I agree. Other than short comedy bits, I never instead tiktoks, shorts, etc. I think longer form videos are superior. But this series shows me where shorts (tiktoks, IG reels) can be the better the format.
Nice job on the new series. It even has my dad who is terrified of cooking taking notes. It’s informative and concise, and you treat the viewer as an equal. It reminds me a bit of ATK. Keep up the good work my dude.
Holy shit. This might just be the most helpful Confusing Grocery episode to date! Beef cuts in particular have always perplexed me, and as someone trying to delve deeper into the methodology behind dishes that celebrate red meat, trying to find the equivalent cuts outside of the US has always proved an awkward hurdle in that journey. That little tidbit at the end might just be a game-changer. Thanks Net Shaq!
I have done this entire rabbit hole, the secret for me was to find a meat dictionary explaining American cuts in my own country's language(Dutch). From there it was easy to learn all the different way cows can be broken down in various cultures.
God you have just answered so many questions for me as a Mexican American, we always go to the carneceria for arrachera and I never knew what made it different from regalar grocery store skirt steak
They come from different rib areas of the animal, usually pork (but beef ribs cut from the ribeye are great too). Pork back ribs are my preferred rib. The other styles are much tougher, drier cuts that still cost about the same on sale. Pretty much all of them are frozen at some point in their journey, so they all taste about the same, which means it comes down to final texture. I use a homemade BBQ sauce for my ribs because store bought BBQ sauce isn't all that great.
@@privacyvalued4134 Spare ribs are definitely more juicy than baby backs. They have MUCH more fat and connective tissue, so it just takes time to render all that down.
You probably don't want to do that for too long. I know someone who ate eggs for three months straight as a child for every meal, because their family couldn't afford anything else, and 40+ years later still can't stand the smell, taste, or texture of eggs. Some local food banks have refrigeration capabilities and will carry various fresh meat products. And be honest with friends and family.
Eggs are not the only cheap protein. On a very good sale, I can get eggs at around 97 cents per dozen, but normally $1.97. A dozen eggs produces about 1 1/4 lbs of weight. Chicken is roughly as cheap at around 99 cents per pound on an average sale. I've seen pork chops sell at around the same price as chicken. There's a pork roast this week on sale for 99 cents per pound in my area. Hamburger is around $2.97/lb during a good sale.
Really great job at breaking down what you call the intricacies of cooking. It's true too many people don't care about the knowledge and just want food!
I can't stress enough how I like this channel, I know quite a lot about food and nutrition but there's still more to learn and you always manage to put out so much info which is so easy to comprehend❤
This is the content I need! My husband, who comes from a family of butchers, will send me to the store for meat and it always ends in me standing at the cooler looking like it's my first day on Earth. Steak? What is steak? There are like 6 things here that say "steak" and they all look different and cost wildly different prices. And then add that he is Brazilian, so sometimes he calls it something different or they cut it differently here. Picanha? Sure the guys says they have that. Oh, wait they cut the fat cap off for some reason. Now its sad picanah.
Skirt steak is by far my favorite cut of beef. Idk if its becoming more mainstream or i judt didnt notice until i got older and started cooking for myself but it always puts a smile on my face to see people talking about it.
Im not even that into cooking, but Shaquille has a way of making this seem like the most interesting in the world and its making me want to get into learning how to cook for reals.
@@twelvecatsinatrenchcoat no, it's because it's become a fad, they want you to eat the meat but they also want to get rich off of you eating the meat Skirt steak used to be a cheap cut in the states until YT ppl figured out what the mexicans had known all along See also: avocados
I love skirt steak, and you can tell the difference really easily where I buy it even though they don't label it as inside or outside skirt. One comes as a single large sheet of meat, but the better one vibes as the small pieces to make it up to roughly the right weight. The three pieces are clearly different as they contain a lot of marbled fat, whereas the true skirt steak has much less fat which appears in patches. I cook the marbled version as regular steak, and it is way better than you'd think... But I use the sheet version for jerky. I appreciate the texture in the steak but less so in jerky, so I cut it across the grain for a softer result.
I think one grocery that can get me is the evaporated milk vs sweetened condensed milk, since i don't use it often it's hard to remember the difference
Evaporated milk is thin, lightly toasted in flavor, and only contains somewhat concentrated sugar found already in milk. You can dilute this to get shelf stable normal milk. Condensed milk is thick like caramel, extremely sweetened, and is used only in desserts and candies. I couldn’t imagine wanting to eat a savory soup that had condensed milk added instead of normal or evaporated milk. Condensed milk is used to make dulce de leche, my very favorite dessert topping.
i recently did a test where i grilled both inside and outside skirt. i wanted to see if i noticed a difference, considering one is way more expensive. i actually preferred the cheaper inside skirt. yes, the outside skirt was more tender, but the inside skirt had better flavor to me, and it was still tender enough that this attribute didn't make a difference to me. part of that could be due to the inside skirt being smaller in thickness, which allowed for a higher flavor (via my marinade) to meat ratio. i'm happy to prefer the cheaper inside skirt steak, considering outside skirt is nearly double the price here!
Love this series and specifically you are the first person I’ve ever seen to clearly describe Arrechera! Would love to see a video sometime on some of the unique items in a mexican grocery or maybe just some of the unique cuts from the carniceria. Like how do you use 7 bone steak??
Would inner skirt then be the superior choice for a stew? Broiling/simmering for hours tend to be better on tougher cuts, though cheeks, tail or chest are those I'd usually use..
I like to sous vide any of those kinds of cuts. It takes a few hours but little effort, and then a minute or so to crisp and color it in a hot pan or grill.
I cook oiled and seasoned skirt steak (almost always rhe cheap supermarket version) directly on a bed of coals for abot 90 seconds. No foil or anything, just right on the coals. Then it sits for about 10 minutes. Its divine after that.
I had a friend who for 30 years tried to write a book about American butchery, because every cut of meat have several names. Sadly they got cancer before they could finish it.
In puerto rico it is called churrasco and it is expensive for some reason. I imagine it is because of demand, since it is a staple in puerto rican menus.
I think the worst part for me is that my country uses different names and even cuts when it comes to beef so a large portion of information on the internet either does not apply, requires further research, or will come with qualifiers
What about the best beefs for beef jerky? A lot of people say London broil, but I've always found that to come out too dry and not very juicy, even though I marinated it! Secondly, best beefs for pot roasts?
In the meat markets where I’ve bought “Arrachera” the Hispanic butchers are cutting from a Flap steak that is a cut of beef from the bottom sirloin. Am I getting ripped off?
I don't know what's going on, but the skirt/ flank steak prices in my area have been insane i can get a t bone or a porterhouse for just 1 or 2 $/lb more.
Wasn't paying attention when shopping and ended up with tough cut. In that I was thinking that I could cook it long and slow not thinking about that it is steak vs a roast cut. Thus have any done the long and slow roast method on it having a good result?
The outside skirt is the actual skirt. The inside skirt is the diaphragm of the cow, and it's labeled "skirt" because otherwise most people don't buy it.
When I was a kid, my mother bought skirt steak because it was so cheap. She had 7 mouths to feed. Nowadays, I can’t believe how expensive it is. It’s just crazy how fads go. And, isn’t it always there under a rack of ribs? Bonus meat 😊