No one here likes turkey and we’re sick of ham. That’s my dilemma. That and the other cuts of meat that are on sale this week are either high dollar or junk cuts. Maybe I can talk my neighbor/buddy out of some venison.
Beef tips on rice. Reasonably priced meat cuts and...who doesn’t like rice and gravy?
My family doesn’t like turkey much either, and definitely not dark meat. I have been eating baked chicken breasts in lieu of turkey for Thanksgiving for many years. The chicken breast is juicier than turkey breast and goes well with all the traditional side dishes and cornbread dressing.
Even people who normally don't care much for turkey wolf meat prepared this way down. We have never had even a scrap go to waste.
This year our youngest daughter and her family are not coming in from back east, so we might just take a break and put a stuffed chicken in the air oven, and just have my parents over instead of the usual large gathering. It gets a little tiring when my wife and I do all the work year after year.
Get a half or whole beef tenderloin. That is what a filet mignon is cut from.
Get one that uncooked is 1 1/4” per person. It will be well less than an inch per person when cooked. Add for one extra person.
Salt and Pepper the exterior of the tenderloin. Allow to come near room temperature. Pre-heat oven to 475.
Place in oven on open broiler pan or roasting pan so exterior will sear.
Have a good meat thermometer.
At 20 minutes check internal temp. I like to pull it at 125 degrees. Let it cool for 15 minutes and then slice into steaks. Exterior of each slice will be Well and Center of the slice will be medium rare. Cook longer if desired and have a grill pan on the stove to add doneness to those who don’t like pink.
Easy to make, fairly cheap and who doesn't like ribs?
You can even serve corn bread dressing and green beans and they will fit right in.
Some folks opt for lasagna or tamales. Both are dirt cheap if homemade. Store bought tamales are ridiculously expensive and usually inedible. Those purchased from “that lady in town” start at $2 each for little bitty ones and don’t even ask how high online tamales cost.
Tamales take a while to make but are WELL worth it. Pork shoulder roast is on sale for $1/lb at our grocery store this week. Normally can be found less than $2/lb. The only other things you probably don’t already have in your pantry are a bag of corn husks and a bag of masa harina and perhaps a jar of bay leaves. The masa harina and corn husks will last for many batches so the cost is spread out.
No need to purchase lard because you can use the cooled fat from the roast. Save any fats you’ve had over the past few days, i.e. bacon. You also don’t need to have a tall pot to stand prepared tamales upright. Just put a steamer rack in a large pot and lay the uncooked tamales sideways in it. One roast should be enough to freeze excess cooked tamales. Or you’ll have plenty of pulled pork to freeze for other uses.
Most any recipe that calls for paprika, chili powder, onions, bay leaves, etc. should work fine. I posted my recipe on the FR Cooking Thread but can’t find it right now.
To save on the corn husks, fill them as large as you can. The bottom end doesn’t need to be folded up any more than an inch or maybe 1 1/2 inches. No need to tie them up, either.
The meat can be cooked one day and made into tamales the next.