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Post by harrytom on Dec 20, 2023 22:09:31 GMT 12
smoker.webp (27.95 KB)You are over paying for beef/lamb there "Fish" Countdown lamb legs $8kg Pak n Say eye fillet $24kg Mince we dont buy it ,even the premium mince is to fatty now days.We buy rump and trim it and mince ourselves. Brisket can be fatty but choose carefully and you can avoind it. Last couple we have had had a slight coating but easy to trim off,same for bolar. Pak n Sav sells a lot of aussie beef and nothing wrong with it. Do miss a good Aussie lamb leg.They have a nice coating of fat compared to NZ lamb thats had the goodness trimmed off it. We are using Kingsford apple briquets $19 4 kg and a handful of pohutkawa chips for a smokey flavour,want to give fish or meat a golden look put a handful of pohutakawa leaves in at last 1/2hr. I dont use manuka as it gives food a taintness like oil. I get tyhe charcoal going in a chinney $8 from mitre10 using little lucifers,leave going for 20 minutes,then tip in to smoker by then the lighter fluid smell has been burnt off. I dont have one of those fancy smokers like bradly etc we just have a barrel type $80 from warehouse been going well 2 yrs now.
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Post by fish on Dec 21, 2023 8:32:00 GMT 12
The mince I'm getting is tested to a fat content, either 85% or 95% lean, so no issues with getting 40% fat shit from the supermarket chains. I reckon you need a bit of fat for the flavour, hence I go with the 85% stuff. Completely lean mince is a bit dry I reckon. Pricing is around $13.50-$15/kg, via Gilmours. Vac packed.
I'm not a fan of Aussie meat. For a start the logic of shipping meat across the Tasman, or worse, air freighting it when we have producers right here just doesn't sit right. That, and the quality always looks questionable to me. Noting there is a difference between bull, steer and cow. Bull is often sold to look like Prime Steer. Bull is a deeper purple colour and cooks to a more grey colour. The flavour is slightly different as well. The fillet I got is Prime Steer rather than bull labelled as prime or what not.
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Post by GO30 on Dec 21, 2023 10:48:22 GMT 12
The prices of beef at the sales hasn't changed, still around 3 per kg for blokes, 2.80 for the ladies. Plus gst.
Bulls tend to get the best price, steers next the heifers, then cow and then boners.
Bigger beasts, say 400kg +, tend to get a wee premium over the 250-300kg beasts
Weaners, the 90-140kg +/- can get upwards of 6 hundy each or more on Trade Me like places. At the sales I picked up 30 AngusX steers at 97kg average for 330 each.
Bigger head count seems to come with lower prices as the Life Sentence size farmers or those hunting for freezer beasts can't buy in that volume.
And then you get a premium for exceptional beasts and some breeds get higher than others as do single breed compared to X's. After Xmas I'm upping our heard by another 35-40 and we're going single bred. I have my eye on a small Hereford Stud herd but we'll see where the Wa goes on that. If not the stud then I'd love to go full Speckle Park.
Sheep meat prices have been slaughtered big time. They copped a 25% price drop inside only 2 weeks so sheep should be cheap or a lot cheaper than it has been.
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Post by harrytom on Dec 21, 2023 11:13:05 GMT 12
If you want lean meat,Kangaroo, but at out butcher $38kg when you can buy it "coles" for $4.95kg. Got to be cooked right though,goes to rubber real quick.
Why arent we selling rabbits in NZ? good meat for slow cookers
What ever happened to Ostrich farming?
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Post by fish on Dec 21, 2023 12:21:09 GMT 12
The prices of beef at the sales hasn't changed, still around 3 per kg for blokes, 2.80 for the ladies. Plus gst. Bulls tend to get the best price, steers next the heifers, then cow and then boners. Bigger beasts, say 400kg +, tend to get a wee premium over the 250-300kg beasts Weaners, the 90-140kg +/- can get upwards of 6 hundy each or more on Trade Me like places. At the sales I picked up 30 AngusX steers at 97kg average for 330 each. Bigger head count seems to come with lower prices as the Life Sentence size farmers or those hunting for freezer beasts can't buy in that volume. And then you get a premium for exceptional beasts and some breeds get higher than others as do single breed compared to X's. After Xmas I'm upping our heard by another 35-40 and we're going single bred. I have my eye on a small Hereford Stud herd but we'll see where the Wa goes on that. If not the stud then I'd love to go full Speckle Park. Sheep meat prices have been slaughtered big time. They copped a 25% price drop inside only 2 weeks so sheep should be cheap or a lot cheaper than it has been. You are sounding like my Grandpa. Life long farmer, and when he got too old to farm would just talk prices. Hoggets up, weiners down and what not. They (my grandma and him) tried moving into town but hated it, so just stayed on the farm. Leased the grazing I think. Grandma passed away, then Grandpa had a stroke and had to move off the farm. He didn't last long after that, basically gave up I think, lost the love for life not being out in the country. His father cleared the land and built the farm house. Grandpa lived in the same place his entire life. You don't get that these days. |
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Post by fish on Dec 21, 2023 12:30:11 GMT 12
If you want lean meat,Kangaroo, but at out butcher $38kg when you can buy it "coles" for $4.95kg. Got to be cooked right though,goes to rubber real quick. Why arent we selling rabbits in NZ? good meat for slow cookers What ever happened to Ostrich farming? There is a bit of breeding rabbits for meat around, but its all a bit hush hush. Mainly on the Homesteading / self sufficient food type pages on FB. Heard some crack-up stories about ostrich farming. One of my uni lecturers (who was attached to the meat industry) and my first boss who was in the meat industry had a crack at getting it commercial. Apparently the whole problem was handling the birds. They could grow them fine, and slaughter and butcher them fine, but they just couldn't handle them. You can't heard them. If they get scared they attack with their claws. Puts scratches in the hide so it's worth feck all, which was about a third of the value of the bird. So they tried keeping and handling them in the dark, but then they couldn't see the birds. So they tried putting hoods on the birds. Apparently that was worse, first they had to catch them, but once the hood was on they'd charge around and run into things. Bruised the meat. They got to the point where they could only slaughter them were they were, i.e. in the paddock, cause they couldn't transport them anywhere without wrecking the hide or the meat. Cause they couldn't transport them for slaughter they couldn't get any scale so flagged it. |
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Post by harrytom on Dec 21, 2023 16:10:25 GMT 12
If you want lean meat,Kangaroo, but at out butcher $38kg when you can buy it "coles" for $4.95kg. Got to be cooked right though,goes to rubber real quick. Why arent we selling rabbits in NZ? good meat for slow cookers What ever happened to Ostrich farming? There is a bit of breeding rabbits for meat around, but its all a bit hush hush. Mainly on the Homesteading / self sufficient food type pages on FB. Heard some crack-up stories about ostrich farming. One of my uni lecturers (who was attached to the meat industry) and my first boss who was in the meat industry had a crack at getting it commercial. Apparently the whole problem was handling the birds. They could grow them fine, and slaughter and butcher them fine, but they just couldn't handle them. You can't heard them. If they get scared they attack with their claws. Puts scratches in the hide so it's worth feck all, which was about a third of the value of the bird. So they tried keeping and handling them in the dark, but then they couldn't see the birds. So they tried putting hoods on the birds. Apparently that was worse, first they had to catch them, but once the hood was on they'd charge around and run into things. Bruised the meat. They got to the point where they could only slaughter them were they were, i.e. in the paddock, cause they couldn't transport them anywhere without wrecking the hide or the meat. Cause they couldn't transport them for slaughter they couldn't get any scale so flagged it. Geez that made laugh. Can just see a mini moa running around like a headless chook. So many meats out there we waste.Goats.Plenty around same the South Island Chamois. Wild vennison.Wild pork not so sure of because of a worm issue. Possums we should be slamming for fur and turning in to pet food.(not too bad to eat,strong smell and taste) once cooked tb should be gone. There must be a market for unwanted pests. Spca would on your back if you tried the wild cat fur trade  |
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Post by GO30 on Dec 22, 2023 6:04:48 GMT 12
The prices of beef at the sales hasn't changed, still around 3 per kg for blokes, 2.80 for the ladies. Plus gst. Bulls tend to get the best price, steers next the heifers, then cow and then boners. Bigger beasts, say 400kg +, tend to get a wee premium over the 250-300kg beasts Weaners, the 90-140kg +/- can get upwards of 6 hundy each or more on Trade Me like places. At the sales I picked up 30 AngusX steers at 97kg average for 330 each. Bigger head count seems to come with lower prices as the Life Sentence size farmers or those hunting for freezer beasts can't buy in that volume. And then you get a premium for exceptional beasts and some breeds get higher than others as do single breed compared to X's. After Xmas I'm upping our heard by another 35-40 and we're going single bred. I have my eye on a small Hereford Stud herd but we'll see where the Wa goes on that. If not the stud then I'd love to go full Speckle Park. Sheep meat prices have been slaughtered big time. They copped a 25% price drop inside only 2 weeks so sheep should be cheap or a lot cheaper than it has been. You are sounding like my Grandpa. Life long farmer, and when he got too old to farm would just talk prices. Hoggets up, weiners down and what not. They (my grandma and him) tried moving into town but hated it, so just stayed on the farm. Leased the grazing I think. Grandma passed away, then Grandpa had a stroke and had to move off the farm. He didn't last long after that, basically gave up I think, lost the love for life not being out in the country. His father cleared the land and built the farm house. Grandpa lived in the same place his entire life. You don't get that these days. My learning curve is a vertical straight line and in that is me with 20 tonnes of self propelled beef I'm trying to work out the best manner/timing/etc to do something with all that. I'm finding it all totaly interesting, very fascinating and huge fun. We have found understanding much of it gets easier once you learn the language.
I spend a lot of youth on Waikato dairy which was fun. I can fully understand where your Grandpa is coming from, each day the city gets ickier, each day rural throws out another good reason to stay in it. Traffic and the constant waiting for it and other things I'm finding harder to deal with. Also how stuffy the city is, that's a biggie for us both. Mind you living in a shed with a 5m stud and no insulation would make most houses seem very chilly bin sealed up like but even outside in the city the air is ...I don't know how to describe it but it seems not quite right. Edit - regimented is a word coming to mind. Sure rural has it's must do's at certain times of the year but it seems more us and nature working together with some flexibility where down in the city it's a lot more 'you will now do this, now do that and you have 5 minutes to complete your task'. You see people in drone mode, so to speak, in cities, it is very rare to see them in rural.
Boxing day I'm using the Wa's new big mower to take down 5 hectares, so so looking forward to that. We have way more grass than mouth to eat it so I'm growing and cutting, I've got the neighbour coming in to package and he's leaving with 1/2 of our take.
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Post by GO30 on Dec 22, 2023 6:14:17 GMT 12
If you want lean meat,Kangaroo, but at out butcher $38kg when you can buy it "coles" for $4.95kg. Got to be cooked right though,goes to rubber real quick. Why arent we selling rabbits in NZ? good meat for slow cookers What ever happened to Ostrich farming? Roo is very lean so you have to cook it very carefully or it'll go to shoe leather. I like a good bit of Roo, especially in Aussie where many still think eating it is wrong.
We were driving to rural one day and bugger me around the corner and there were 2 young Moa in the road, they turned and trotted off so we followed them for a while. They can move fast and funny as fuck to watch the gangly things. I am told there was a large Moa farm in Ruawai not that long ago but it's now closed. Many of the animals got re-homed locally in 2's and 3's. While some do try to tell me they are Ostriches, Moa sounds so much cooler 
I've seen a lot of rabbits lately, far more then usual. No idea why but guessing there was lots of food around over winter.
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Post by harrytom on Dec 22, 2023 7:16:19 GMT 12
Rabbits prolific everywhere.stopped dropping 1080 or become immune?
Really wanted to try croc when in Queensland but could only find croc jurkey .
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Post by GO30 on Dec 22, 2023 13:58:22 GMT 12
Lots of tucker over winter so the bunnies were shagging themselves silly.
Croc is OK done well.
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Post by GO30 on Dec 22, 2023 13:59:55 GMT 12
Finally sorted my brining so I've just dropped a large pork belly into it and vacuum bagged it to do it's thing. Dropped in a good wad of blackstrap molasses as well, they should give it a nice boost.In a week or so into the smoker and boom, me made bacon to go with all the rest of the me made I've got.
OK the rest is 3 differing Gins (all botanicals and one featuring Pohutukawa), Lemoncello, 3 Rums, a Whiskey and a Bourbon. Was a busy day at Frayed Knot Distills yesterday |
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Post by em on Dec 23, 2023 0:49:23 GMT 12
Finally sorted my brining so I've just dropped a large pork belly into it and vacuum bagged it to do it's thing. Dropped in a good wad of blackstrap molasses as well, they should give it a nice boost.In a week or so into the smoker and boom, me made bacon to go with all the rest of the me made I've got.
OK the rest is 3 differing Gins (all botanicals and one featuring Pohutukawa), Lemoncello, 3 Rums, a Whiskey and a Bourbon. Was a busy day at Frayed Knot Distills yesterday This stuff saves a lot of hassle and possible smoking fuckups (shrunken cooked pork belly ) it’s actual smoke not smoke and mirrors . A litre bottle lasted me 3 years and that’s using it for BBQ sauces and in general cooking . It’s semi cheating but it’s way easier to dial in the exact amount of smokiness . Very good for cheating on “ smoked aged cheddar “ or havarti etc . www.nelson-naturally.co.nz/shop/Adventure+Kitchen+Liquid+Smoke/Liquid+Smoke/Hickory+Liquid+Smoke-OLSHL.html |
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Post by harrytom on Dec 23, 2023 2:03:18 GMT 12
Finally sorted my brining so I've just dropped a large pork belly into it and vacuum bagged it to do it's thing. Dropped in a good wad of blackstrap molasses as well, they should give it a nice boost.In a week or so into the smoker and boom, me made bacon to go with all the rest of the me made I've got.
OK the rest is 3 differing Gins (all botanicals and one featuring Pohutukawa), Lemoncello, 3 Rums, a Whiskey and a Bourbon. Was a busy day at Frayed Knot Distills yesterday This stuff saves a lot of hassle and possible smoking fuckups (shrunken cooked pork belly ) it’s actual smoke not smoke and mirrors . A litre bottle lasted me 3 years and that’s using it for BBQ sauces and in general cooking . It’s semi cheating but it’s way easier to dial in the exact amount of smokiness . Very good for cheating on “ smoked aged cheddar “ or havarti etc . www.nelson-naturally.co.nz/shop/Adventure+Kitchen+Liquid+Smoke/Liquid+Smoke/Hickory+Liquid+Smoke-OLSHL.htmlWhy has your pork belly shrunk during cooking?? Too much heat,not basting it often , 2 to 3hrs on direct low heat/smoke basting every 1/2hr after 3hrs wrap in foil leave on smoker for 3 hrs,should be cooking slowly in own juice,check internal temp if at 75c then let it rest for a hr before serving and should pull apart. The art of smoking is to preserve meat.Too much heat and just dries it out. Could cheat by partially cooking in oven and once cooked 1hr on a smoker? |
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Post by harrytom on Dec 23, 2023 2:07:50 GMT 12
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