- 2 days ago
The cheapest cut of meat can feed a family three times, and taste better than steak when you know how to cook it. Elias Yoder explains why cheap meat is not poor meat, but meat that asks for time instead of money, using the butcher’s counter, his grandfather’s lessons, and a practical method for turning tough cuts into rich, satisfying meals.
He breaks down why muscle, fat, and connective tissue matter, which cuts work for slow cooking, and which ones should be cooked quickly. From chuck, brisket, shank, oxtail, short ribs, pork shoulder, lamb shoulder, chicken thighs, and soup bones to homemade broth, tallow, and lard, this is a frugal cooking guide built around real food, real prices, and real results.
The video also shows how to brown the meat first, use a heavy pot or slow cooker, cook low and slow until a fork twists easily, and turn one roast into dinner, leftovers, and stock. It is part kitchen lesson, part Amish home-saving advice, and part practical meat buying guide for anyone who wants to stretch groceries without sacrificing flavor.
SEO: Ideal for viewers searching for cheap meat recipes, slow cooker beef, chuck roast cooking, budget family meals, Amish cooking, frugal food tips, and how to cook tough cuts of meat. Also useful for meal prep, homemade bone broth, and learning which cuts are best for braising, stewing, and low and slow cooking.
He breaks down why muscle, fat, and connective tissue matter, which cuts work for slow cooking, and which ones should be cooked quickly. From chuck, brisket, shank, oxtail, short ribs, pork shoulder, lamb shoulder, chicken thighs, and soup bones to homemade broth, tallow, and lard, this is a frugal cooking guide built around real food, real prices, and real results.
The video also shows how to brown the meat first, use a heavy pot or slow cooker, cook low and slow until a fork twists easily, and turn one roast into dinner, leftovers, and stock. It is part kitchen lesson, part Amish home-saving advice, and part practical meat buying guide for anyone who wants to stretch groceries without sacrificing flavor.
SEO: Ideal for viewers searching for cheap meat recipes, slow cooker beef, chuck roast cooking, budget family meals, Amish cooking, frugal food tips, and how to cook tough cuts of meat. Also useful for meal prep, homemade bone broth, and learning which cuts are best for braising, stewing, and low and slow cooking.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00You are standing at the meat counter, and you have done what everybody does.
00:04Your eye has gone along the top shelf where the steaks are, and you have looked at the number,
00:09and you have thought about it, and then you have picked up a package of ground beef instead,
00:14because the rest of it is more than you meant to spend.
00:17And two feet to your left, down at the end where the light is not as good,
00:22there is a piece of meat at a third of the price that will feed your family three separate times
00:26and taste better than the steak did.
00:29You have walked past it every week for years, because the name on it means nothing to you,
00:35and because somewhere along the way somebody taught you that cheap meat is poor meat.
00:40It is not.
00:41Cheap meat is meat that asks for time instead of money,
00:45and once you know which is which, and why, you will never look at that counter the same way again.
00:51I am Elias Yoder. I farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
00:55We butcher our own, which means I do not choose cuts at a counter.
01:00I get the whole animal and every part of it, and there is no walking past anything.
01:06That teaches you something you cannot learn from shopping,
01:09which is that every part of that animal was going to be eaten by somebody,
01:13and the question was only ever how.
01:16I gathered the whole of it into a book at EliasYoder.com.
01:20The book is the long version.
01:22If you want it, it is there.
01:24I will not mention it again.
01:26My grandfather taught me this on a butchering day when I was nine or ten,
01:30and he did it by letting me choose.
01:33The meat was coming off and going on to two tables,
01:36the good pieces, the loin and the chops, going one way,
01:40and the neck and the shanks and the shoulder going the other way,
01:43into what I heard the men call the poor pile.
01:46I asked him why we did not keep more of the good part.
01:50He did not answer me then.
01:52That night my grandmother fried a piece of the loin for supper,
01:55quick, in a pan, the way you do with that cut, and it was fine.
01:59And the next day there was a pot on the back of the stove
02:02that had been going since the morning with the neck in it,
02:05and we had that for supper.
02:07Then he asked me which of the two I would rather have again.
02:10I did not even have to think.
02:13It was the neck, and it was not close,
02:15and I remember being embarrassed about it,
02:18as though I had got the answer wrong.
02:20He told me I had not got it wrong.
02:22He said the loin was easy to cook.
02:25The neck was worth cooking.
02:27What made it tough is what makes it good.
02:29It only wants time.
02:31Now let me tell you why that is so,
02:33because this is the part that makes the whole thing make sense.
02:36Every cut of meat on that counter came off a muscle,
02:39and the price of it depends almost entirely
02:42on how hard that muscle worked.
02:44Down along the backbone, either side of the spine,
02:47there are muscles that did almost nothing all their lives.
02:51They held the animal up, and that was the whole of their work.
02:55Those are the tender ones.
02:57That is your loin, your tender loin, your rib.
03:01They are tender because they are lazy,
03:03and they are dear because everybody wants them.
03:06Then there is the shoulder, and the neck, and the leg, and the shank.
03:10Those muscles worked every day of that animal's life,
03:13carrying it about, and a muscle that works
03:16is a muscle laced through with connective tissue
03:19holding it all together.
03:21That tissue is what makes those cuts tough.
03:23It is also, and here is the thing nobody tells you,
03:27what makes them worth eating.
03:29Because connective tissue is not gristle to be endured.
03:32Cook it hot and fast, and it seizes up into leather,
03:36which is why a shoulder steak on a grill is a miserable thing.
03:40But cook it low, and slow, and damp, for hours,
03:44and that tissue melts.
03:46It turns into something soft and rich
03:49that coats every fiber of the meat
03:50and gives body to the liquid it is sitting in.
03:53That is why a cheap cut cooked properly
03:56is not a poor imitation of a steak.
03:58It is a different and better thing,
04:01and a tenderloin cannot do it at all,
04:03because a tenderloin has nothing in it to melt.
04:06There is nothing to give.
04:08So here is the rule,
04:09and it is the whole of the cooking half of this video.
04:13Fast heat for the muscles that did nothing.
04:16Slow heat for the muscles that worked.
04:19Do it the right way round, and both are excellent.
04:23Do it backwards, and you ruin them both.
04:26And most people ruin them backwards at least once a year
04:30and blame the meat.
04:32And there is a second reason those muscles are worth having,
04:36that people never think of.
04:37A muscle that worked has more blood in it and more flavor in it.
04:43That is the whole of why a chicken thigh tastes of something,
04:47and a breast wants help.
04:50Tender and tasty are two different qualities,
04:53and they very often sit in different parts of the animal.
04:56So when you buy the deer cut,
04:59you are paying for softness.
05:01You are not paying for flavor.
05:03And in a good many cases,
05:05you are paying to give some up.
05:08Now, which cuts?
05:10And I will give you the names
05:12so you can walk up to that counter
05:14and know what you are looking at.
05:16On beef, the ones you want are the chuck,
05:19which is the shoulder,
05:21and you will see it sold as chuck roast or blade,
05:25the brisket,
05:27the shank, which is the leg,
05:29and which is the cheapest thing in that case,
05:32and makes the richest pot of anything on this list,
05:36oxtail,
05:38short ribs,
05:39and the neck if they will sell it to you.
05:43On pork, the shoulder,
05:45sold as pork butt or Boston butt,
05:49which confusingly is nothing to do
05:51with the back end of the animal.
05:53The hawk,
05:55the belly,
05:56and again the neck.
05:59On lamb,
06:00the shoulder,
06:01the shank,
06:02and the neck,
06:03the same three every time
06:06because it is the same animal
06:08doing the same work.
06:10And on a chicken,
06:11the thighs,
06:12and the legs,
06:13and the wings.
06:15Those are the parts that moved.
06:17They are cheaper than the breast,
06:19and they have far more in them,
06:21and they will forgive you
06:23where a breast will not.
06:25You will notice the pattern.
06:27It is always the parts
06:29that carried the weight
06:30and did the walking.
06:32And one more worth naming
06:34because it is the cheapest protein
06:36in that whole case
06:37and half the shops
06:39will give it to you.
06:41Bones.
06:42Marrow bones,
06:44knuckle bones,
06:45a beef shank sawn across.
06:48Ask at the counter.
06:50In a great many places,
06:51they are a dollar or two
06:53for a bag,
06:54and I will come back
06:55to what they are for.
06:57Now, how it is done.
06:59And I will say plainly
07:01that my wife runs the kitchen
07:03and I do not meddle in it,
07:06so this is her method
07:07and I am only passing it on.
07:10Brown it first.
07:12In a heavy pan,
07:14hot,
07:15in a little fat,
07:16on every side
07:17until it has a good dark crust.
07:20Do not skip that
07:22and do not crowd the pan.
07:24A pale piece of meat
07:26dropped straight into liquid
07:28makes a pale,
07:29flat pot,
07:30and that browning
07:32is where a great deal
07:33of what you are about to taste
07:34comes from.
07:36Then put it in a heavy pot
07:38with a lid.
07:40Add your onion
07:41and whatever else is going in
07:43and pour in liquid,
07:45but only part way up the meat,
07:47not covering it,
07:49about half way.
07:50What you are making
07:52is a braise
07:53and not a soup,
07:54and meat sitting
07:55in too much water
07:56gives its flavor away
07:58to the water.
07:59Lid on,
08:01low heat,
08:02and then leave it alone.
08:05Now, the part that matters most
08:07and that nobody says clearly,
08:10it is not done at a time
08:12and it is not done
08:14at a temperature.
08:15It is done
08:16when a fork will turn in it
08:18with no argument at all.
08:21You put a fork in
08:23and twist,
08:24and if the meat resists,
08:26it is not ready,
08:27and the answer
08:28is always the same,
08:30more time,
08:31lower heat.
08:33A tough piece of meat
08:35that has been cooked
08:36for three hours
08:37and is still tough
08:39has not been overcooked.
08:41It has been undercooked,
08:43and another hour
08:45will very often put it right.
08:47That single fact
08:49would save a great many
08:50ruined dinners.
08:52And do not lift that lid
08:54every 20 minutes
08:56to look at it.
08:57Every time you take it off,
08:59you let the steam out
09:00and drop the heat,
09:02and the whole point of the lid
09:04is to keep the meat
09:05in a damp, warm place
09:07for hours.
09:08Put it on
09:10and trust it.
09:12Now,
09:13three meals
09:13from one piece,
09:15because that was
09:16what I promised you.
09:18A shoulder,
09:19whichever animal
09:20it came from,
09:21is a big piece
09:22and you are not
09:23eating it
09:24all at once.
09:25The first night,
09:27it goes on the table
09:28as it is,
09:29in its own liquid,
09:31with potatoes.
09:32The second night,
09:33whatever is left
09:34gets pulled apart
09:35with two forks
09:36and it becomes
09:37something else entirely.
09:39It goes into a pie
09:40or a hash
09:41or over noodles
09:43or into anything at all,
09:44and because it is
09:45already cooked,
09:47it is a 15-minute supper
09:48on an evening
09:49when nobody has the time.
09:52And the third,
09:53the bone goes back
09:54in a pot with water
09:55and whatever vegetable ends
09:57are in the scrap bag
09:58in the freezer
09:59and simmers a few hours,
10:01and that is a stock
10:02that beats anything sold
10:04in a box
10:05and cost you nothing
10:06whatever.
10:07A splash of vinegar
10:09in that pot
10:10helps draw what is
10:11in the bone,
10:12and a slow simmer
10:13rather than a boil
10:14keeps it clear.
10:16Strain it,
10:17let it go cold,
10:18and if it sets to a jelly,
10:20you have done it properly,
10:22and that jelly
10:23is exactly what I have
10:24been describing
10:25all the way through
10:26this video,
10:27sitting in a bowl
10:28where you can look at it.
10:30One piece of meat,
10:31three suppers,
10:33and the third one
10:34made out of what
10:35most houses put in the bin.
10:37And a word on the pot itself,
10:39since people ask.
10:41It wants to be heavy
10:42with a lid
10:43that sits down properly.
10:45Cast iron,
10:46enameled iron,
10:47a heavy stock pot.
10:49A thin pan on a stove
10:51will catch and scorch
10:52on the bottom
10:53before the meat
10:54has had half the time
10:55it needs.
10:56If all you have is thin,
10:58put it in a low oven instead,
11:00where the heat comes at it
11:02from all sides
11:03and nothing sits
11:04on a hot plate.
11:06And low means low.
11:08If it is galloping
11:09and bubbling hard,
11:11it is too hot.
11:12You want it barely moving,
11:14a bubble breaking
11:15now and then.
11:16Hard boiling toughens
11:18the fibers even while
11:19the connective tissue
11:20is melting,
11:21and that is how people
11:23end up with meat
11:24that is somehow
11:25both falling apart
11:26and dry.
11:28Now, two things
11:29you must know
11:30or this will go wrong
11:31for you.
11:32The first is that
11:33not every cheap cut
11:35is a slow cut
11:36and this catches people.
11:38The round,
11:39off the back leg
11:40of a beef,
11:40and some of the sirloin tip
11:42are cheap,
11:43but they are lean.
11:44Very little fat
11:46and not much
11:47connective tissue either.
11:49Cook those long
11:50and slow
11:50and they do not melt,
11:52they simply dry out,
11:54and you get something
11:55gray and stringy
11:56and you conclude
11:57that cheap meat
11:58is bad meat.
12:00Those cuts want
12:01the opposite treatment.
12:03Cooked quick
12:04and served rare
12:05and sliced thin
12:06across the grain,
12:07or else ground.
12:09So the sorting question
12:10is not cheap or dear.
12:12It is tough and fatty,
12:14which wants time,
12:16or lean,
12:17which does not.
12:18There is also the matter
12:19of what the shop calls things,
12:21which is designed
12:22to help you
12:23and often does not.
12:25A shoulder may be sold
12:26as chuck,
12:27blade,
12:28arm roast,
12:29seven bone,
12:30or under a name
12:31invented last year
12:33by somebody in marketing.
12:34If you are not sure,
12:36ask the man behind the counter
12:38what part of the animal
12:39it came off.
12:40He will know
12:41and he will nearly always tell you,
12:44and that one question
12:45answers everything else.
12:47And the second
12:48is that your own grinder
12:50changes the arithmetic entirely.
12:52A chuck roast
12:54ground at home
12:55makes better ground beef
12:56than what is in the tray
12:58because you know
12:59what went in it
13:00and depending on the week
13:01it can cost you
13:02less per pound
13:04than the packaged sort.
13:05And a fourth meal
13:07if you want it,
13:08which is the fat
13:09you lifted off the top.
13:10Beef fat set hard
13:12and clean
13:13is tallow
13:14and it is the best thing
13:15there is for frying,
13:16and pork fat
13:18is lard
13:18and both of them
13:20keep a long while
13:21in a jar in the cold.
13:23That is a cooking fat
13:24you did not buy
13:25out of a piece of meat
13:27you already paid for.
13:29And a word for anybody
13:30who is out of the house
13:31all day
13:32since that is a great many of you.
13:34This is exactly
13:36the sort of cooking
13:37a slow cooker
13:38was invented for
13:39and I will not pretend otherwise
13:41just because
13:42we have not got one.
13:43low heat
13:45a lid
13:45and hours
13:46without anybody
13:47watching it
13:48is the whole requirement
13:50and if a machine
13:51does that for you
13:52while you are at work
13:53the meat
13:54does not know
13:54the difference.
13:56The one thing
13:56I would say
13:57is brown it in a pan
13:59first even so.
14:00That step
14:01does not happen
14:02in a slow cooker
14:03and it is worth
14:04the five minutes.
14:06Now the plane limits.
14:08This is not faster.
14:10A shoulder
14:10wants three or four hours
14:12and you have to be in the house
14:13while it happens.
14:15What you are trading
14:16is money
14:16for time
14:17and if you have no time
14:19on a weekday
14:20that is a real thing
14:21and I will not pretend otherwise.
14:24But a pot
14:24on a Sunday
14:25makes three suppers
14:27in the week
14:27and that is the way
14:29round it.
14:30Season it properly
14:31and salt it early
14:32because a large piece
14:33of meat
14:34wants more salt
14:35than a small one
14:36and it wants it
14:37before it cooks
14:38rather than after.
14:40Salt on the outside
14:41the night before
14:42if you think of it
14:43and left uncovered
14:44in the cold
14:45is better again
14:46and it costs
14:47nothing but remembering.
14:49And take the pot
14:50off and let it cool
14:51before you put it away
14:52and get it cold quickly
14:54rather than leaving it
14:56standing warm
14:57on the stove
14:57all evening.
14:58That is a large mass
15:00of food
15:01holding its heat
15:02a long while
15:03and the same rule
15:04applies to it
15:05as to everything else.
15:07It is better
15:08the next day
15:08every time.
15:10and if you let it
15:11go cold overnight
15:12the fat sets hard
15:14on top
15:14and lifts off
15:16in a sheet
15:16and you can decide
15:17for yourself
15:18how much of it
15:19goes back in.
15:20There is no scheme
15:22in any of this
15:23and nobody
15:24arranged anything.
15:25The money simply
15:26runs the other way.
15:28The deer cuts
15:29are at eye level
15:30because they are
15:31worth more
15:32to the shop
15:33and the cheap ones
15:34are down at the end
15:35under names
15:36that tell you nothing
15:37and none of that
15:38is trickery.
15:39It is only that
15:40nobody makes a living
15:42telling you
15:43the best pot of food
15:44you will eat this month
15:45starts with the cheapest
15:47thing in the case
15:48so nobody says it
15:49and a thing
15:50nobody has a reason
15:51to say
15:52gets forgotten
15:53inside of one generation.
15:55What got lost
15:56was not a product
15:58it was a boy
15:59on a butchering day
16:00being asked
16:01which one
16:02he would rather
16:02have again
16:03and giving the answer
16:05his grandfather
16:06already knew.
16:07And one plain word
16:09to anybody thinking
16:10this is a hard life
16:12or a poor one
16:13it is not.
16:14The cheap cuts
16:16are what people ate
16:17for the whole
16:17of human history
16:19and they are
16:19what a great many
16:20of the finest dishes
16:22in the world
16:22are made of.
16:24Every country
16:25has them
16:25somebody's pot roast
16:27somebody's stew
16:28somebody's shank
16:30cooked all day
16:31with whatever
16:32grew nearby.
16:32this is not
16:34making do
16:35this is how
16:36food was
16:37before the counter
16:38taught us
16:39to want the easy part.
16:41So here is what
16:42I would have you do
16:43this week
16:43and it will cost you
16:45less than what
16:46you were going to buy
16:47anyway.
16:47Go to that counter
16:49and do not look
16:50at the top shelf
16:51at all.
16:52Find the chuck
16:53or the shoulder
16:54or the shank
16:55and look at the price
16:57for a pound of it
16:58then look at the price
16:59for a pound of steak
17:01then buy one piece
17:03of the cheap one
17:03and put it in a pot
17:05on the first day
17:06you are going to be
17:07in the house
17:07for the afternoon.
17:09Do not judge it
17:10until a fork turns
17:11in it easily
17:12however long
17:13that takes.
17:15So tell me in the comments
17:16what the two prices
17:18were in your shop
17:19the cheap cut
17:20and the steak
17:21because I would like
17:22to see the spread
17:23and it is different
17:24everywhere.
17:25and if you have told
17:27me your county
17:27before
17:28tell me this instead
17:30what did your mother
17:31or your grandmother
17:32make out of the cheap cuts
17:34because those dishes
17:36are nearly always
17:37better than anything
17:38I could give you
17:39and half of them
17:40are going out
17:41of the world
17:42unwritten.
17:43Now
17:44one thing
17:45before I let you go
17:46and it is a plain one
17:48everything
17:49I have told you
17:50about the pot
17:50came from my wife
17:52and I said so
17:53because the kitchen
17:54is hers
17:55and I only carry
17:56the wood
17:57and the meat
17:58to the door.
17:59If you want
18:00the cooking side
18:00of it properly
18:01from her
18:02rather than
18:03from me
18:04repeating it second hand
18:05we keep a separate channel
18:07for exactly that
18:08Amish cooking
18:10the putting up
18:11the baking
18:12the preserving
18:13and what to do
18:14with a shoulder
18:15once it comes
18:16off the bone.
18:17This channel
18:18is the barn
18:19and the shop
18:20and the house
18:21that one
18:22is the kitchen
18:23I will leave
18:24the link below
18:25and say no more
18:26about it.
18:27Next time
18:28I want to go back
18:29to the shop
18:30and the knife
18:31because you cannot
18:32break an animal down
18:33or even carve
18:34a shoulder properly
18:36with a dull edge
18:37and I showed you
18:38the knife before
18:39but not the two tools
18:41on this place
18:42that matter more
18:43and that almost
18:44nobody can sharpen
18:46any more
18:46the axe
18:48and the scythe
18:49what made it tough
18:50is what makes it good
18:52it only wants time
18:53the people who built
18:55this country
18:56with their hands
18:56knew that
18:57and we are only
18:58just starting
18:59to remember it.