Essentially Catering Summer Meat feature

Steven Creed, Fresh Director at Creed Foodservice, offers some advice on choosing and making the most of cheaper cuts of meat this summer

With the pressure on margins faced by all caterers it’s time for some re-thinking when it comes to menu planning. Most of us stick to the same  recipe repertoires and just don’t have time for creativity.  Many of us also know that we can make the most of cheaper cuts but just don’t know how.

Firstly, cooking with cheaper cuts is simpler than you might think and produces great tasting, interesting dishes that you can make a profit on.  The trick is to match the recipe to the type of meat you choose.  Generally slow cooking is the key to tender meat and delicious flavour.   Gentle slow cooking melts away the fat and leaves juicy, ‘falling off the bone’ meat. 

Secondly, don’t dismiss casserole cooking for the winter only – you can make light casseroles with plenty of herbs and fresh tender vegetables that are sumptuous, whatever the weather.

With beef, shin and leg (called stewing steak) are generally cheaper cuts of meat but they have impressive amounts of flavour.   Diced braising steak makes a great slow cooked dish.  Brisket was considered an old fashioned cut but it has made a come-back, largely because it produces fantastic flavour when cooked very slowly. A summer pot roast with Silverside is another great dish.

Lamb prices have increased recently but ask your wholesaler for neck, which is the main ingredient for Lancashire Hotpot – with field-fresh carrots and new potatoes.   Boned shoulder can be rolled and pot roasted or diced and used in stews or casseroles. In both cases, the meat is meltingly tender.  Lamb shanks are also easy to cook as they are suited for slow cooking and can be braised slowly with a ragout of fresh tomatoes, courgettes and oregano. 
When it comes to summer barbeques, pork ribs can make a tasty and economical alternative to sausages and beef burgers.    Allow 4-5 ribs per person.  Pork ribs taste even better if they are marinated in BBQ sauce for 24 hours before cooking. 

When it comes to chicken, think about using chicken thighs instead of expensive breast meat. 
If you’re slow cooking, think about what’s fresh and in season that you can combine for a tasty dish – autumn root vegetables are wonderful in slow cooked casseroles and the chicken recipe below can be adapted to use whatever is fresh and local.

Recipes:

Chicken Thighs with Summer Vegetables – serves six

Ingredients:

1 tbs olive oil    1 large onion
6 plump chicken thighs, skinned 12-18 new potatoes, scrubbed
1 litre chicken stock 6 carrots, sliced
450g peas 225g broad beans – skinned preferably
2 tbs chopped fresh herbs – such as chives, oregano, parsley, tarragon 150ml white wine
225g  diced bacon  
   

Method:
1. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy bottomed pan. Sauté the diced bacon and remove.  Sauté the onion until soft in the bacon fat. Remove.

2. Add the chicken thighs to the pan and brown for a few minutes – season, remove the chicken from the pot.

3. Add the potatoes and carrots  to the pan and turn for a  minute.  Add the onions, bacon and chicken back to the pan and pour over the white wine. Add the chopped fresh herbs.  Add enough hot stock to cover well.  Bring just to the boil, then transfer to a low heat oven (Gas Mark 3) for 1 hour or until the sauce is reduce and thickened slightly.

4. Turn up the heat (Gas Mark 5) Add the peas and  broad beans and cook for a further ten minutes until tender.  Check seasoning. 

 

Slow Cooked Beef Casserole – serves six

Ingredients:

1 tbs olive oil 1 onion, chopped
500ml vegetable stock 3 cloves garlic
1 tbs chopped oregano 250g carrots, sliced
250g celery, sliced 1 tbs plain flour
450g pasta shapes (uncooked weight)  1 tbs tomato puree
250g mushrooms, sliced 1 tbs Worcestershire Sauce
600g braising steak, diced  
   

Method:
1. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan.  Cut the braising steak into bite sized pieces and brown on all sides, keeping the heat high.  Once browned, set aside on a plate and add the chopped onions, carrots and celery to the pan.  Cover with a lid and cook over a gentle heat for 10 minutes.  Sprinkle over the flour and stir in well.

2. Return the meat, with any juices to the pan. Add the tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce, stock and herbs. Transfer to a low heat oven (Gas Mark 3) and cook gently for 1 - 11/2 hours.
3.  Add the mushrooms to the beef stew and cook for a further ten minutes
3. After this time, prepare the pasta according to package directions (don’t add salt)
4. Serve the beef stew over the pasta

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10th May 2010