stay in the shallow end

unfortunately, not too great

I was looking through the Google searches that led people to my site, and it was mostly what I expected: my name, charlottesville restaurants, etc. Then I noticed this:

The first step is admitting you have a problem: My name is Anoop, and I hoard meat.

• First we have a bag of Ahi Tuna Steaks from Costco. These are individually wrapped sashimi grade tuna steaks that were flash frozen on the boat they were caught on. I like to sear them for about 90 seconds on each side and serve them with the raw center. I know some of you are thinking, “How can frozen tuna be sashimi grade?” Well, the so-called “fresh tuna” on the shelf at your grocery store has more than likely also been previously frozen. These are cheap and delicious.

• Then we have some peeled frozen shrimp, also from Costco. Nothing special to say about them. They are from Costco, so they are cheap.

• Harris Teeter generally runs a sale on a different cut of their Angus beef every week. On the weeks they have porterhouses for $5.99/lb, I try to get their early, ask the butcher to cut me some extra thick steaks off the end of a new slab that has the big filets, and stock up. I’ve got two steaks here that add up to five and a half pounds of meat.

• From the left to the center, you can see some cuts of beef wrapped in white paper and three one pound bags of ground beef. The steaks are a sirloin, rib, cube, and top round. There was actually another bag of ground beef earlier, but we had tacos tonight. These all come from Horse and Buggy Produce and come from steer that are locally grown, pasture raised, and free of antibiotics and hormones. The business end of how Horse and Buggy can sell beef this way is interesting. I had to buy one-eighth of a live steer. I’ll write more about it some other time.

• Nestled in the middle of all that pasture-raised beef is a vacuum sealed pack of precooked turkey sausages for when I have a craving for a homemade McMuffin.

• The sausages below the paper-wrapped beef are Amy’s Andouille Chicken Sausages, again from Costco. These are also pre-cooked. They are spicy and excellent for grilling.

• I received my first share of beef from Horse and Buggy last week. Before that, I used to purchase organic ground beef from Costco in four-packs of one-pound sealed bags. Here you can see my last remaining one to the right of the sausage.

• At the bottom left, I’ve got a rack of pork ribs. I’ll prepare them with a modified version of this recipe, which makes some damn fine ribs.

• Below the ground beef is a pork tenderloin. Tasha likes to say, “Pork tenderloin is a very underrated meat.” Truer words have never been spoken. I have a very compelling recipe involving garlic, rosemary, and balsamic vinegar that I’ve been wanting to try for ages.

• On the right, we have two boston butts totaling sixteen pounds or so. One of these will turn into pork and chipotle tacos. The other one will be my first attempt at “low and slow” barbecue. Wanna come over?

• Finally, we get to the ziploc bag between the ribs and one of the pork butts. This is catfish nuggets marinating in a simple (but spicy as hell) paste that my mom invented. It’s one of my favorite seafood recipes. I can’t decide if I’m going to grill them on a skewer or pan fry them in some oil. Either way, they will be delicious.

I haven’t added it up, but I’m estimating that there is forty pounds of meat in the freezer. That is a lot of meat. Mmmmmm… meat… I think it’s time to thaw out one of those porterhouses!