How to Prepare Uncommon Meat Cuts of Beef and Pork Donna Larson, November 14, 2024November 14, 2024 Whether you’re asking butcher shops for cuts of your own homegrown meat or purchasing from your local grocery store, here’s how you can prepare all of those uncommon meat cuts of beef and pork. The Most Uncommon Meat Cuts For my family, we do our best to grow our own beef and pork. We find the meat to be better tasting, less expensive, and we believe that doing so brings a moral value that we believe in. However, we eat our favorite cuts first: the ribeyes, the pork chops, the bacon… you get the idea. At some point, when we’re near the last of the animal in the freezer, we find all sorts of odds and ends to use. We have had to get a little creative in the kitchen, but I hope that we can inspire you with these ideas to use these uncommon meat cuts. Collar Bacon Usually pork bacon comes from the belly of the pig, giving it the name “pork belly.” Collar bacon, on the other hand, is cut from the pork shoulder. It’s usually cut thicker than standard bacon, and it brings an unmatched rich flavor. Slice cured collar bacon to use for sandwiches, simply cut it in chunks to add a “ham” flavor to any dish. These uncommon meat cuts of pork are easy to enjoy in soups, with eggs, or cheesy casseroles. Pork Jowl This is from the fatty meat around the pig’s neck and upwards towards the jaw bone. Don’t waste this, as it’s a better bacon than pork belly. Ask your butcher to cut and wrap the pork jowl if you’re able to. Also ask if he’ll cure it like your bacon. These packages will contain small, cured pieces of meat that will taste like bacon. They will usually wrap them in one pound packages, but you can ask for smaller sizes. I like to use a few of these at a time to season our regular meals. To do so, keep the half pound package in the kitchen refrigerator, and use a few as needed. These uncommon meat cuts work well in green beans, potatoes, baked beans, omelets, or anywhere that you might want a little bacon flavor. You could also crisp up the whole package of pork jowl in a pan and use them in place of bacon bits. Cured Pork Hocks and Soup Bones My favorite place to use cured hocks is with any variety of southern peas. Let the uncommon meat cuts cook all day in the crock pot with a diced onion, a little garlic, and some black-eyed-peas or white acre peas. Just pick out the bones when the meat falls off and shred the little chunks of meat. Cured hocks are already salty, so go easy on the salt, but add black pepper to your liking. Serve over a bed of rice for an easy, cheap crowd pleasing dinner. Both hocks and soup bones also work really well in a pot of stewed greens. I like to use a thick collard green, and cook them down with pieces of cured hock or soup bones. I love to pressure can batches of southern peas and collard greens with these little pieces of flavorful meat to store on my pantry shelves. After I’ve removed meat, I continue to cook down the bones for bone stock. Beef Shank Beef shanks are lean, tough cuts of meat. Anytime I have a tough cut to work with, cooking low and slow is my game. Start by seasoning with salt, pepper, and garlic, and then braise the cuts in a little oil with a high heat. Using a Dutch oven helps make this a one pot wonder. Remove the meat, then saute a chopped onion, a few diced carrots, and some celery over medium heat. Add the beef shanks back into the pan with the veggies, and sprinkle with marjoram, rosemary, and a smidgeon of sage. Add a bay leaf, a cup of red wine, a can of diced tomatoes, a splash of balsamic vinegar and a splash of worchestire sauce. Cover and cook it in the oven at 300°F for 3 to 4 hours or until the meat reaches 160°F. This saucey meat dish pairs well with mashed potatoes or buttery noodles. The Most Uncommon Meat Cuts, Beef Tongue Beef tongue may turn out to be your favorite cut that you get back from your butcher, but you may have to ask for it. Don’t freak out. It looks exactly like you’d imagine when you get it back. A large tongue, taste buds included. To start, place the meat in a pot and cover with water. Bring it to a boil until the skin begins to peel away from the meat, 30-40 minutes. Remove the tongue, and carefully peel back the outer layer of skin. You’ll be glad to see the taste buds disappear now. Slow cooking is the best way to break up the tough fibers of beef tongue. Slice the meat and place in a slow cooker with your favorite taco seasonings. Cook it slow on low heat for 2-4 hours or until the meat easily shreds, and make your beef tongue tacos however you’d like. Oxtail I usually use oxtail the same way I described using cured hocks and soup bones. The difference is that you’ll find a piece of gelatinous spinal cord in the oxtail. You can easily remove the pieces if you want, but they’re actually quite good for you. Another popular way to use oxtail in our home is with a brown gravy over a rice and side of peas and carrots. To do this, start by searing the meat in a hot pan, then place them in a crock pot and cover with water. Add mushrooms, salt, pepper, parsley, a chopped onion, celery powder, and garlic. Simmer on low for 3 to 4 hours. In a separate pan, make a simple roux with your choice of fat and flour, and then add some of the liquid from the crock pot. Whisk the roux in until there are no lumps, add it back into the crock pot, and continue cooking for 30 minutes. You should have a lovely pot of meat swimming in flavorful, thick brown gravy. Organ Meats Often times, your butcher will ask if you’d like to receive back any organs from your processed cow or pig. The most common organs to receive back are: liver heart tripe (slightly less common) You can ask for the liver and heart to be sliced before packaging. I prefer to use the liver and heart as dog food, but that hasn’t always been the case. For a while, we would grind the liver and heart and add a little at a time to our ground beef. This worked especially well in meatloaf where I could hide it from my pickier eaters. Tripe is made from the stomach lining of the cow. A lot of salt processing is required to prepare tripe to eat, and it’s often used in Asian soups, such as pho. This is a fantastic place to learn how to prepare tripe if you’d like to try it. Other Uncommon Meat Cuts – Steaks with Different names These lesser-known beef cuts may leave you wondering if they’re worth buying. Rest assured. Just because they aren’t popular cuts doesn’t mean they aren’t quality meat. Hanger Steak Also known as onglet, hanger steak is one of the most flavorful and tender cuts of beef from the cow. The muscle grain is thick on hanger steak, so cooking it medium to rare is best. Sear it first for 30-40 seconds on each side in a pan of butter on high heat, then finish it over an open flame. Use a little thick salt and coarse pepper to compliment hanger steak. Flank steak Meat lovers have given flank steak a bad name because it’s too easy to overcook it, making it tough. To help tenderize the beef, marinade flank steak in your choice of sweet and acid solution. I like to use a combination of apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce, and olive oil. The longer you let this soak in, the better. Aim for 12 hours. Grill flank steak over an open flame to medium doneness for best texture. A medium-well or well-done flank steak will be too chewy to enjoy. Skirt Steak A less expensive cut of beef, skirt steak is lean and contains more connective tissue than other steaks. We like to marinate skirt steak much like flank steak. This cut has a light beefy flavor so it’s great to use in dishes that take on several strong seasonings. Slice the steak into 1 inch wide pieces, and pan sear them in lots of butter until done to medium. Saute sliced onions, peppers, and mushrooms to top the meat with. This is a great cut to make cheesesteak sandwiches or fajitas. Denver Steak Denver steaks are uncommon meat cuts of beef that come out of the chuck roast. The chuck is one of the toughest cuts of beef as it comes from the highly-worked shoulder of the cow. The Denver steak, however, comes from beneath the shoulder blade and used less by the cow. This means it’s a naturally more tender cut of beef than the rest of the chuck, and it has good marbling for flavor. This cut should be cut across the grain for maximum tenderness. To do this, the butcher will cut the ends off leaving a triangular-shaped cut. Make sure that you marinate and then sear the Denver cut on high heat before grilling to medium doneness. Tomahawk The tomahawk steak is just a ribeye with more bone left intact. The bone brings flavor though, and that only adds to the juicy, tender cut of beef. Likely found at your favorite steakhouse, tomahawk steaks have become increasingly popular for their visual appeal. These steaks are cut from the rib area of the cow; a lesser used muscle makes a tender cut of meat. Cook your tomahawk or ribeye to whatever doneness you’d like, but I highly recommend medium-rare for best results. Conclusion to Uncommon Meat Cuts It doesn’t matter if you’re shopping your local butcher shop, a meat box subscription, or butchering your own meat. Make sure that you make the most of what you can get by working with these unique cuts of meat. Of course, don’t forget to enjoy those familiar cuts of filet mignon, pork chop, or New York strip steak too. If ever you have a question about preparing some of these uncommon meat cuts, just remember that tougher meats can be tenderized with some extra time in marinade. Quick cooking methods should be used for steaks and cooked to medium or medium rare. Slow cooking is a good option for larger, cheaper cuts like roasts. Enjoy! Donna at Hazel Belle Farm Donna and her family have been homesteading for most of their 20+ years together in some shape or fashion. She currently lives on their 20 acre farm where they grow as much food as possible. What started as a just a few laying hens, has grown into large gardens, pastured poultry, pork, and lamb. They are continuously evolving their small farm to not suit their family’s needs, but also providing to their local community. Donna’s favorite part of the family farm is her self-built micro-dairy, where she gets to love on dairy cows while serving her local community. Milking, cheesemaking, and processing dairy have become the soul of their homestead and the center of their farm. Homestead Kitchen Homesteading