Are delicatessans a ripoff?

[karrie]

That's a myth. There is no marrow in a noggin to make it gel you have to use hocks. You can add meat from any part of the body like the noggin but without hocks you just get soup.

heads have marrow and cartlidge in/on them too.

and I'll point out... I've seen the family sit down and chow down on grandma's head cheese... not very mythical. lol.

 

[petros]

the "head" in head cheese is the froth at the top of the cooking pot and nothing more and no the head doesn't have what the feet do for gelatin and will not gel.

I've been making it for many many years and damn well know what it is and what binds it together and it sure as **** isn't the mellon.

 

[karrie]

every single web page I've found on its history, and my own personal experience, tell me you're wrong. *shrugs*

 

[JLM]

:-?[/QUOTE]

Then of course the companies that provide you with the convenience of having these products easily available to you will have some very hefty profit losses that will eventually lead to your local grocery store shutting down.

If most stores sold 3/4 of their products before the expiry date they'd still make a hefty profit.

I have found and it is usually on the expiry date that most meat products go bad and are not decent for eating.

In British Columbia I've found that most products are still good for several days after the expiry date. (there's probably a margin of error there for people who delay refigerating the product for several hours)

I'm not too worried about a local grocery store shutting down, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts there will always be a grocery store at a convenient location. Where I live we have far too many already.

 

[petros]

every single web page I've found on its history, and my own personal experience, tell me you're wrong. *shrugs*

Without hocks you only get soup. Try it and let me know how well you failed.

 

[#juan]

I've been doing the meat shopping in our family for years. I generally pick a good butcher's shop rather than the meat and deli departments of the big chain stores. We often by Bavarian meat loaf and assorted ham cuts as we as corned beef. We've been dealing with the same butcher for twenty years or more. I can order what I want over the phone and pick it up on the way home. If I want some steaks or a roast, I tell our butcher want I want and it is ready when I get there. I think it is a matter of picking as butcher you can trust.

 

[Liberalman]

Yummy

 

[AnnaG]

I've come to the conclusion that one of the biggest ripoffs in the grocery department today are delicatessans. You can pay up to $2 per 100 grams (less than 1/4 lb.) for meat a lot of which isn't particularly healthy. By the same token you can buy a whole roast for under $10 and slice off lots of sandwich meat which is healthy. Should we start boycotting delicatessans?

hehehe I have a deli kitchen right in my house. No way am I going to boycott it.

 

[TenPenny]

I've always understood that 'head cheese' has nothing to do with the head of animal, to wit:

HEAD CHEESE
8 pork hocks
2 onions
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper
1 c. vinegar
1 pkg. Knox gelatin
Cover pork hocks with water. Add onions, bay leaf and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until tender. Take the meat out and strain the juice and onion. Cut. Add 1 cup vinegar. Mix Knox gelatin with 1/2 cup water.

However, In my copy of 'larousse gastronomie', the heading for head cheese says, 'see brawn', which is defined as 'a charcuterie product consisting of rendered-down meat from a pig's head (excludng the brain) and aspic from the reduced cooking liquor...'

 

[JLM]

hehehe I have a deli kitchen right in my house. No way am I going to boycott it.

That's the spirit- make up a good (valid) head cheese from the HEAD and I'll be down. :lol::lol:

I'm thinking of suing these so called delis that are selling ersatz head cheese made from part of the animal other than the head. I don't like counterfeit. :lol::lol:

 

[AnnaG]

I don't think so. MIL is the only one here that eats the stuff. Any meats from the heads of critters here goes to the mutts, cats, and chickens.

 

[JLM]

I don't think so. MIL is the only one here that eats the stuff. Any meats from the heads of critters here goes to the mutts, cats, and chickens.

Sounds like the mutts, cats and chickens are eating better than you are. :lol::lol::lol:

 

[Tonington]

That's a myth. There is no marrow in a noggin to make it gel you have to use hocks. You can add meat from any part of the body like the noggin but without hocks you just get soup.

There is a lot of collagen in the ears of pigs.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

Typically, the meat you buy at the deli counter is ready to eat. It's not always wise to buy a roast and slice off a bit to eat, although it is possible.

Any time you pay someone else to cook your food, you are paying more than if you do it yourself.

Also, you can try small amounts (say, 100 g) of exotic meats and cheeses. If you want just enough for say one sandwich of Cajun chicken, it would be pointless to but a 1 lb slab, It is much cheaper to buy 100 g of it and put it in a sandwich. Same goes for exotic cheeses.

The advantage of the deli is that you can buy stuff in small quantities (e.g. you can buy one slice of cheese), which is not possible when you buy a package.

 

[JLM]

I've always understood that 'head cheese' has nothing to do with the head of animal, to wit:

HEAD CHEESE
8 pork hocks
2 onions
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper
1 c. vinegar
1 pkg. Knox gelatin
Cover pork hocks with water. Add onions, bay leaf and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until tender. Take the meat out and strain the juice and onion. Cut. Add 1 cup vinegar. Mix Knox gelatin with 1/2 cup water.

However, In my copy of 'larousse gastronomie', the heading for head cheese says, 'see brawn', which is defined as 'a charcuterie product consisting of rendered-down meat from a pig's head (excludng the brain) and aspic from the reduced cooking liquor...'

You're talking Ersatz headcheese there Ten Penny, for genuine head cheese check out post 57.

 

[petros]

You're talking Ersatz headcheese there Ten Penny, for genuine head cheese check out post 57.

I wish he'd written down the recipe and procedure- I could probably be a millionaire today by selling it to delicatessans.

She used hocks too. Believe me, I've been making it for over 35 years. That's why I said it's pretty easy and you should make your own. It's all of the left overs that can't be used for sausage and that has to be boiled off the bone so hocks including knee joints, and the head and neck.

The recipe Ten Penny posted is spot on but you don't need the knox if let everything settle and skim off the "head" after skimming off the fat from your boiled stock.

I make pickles, sour my own cabbages, and make an average of 300lb of sauasage every fall too.

The Mrs. and her sisters will sit down with a couple bottle of wine and knock off 3000 perogies at a time too. It's truly a sight to behold.

My family is big and we stick to our heritage foods. They are economical and we like to get together to eat on a regular basis. The kids really enjoy it and will hopefully keep it going.

 

[Bar Sinister]

Such merchants are quite rare in Western Canada. If there were more of them I would not mind shopping at one. After all no one forces me to do so. I enjoyed shopping at the small stores in Italy. It was a refreshing change from the giant supermarkets that characterize most shopping areas.

I do not consider corporate vendors to be in the same class as the neighbourhood delicatessens.

 

[VanIsle]

Not anymore they aren't. Roosters end up being sold the same way. I won't eat those little fryers. They are only 8 weeks old and have never seen sunshine.

Iggy - give yourself a break. I guarantee you that if you buy a raw chicken (fryer) from the meat counter, it has never seen sunshine either. From as much as I can see when I look up growing chickens, it seems that most (as long as you want them really tender and most of do) chickens that are grown just for food only get to live about that long. So, you have probably been eating chickens that old for most of your life.

 

[JLM]

Iggy - give yourself a break. I guarantee you that if you buy a raw chicken (fryer) from the meat counter, it has never seen sunshine either. From as much as I can see when I look up growing chickens, it seems that most (as long as you want them really tender and most of do) chickens that are grown just for food only get to live about that long. So, you have probably been eating chickens that old for most of your life.

Who in their right mind would eat chicken when they could have a good feed of head cheese? :smile:

 

[talloola]

The only thing I ever buy in a deli is about $10.00 worth of maple ham every once in awhile. I find
delis far too expensive, don't think all of that processed meat is good for you anyway, so I stay
away from that area.

All the mixed salads have so much dressings, and oils in them, they must be very fattening, and they
look like heartburn in a bowl to me, so many things pre mixed, all with creams, sauces and such, no
thanks, all of that food has had the true flavour 'killed' by all the additions, anyone concerned about
their size/weight should stay away from that area, and that includes us.


We do buy 'freshly' made sandwitches, (made while you wait, and request what you want in it), very
reasonable, and very full of healthy things, and yes, sometimes they have processed meat., if you want it.
Our quality foods, has a huge assortment of very fresh items one can have in sandwitches, good with a
coffee for lunch.

The delis are very pretty, they decorate them up so nice, all the cheeses stacked just right, all the meats
side by side, looking so proper, it's hard to resist, very attractive, like bait.

Maybe those barbecued chickens are considered a spart of the deli, don't know, but I do buy them, very
yummy.