I saw a video with Alton Brown who cooked up a medium rare steak that looked amazing. It was done with skirt meat from the cow. He said it’s his fav inexpensive meat to grill and is one of the tenderest and juicy if done his way. In many places it’s only $3.99 a lb, but if it’s even around here (rarely) it’s more expensive than that.
So… What are you secret cheap meats? Whether it be Pork, Turkey, Chicken, Cow, Carp, or Crocodile - let’s hear your ideas so we can have lots of protein on the cheap! (As if it weren’t obvious, we’re on a terribly tight food budget)
Oyster Blade, or Flat Iron steak is worth a shot as well. About half the price of fillet over here and cooks with a nice flavour. Never really had a problem with tenderness either. Also great for stews/curries.
Chicken and pork. Marinate, and learn how to cook it just to temp. You can try whatever cheap fish (tillapia for instance) you can find as well and see what you like!
I really love London Broil, which is usually a type of flank steak I believe. Our grocery store puts it on sale fairly often and it even goes buy one get one pretty regularly which just makes a cheap cut even cheaper. I marinate it overnight (usually use Good Seasons Italian dressing)and then its just 7-10 mins per side on the grill depending on how thick it is.
I’m also a big fan of Cube Steak, though it does tend to be a little tough. I need to experiment a little more to see how to fix it.
And of course there are ribs, which really aren’t all that expensive either and make for e delicious and fun dinner.
Hard to beat a homemade burger. Not the healthiest meat, but I always get a lot of garlic and onion into the patty and it’s so much better than most restaurant’s efforts.
We’re fans of this cut of meat too. If you slice it at an angle it makes the meat more tender. We just had this last night. We also grilled some asparagus and mushrooms seasoned with some butter and garlic, and then served the sliced meat and the veggies over a bed of lettuce for a nice hearty salad.
In my experience the cut that’s typically labeled london broil is actually a top round cut, even though the DISH called London Broil is often made with flank steak.
Flank and Skirt steak have pretty similar properties, they can be marinated pretty well, and can be grilled at high heat as long as they’re cut properly (against the grain). I tend to use flank steak when making Chinese dishes, since it absorbs the flavors well, and the texture isn’t a bother when they’re cut properly to stir-fry size.
The default cheap-meats prescription is usually for stews or braising and whatnot. But that isn’t great for the summer.
I have a grinder attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer. I buy the cheapest cuts (untrimmed brisket or chuck) and grind my own hamburger meat. Best burgers ever.
You can get a very similar effect in a Cuisinart if, like me, you don’t have a grinder. The end result has a little more texture, but it’s still a worthwhile product.
In my opinion chicken thighs are the best cut of chicken for grilling because they have enough fat that they won’t dry out. For a little extra flavor I like to shake on some sauce while it’s grilling, composed of worcestershire and up to half whatever else you’ve got around. Wine, teriyaki, orange juice, pineapple juice, whatever, it’s all good. Even better is to skip the liquid sauce and brush on a thick tomato-based BBQ sauce so it can caramelize on the fire.
Yeah, I’ve had good results with chicken breast meat on kabobs, but otherwise generally avoid breasts (no, not going there unlike some others). Otherwise my favorite are the thighs (and wings, but they are pricier) - just smoked up a batch in the Traeger last night.
I get Santa Maria style tri-tip from Costco, and that turns out just amazing. Not sure I’d call tri-tip inexpensive, though.
Santa Maria Tri-Tip is a California thing, I think. I have a Meat Market (that is it’s name) right down the street from that prepares Tri-tip in several ways, you can cook it or they cook them during the day. When the wind blows in certain directions it is heavenly.
