Price of Meat

[gmerkt]

Okay, I couldn't figure this out. Today in the meat dept. at Fred Meyer, I noticed the following prices:

Beef ox tails, $7.49 per pound.
As compared to, for example, Beef brisket, $4.99 per pound.

I don't think this was a mistake. Lately, when I've seen ox tails offered, the prices seemed high.

What gives with this? Ox tails are just that, tails which have a lot of bone and cartilage. Not much real meat. When I was single digit old in the 1950's, I used to see ox tails for sale at Cole's Market. They were the cheapest thing you could buy at about 19 cents a pound. We weren't well-to-do or even close but my mom never bought ox tails. Maybe smoked ham hocks to flavor beans but never ox tails.

So what gives that would make ox tails so expensive now?

Read More

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Well see those are the ox tails from the very rare Costalot Ox....

Seems strange to me too...That said ox tail soup is very tasty.
Andy

 

[Ops]

Costco in fife sells ox tails a while ago.

 

[CountryGent]

Can't say I've ever had ox tail soup, though I would try it if I could, because I like new things. I suspect it wouldn't fly here though. Heck, I only make Pulpo con patatas (Catalan dish involving octopus and potatoes) when my beloved is not physically in the house. To do otherwise would be quite dangerous.

 

[joken]

Oxtail soup is the best.

 

[Alexx1401]

Okay, I couldn't figure this out. Today in the meat dept. at Fred Meyer, I noticed the following prices:

Beef ox tails, $7.49 per pound.
As compared to, for example, Beef brisket, $4.99 per pound.

I don't think this was a mistake. Lately, when I've seen ox tails offered, the prices seemed high.

What gives with this? Ox tails are just that, tails which have a lot of bone and cartilage. Not much real meat. When I was single digit old in the 1950's, I used to see ox tails for sale at Cole's Market. They were the cheapest thing you could buy at about 19 cents a pound. We weren't well-to-do or even close but my mom never bought ox tails. Maybe smoked ham hocks to flavor beans but never ox tails.

So what gives that would make ox tails so expensive now?

There are a few cuts of meat that are like that and I never got why. Ham Hocks are another. When I make a pot of white beans used to toss some in. They got so pricey I just started tossing ham in instead. I also long ago got a grinder for the Wife's high end Mixer to make your own ground beef. I did it after again biting into a piece of bone in a burger so hard I was surprised I did not need to got to Dentist. Started to often find nice cuts of meat at the same price of ground and of course it tastes great. The stuff like the Tails only thing I can guess is there is some other use for them or you would think they would be all but giving them away. There has got to be some other use that takes a lot of them off the market considering how many there has to be coming from slaughter.

 

[41mag]

I only make Pulpo con patatas (Catalan dish involving octopus and potatoes) when my beloved is not physically in the house.

CountryGent's Big Thanksgiving Adventure

 

[DLS]

Thank 41mag … I will never be able to "unsee" that!

 

[therealhitman]

"The price of meat has just gone up,
and your old lady has just gone down."

 

[JRuby]

The cost of cow tongue seems extremely exspensive as well last time i saw one it was over 20$ for one and that was in a mexican market in Talent Or,

 

[Spitpatch]

Personally, I'm considering investing in Ox-Tail Futures. You can follow the sage advice or be left behind.

 

[Joe13]

Heck, I miss the days not that long ago I could get brisket for 0.29-0.39/lb at a third of the price of ground beef.

Now it's as much as steak...

 

[P7M13]

Mom used to make beef stock by boiling ox tails. Then it became any number of other things.
Every now and then (i.e. once every decade), I'll hear Dinah-Moe-Hum and think how racy that was for AOR radio back in the 70's.

 

[66PonyCar]

All the formerly cheap cuts of meat have become trendy and now are as expensive as better cuts.

I buy ox tails at the Supermercado Mexico in Hillsboro and they are reasonably priced. They also have real skirt steak for fajitas and not thin sliced bottom round like they try to sell you at other markets. Their meat selection is very good if you like specialty cuts (shanks, short ribs, etc) that you can't find at regular supermarkets.

My wife likes to use smoked ham hocks for beans and soups but the ones she bought the last few times were mostly bone and gristle. I bought ham hocks and pork necks at the Mexican market and cured and smoked them. Man do they taste good!

 

[Member 34319]

Simple supply and demand.

Only so many cuts of tail on a cow. Or in other words, just one tail per cow. Unlike a rib loin that yields multiple ribeyes, there is only one tail.

Back when no one wanted the tail, it was cheap.

Nowadays, more people want the tail or tongue or brain. So what was a peasant cut, now is a luxury item due to the amount of it on a cow.

Think of it like this. Fishermen a long time ago would keep lobsters for themselves as the buyer was after the fish, not the lobster. After word caught on they tasted better than fish, well, supply and demand.

 

[gmerkt]

There are a few cuts of meat that are like that and I never got why. Ham Hocks are another. When I make a pot of white beans used to toss some in. They got so pricey I just started tossing ham in instead.

Yes, this. That's what Mrs. Merkt uses when she makes beans. But again, decades ago, ham hocks were cheap. These days, they are amazingly expensive for what they are. Which is one degree above waste.

There has got to be some other use that takes a lot of them off the market considering how many there has to be coming from slaughter.

I'm surprised any ox tails make it to modern markets. Maybe that is ONLY because those they sell go high. Again, and I don't understand why. You don't have to pay $7.49 a pound for something to make beef stock.

A couple of other beef items that used to be relatively inexpensive but now are not:

1. Cube steak. Which I believe is usually tenderized round steak. I used to buy cube steak because it was a step above hamburger and not that much more. These days, I will buy it once in a while but only on sale.

2. Flank steak. Which used to be a cheap cut. Most people didn't like it because it wasn't tender. Properly cooked, marinated long or long cooked and done Bavarian style stuffed with potato mixture, it's very tasty and tender enough. But, there are only approx. four pounds of flank meat per cow, maybe the accountants decided this was a scarcity factor. At Fred Meyer these days, flank steak is around $10 a pound, +/-. Several months ago, they had a special (too many got delivered?) and it was $5.99 a pound. I bought the biggest one they could round up for me.

And new cuts of meat come along from time to time. I mean, the animals were always the same, pretty much, but how certain parts were marketed changed. I'll cite one example. The "Tri-Tip." Roast or steak. A couple of decades ago, this cut was unknown outside of parts of southern California. Now, it's everywhere in the west, at least. The Tri-Tip is bottom end sirloin. Prior to being marketed under the current name, it was mostly ground into hamburger. Being that the tissue was in a triangle, it didn't have a consistent grain to the meat. One story was that a store in Calif. already had an overstock of ground beef, so they experimented with cooking the triangle in whole cuts and liked it, then started marketing it as Tri-Tip. I like Tri-Tip slow cooked as a roast for hours until it falls apart just looking at it, but as a grilled steak it's too chewy for me.

Or common names for cuts change. Remember the Spencer steak? Everybody now calls it Ribeye.

Very little meat cutting is done at retail level now. What most stores sell comes in delivered pretty much as is. Wages at retail are too expensive; suppliers have all the work done at a packing plant staffed by lower wage, mostly immigrant labor. The immigrants have no sentimentality about shooting a cow in the head, and are willing to stand all day cutting up animals hour after hour and possibly losing a finger or two. Always has been a dangerous craft. I think some stores like Walmart don't even do any wrapping of meat, it comes that way to the store pre-packaged for retail.

 

[gmerkt]

Simple supply and demand.

Only so many cuts of tail on a cow. Or in other words, just one tail per cow. Unlike a rib loin that yields multiple ribeyes, there is only one tail.

Back when no one wanted the tail, it was cheap.

Nowadays, more people want the tail or tongue or brain. So what was a peasant cut, now is a luxury item due to the amount of it on a cow.

I understand that cows only have one tail, but ox tails aren't like flank steak which is also a small percentage of the cow. What I'd like to know is what's driving the demand for ox tails??? Meaning, why are people hot to buy mostly bone and gristle?

Agreed on beef tongue. I've noted that it's pricey for what it is and compared to how cheap it used to be. My wife's family served it up not infrequently due to it's then low price (1970's). At least tongue has no waste in bone material. Is there an ethnic angle to this one?

 

[Spitpatch]

I am ill-equipped to participate in any discussion regarding beef. (But I'm participating anyway.)

I saw my first Beef Steak at the age of 12. I did not know how to eat it or what that yellow stuff around the edge was.

However, in Winnemucca my Momma would buy stewing hens and go so far as to make soup that included their ovaries (with developing eggs from tiny to big and shell-less). With that bill of fare placed in front of me regularly, I was a pretty skinny kid

 

[Member 34319]

I understand that cows only have one tail, but ox tails aren't like flank steak which is also a small percentage of the cow. What I'd like to know is what's driving the demand for ox tails??? Meaning, why are people hot to buy mostly bone and gristle?

Agreed on beef tongue. I've noted that it's pricey for what it is and compared to how cheap it used to be. My wife's family served it up not infrequently due to it's then low price (1970's). At least tongue has no waste in bone material. Is there an ethnic angle to this one?

Lots of cultures use it. Hispanic cultures eat it a lot.

Simply said, there are more people buying the tail than ever before.

Flank is the same. It used to be a much cheaper cut, nowadays it's pretty darn expensive due to the amount of it on the cow.

Surprisingly cuts like New York and ribeye have come down in price and those other cuts have gone up. Mostly as more folks want them and there is simply less of them.

Apparently no one wants chicken feet still as those are still extremely inexpensive.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Ox tails don't grow back is why. This is why I now have a pet iguana.