Body Complex

Veg and pantry are easy. It's meat stuff that is harder. I'll break down a fish and do it all myself, same as poultry, and that's usually cheaper than having the butcher do it.  If you buy two chicken breasts, two wings, two legs, two thighs from the butcher it is so much more expensive than just buying a chicken! All birds are the same. 

Chicken/turkey/duck/partridge/pheasant/etc. are all the same. If you can do one you can do all. Mammals don't usually fall into this spectrum. I broke down a lamb in culinary school. Ribs? Check. Shoulder blades? Check. Spine? Check. Knees? Check. All mammals are built the same. J. used to be a massage therapist, and we have talked about her massaging me vs. the dog vs. the cat. All mammals are the same. If you can do one you can do all.

And yet where can I buy a whole mammal? You can't normally just buy a cow at the market (only rabbits, but not from Fresh Direct). This is where there is the weird medley between the depression era and nouveau fancy green eating. I should be able to buy a whole animal and use everything. No waste. Bones for stock, fried, spiced offal meats, tenderloin, braised shanks, loin chops, shoulder roast, barbecue ribs, braised belly, flank steaks, hanger steaks, head cheese, crispy skin, stew the rest. I could live off of half a pig for a month.

The weird thing is how the industry is built. There's only one flank steak in a cow. There are four shanks; have you ever seen one on a menu? I would die for a plate of monkfish livers and cheeks.