14751141
Almost looks like a baguette. I do bacon-wrapped montreal chicken breast stuffed w/ red/yellow peppers on the bbq but I'm going to make that stuffed cream cheese breast soon. That sounds wonderful.

Think I'd like to try and make pic related. Stuff those with cream cheese would be good on the bbq.

>>14751155
my cookware is going to be a limiting factor with that. I checked my largest skillet and my spider pot and they're both 12" across. I was hoping one would be at least a little larger.

>>14751194
Ah that sucks. Yeah I'm starting to wonder how the fuck they'd cook that now. You can get 20" skillets but if you've got a conventional stovetop then that'd be impractical for something so large unless you turn on all the elements on a completely flat one. Oven-baked? They must have a range like pic related.

>>14751168
Jesus Christ, I’m making this today. Looks incredible.