chops - what's the fucking point?

[internetstalker]

chops are shit


unless they look like this:

mybe not

 

[sojourner]

She actually rears and eats her own food.... you probably just go to your middle class butchers and ask what cut is in fashion right now

AND she makes pigs pregnant

Artificially


the dirty BASTARD

 

[madzone]

The trick with pork chops is to finish them off in the oven

I only ever do them in the oven, they're still a pain in the arse

 

[sojourner]

The trick with pork chops is to finish them off in the oven

tbh, i'm not a big fan of pork chops. or pork altogether, apart from bacon. oh, and erm pancetta

 

[Orang Utan]

I only ever do them in the oven, they're still a pain in the arse

You're doing it wrong
You're supposed to eat them

 

[madzone]

oh, and erm pancetta

You mean bacon bits

 

[Xanadu]

Quite so. And if you go to a decent butcher they are really cheap. If you get chops from a supermarket you get burned.

Really? The butchers I used to go to charges a fortune for chops. If (per pound of flesh) I could get them cheaper than leg steaks I would.

 

[sojourner]

You mean bacon bits

it's a good job you live hundreds of miles away

 

[madzone]

You're doing it wrong
You're supposed to eat them

Oh!

 

[madzone]

it's a good job you live hundreds of miles away

I think so

 

[Xanadu]

Eh? I didn't say anything like that. But the point remains that if you took the leg steaks and chops from the same animal then the chops would still be considerably more tasty and sinfully good. If you tried lamb steaks in place of the chops in the tandoor at Tayyabs, Mirch or Lahore Kebab House then they wouldn't work nearly as well - less moist, less of that glorious gnawable sweet meat near the bone, less of that wonderful crispy fat. You'd be sadly disappointed if they replaced them with dryer leg steaks and you know it.

I take your point about the occasional portion size issue, but this is England after all. Eat more chops then, not trade down to a less tasty compromise. It's precisely because they've got that fat and bone content that makes them special and to be valued

I disagree with "considerably more tasty". They're only a little tastier than leg steaks. And the massive difference in average portion size more than makes up for the ever-so-slight difference in taste. That's why lamb chops are shit.

 

[Orang Utan]

You mean bacon bits

 

[felixthecat]

Deviating from the point slightly.....but I just had the butchery assistant in Sainsburys(I won't glorify him with the title of 'butcher') look at me like a sick freak when I asked him if they had any lamb suitable for stewing WITH BONE IN. It was totally beyond his comprehension that anyone could possibly want bone in their meat.

I took a separate trip to a farm shop instead. I mean, stew needs the bone for flavour - doesn't it?

 

[madzone]

She actually rears and eats her own food.... you probably just go to your middle class butchers and ask what cut is in fashion right now

 

[tarannau]

I disagree with "considerably more tasty". They're only a little tastier than leg steaks. And the massive difference in average portion size more than makes up for the ever-so-slight difference in taste. That's why lamb chops are shit.

I'm going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I'd urge you'd honestly to cook a lamb leg steak and chop side by side on a charcoal grill or commercial griddle and taste them. I think you'll be surprised at the marked difference in succulence and flavour. They need to be cooked right, but on charcoal or a high powered tandoor a leg steak's no match for a chop imo. On a underpowered domestic overhead grill it's a closer thing, as they'll both tend to dry out before they go properly brown.

For me it's like trying to convince yourself that a bone-in forerib of beef doesn't cook and taste significantly better than its boneless equivalent, largely because you find the bone a bit of a faff to cut around.

 

[trabuquera]

Chops are unusually delicious IMHO, but I can understand they might seem a bit of a waste of time if money is very short - it's true you don't get heaping kilos of meat for your £ - but what you do get is nom-a-licious. p to the anti-nomians!)

I also wonder though if chops aren't a bit more popular than they 'ought' to be in the UK, because pensioners and older people are so used to them - as one of the cuts you can cook in the British manner (no seasoning, marinading or spicing, just whack it under the grill 'till it's burnt) without any of that fancy foreign muck.

Lambchops FTW for me, as long as someone else is paying. Have to admit I haven't bought any for myself in donkey's years though- tend to buy diced lamb or leg/shoulder on special offer instead.

Meanwhile, pork chops beat the living hell out of any cut of fatless pork - fillets, loin etc are a bit useless IMHO unless roasted with a load of crackling round 'em. Proper porky chops (especially the really marbly ones) are better.

 

[Y_I_Otter]

Deviating from the point slightly.....but I just had the butchery assistant in Sainsburys(I won't glorify him with the title of 'butcher') look at me like a sick freak when I asked him if they had any lamb suitable for stewing WITH BONE IN. It was totally beyond his comprehension that anyone could possibly want bone in their meat.

I took a separate trip to a farm shop instead. I mean, stew needs the bone for flavour - doesn't it?

I understand what you mean. Next time, get the assistant to run a few shanks through the band saw, across the grain.

 

[Lemon Eddy]

She actually rears and eats her own food.... you probably just go to your middle class butchers and ask what cut is in fashion right now

She rears and eats her own lamb? Well colour me fucking impressed. I just grow my own veg.

For meat, about twice a year I go to my favourite farm, have a cup of tea with my mate who runs it now, have a natter about who's up to what* these days and then put my order in. Maybe have a walk around if it's beef I'm after, and have a look at the beasts that are about to get the chop. Then he gives us a shout when it's ready to pick up from the butchers. If I've fucked up and not loaded up my freezer between trips, then there's a butcher in town who's quite good, or there's always Asda if I'm in a hurry.

Not sure why you're so curious as to where I buy meat, but yes, I'm still middle class.

*as we met working as farmhands as kids.

 

[Lemon Eddy]

What is it I need to learn?

Well, for starters you seem to have some strange aversion to harissa paste as being to bourgeois for you. This may come as a considerable surprise to the vast numbers of people who eat it in africa and the middle-east, so it may just be worth giving a go.

Secondly, you might want to try a venison and juniper stew. It's pretty fucking tasty too.

Unless you've actually tried both, in which case I hope you're truly ashamed of your class treachery.

 

[Xanadu]

I'm going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I'd urge you'd honestly to cook a lamb leg steak and chop side by side on a charcoal grill or commercial griddle and taste them. I think you'll be surprised at the marked difference in succulence and flavour. They need to be cooked right, but on charcoal or a high powered tandoor a leg steak's no match for a chop imo. On a underpowered domestic overhead grill it's a closer thing, as they'll both tend to dry out before they go properly brown.

For me it's like trying to convince yourself that a bone-in forerib of beef doesn't cook and taste significantly better than its boneless equivalent, largely because you find the bone a bit of a faff to cut around.

I'll dig out my griddle pan sometime, and give it a go.

I've got no problem with a bone in my meat D) I just don't like it when you order lambchops, and you get 3 or 4 tiddly little bits of meat and are expected to be satisfied.

 

[madzone]

Well, for starters you seem to have some strange aversion to harissa paste as being to bourgeois for you. This may come as a considerable surprise to the vast numbers of people who eat it in africa and the middle-east, so it may just be worth giving a go.

Secondly, you might want to try a venison and juniper stew. It's pretty fucking tasty too.

Unless you've actually tried both, in which case I hope you're truly ashamed of your class treachery.

Wanker

I was taking the piss out of sojourner.

 

[madzone]

She rears and eats her own lamb?

Lamb, beef, pork, chicken, duck, goat......

 

[tarannau]

I'll dig out my griddle pan sometime, and give it a go.

I've got no problem with a bone in my meat D) I just don't like it when you order lambchops, and you get 3 or 4 tiddly little bits of meat and are expected to be satisfied.

Which is why, on visits to say Mirch Masala, you convince everyone of the merits of ordering multiple portions of chops, chicken wings, kebabs and butter chicken from the tandoor.


But like you, I'm hesitant to order two or three chops in a 'English' style restaurant.

FWIW, lamb chops are best cooked on even higher heats/charcoal than a domestic cast iron grill can manage. Even with smoke filling the house I struggle to get the chops to brown and crisp quickly enough unless they're some truly generous thick cuts from a butcher.

 

[Lemon Eddy]

Lamb, beef, pork, chicken, duck, goat......

Seriously, I am impressed and jealous.

 

[madzone]

Seriously, I am impressed and jealous.

Don't be, it sucks

 

[Xanadu]

Don't be, it sucks

I always wondered where the fuck they filmed beastiality porn

 

[Grobelaar]

Welsh salt marsh lamb - french trimmed crown. The new season isn't too far away - you'll probably literally get one bite out of each chop - but it'll be the nicest bit of lamb ever... Get ye to Borough market I say...

 

[Kanda]

I'm gonna be lazy and go to the Gallery again