No Bones About It page

[doublehelix]

Has anyone noticed the entrenched trend of meat departments in grocery stores? Skinned, boneless, cut up meat--very hard to find meat with bones in it. No roasts with bones.

Everyone knows, and chefs always talk about this, how bones make a roast more juicy and flavorful. So does skin on chicken. And fat, holds the juices in meat.
I wonder why no bones. I asked in the meat counter, and "I don't know". I asked the store manager and she said they just don't get many requests for bones in meat. Hmmm.....

We all know people who are afraid of what meat really is. I heard a woman saying how "her meat" had to be in a square shape and not look like it came from an animal. She didn't want to think about that. I bet she liked those old airline meals with the square pieces of fish or chicken with the artificial brown grill lines painted on them.

Bones make the meat weigh more, but you don't eat them, so you're paying for the flavor of the bone, which is awesome! Or give it to your dog...so why are they taking the bones out? Even chicken with bones and skin is hard to find. I think I will get sick if I see one more "boneless chicken breast". Boneheads. What are they doing with the bones? There must be some use for them, that is more profitable than selling them to us.

Jah, you get bones with lamb sometimes. The little chops, rack of lamb if you can find it, or ribs. And I don't care for "frenching" the bones, where they cut the meat away from the bone. That seems just criminal.

I don't have butchers anywhere near me, so I buy meat in the grocery store. I try to stick to the no-hormone or organic or free-range types whenever possible. I bet the answer is a good butcher.

But I remember when there were soup bones, roasts with bones in them, big marrow bones, big joint soup bones, a whole chicken cut up with skin, bones, and even the heart, liver, and giblets. But I would only want to eat really organic chicken livers, the liver being what it is. You even saw beef tongue in the meat aisle.


I've had pork and beef kidneys. I don't see those in stores either. Or oxtails, which make great soup. MMMmmmm.

I want to get daring and try brains. My son said they are really creamy and fatty. He even tried escargot. Snails have to be Paleo.

[PHaselow]

I want a bone in rib eye something BAD! Usually I can find the lamb steaks with bones (and chicken) but that is about it.

Oxtails are pretty plentiful at our co-op. Same with livers. Not much offal unless you go to Europe, I believe. We Americans throw away the most nutritious part of the animal like garbage. I'll admit I'm not with you on trying brains.

[Clymb]

You really can't find any meat with the bone in it? I see that at every grocery store...maybe not as much as there used to be, but there is definitely bone-in meat...even Safeway, Bashas, Walmart, etc have some....pretty sure I saw oxtails at Bashas a couple days ago...do you have any Asian/Latin markets near you? You must, it looks like you live in AZ too??? Those will usually have more of what you're trying to find.

[JoanieL]

I would guess that a lot of people buy boneless, skinless for two main reasons - the low fat is healthy myth, and plain out convenience.

[Urban Forager]

I think the meat gets delivered to the grocery stores w/o the bones. The meat department then cuts it and packages it. I know in the small town I live in there aren't any butchers. I but 1/2 a cow so I get all the bones. the next best thing would be to to check out the Mexican Markets, they probably have goat (chivo) and even if doesn't say organic it probably is raised w/o antibiotics and is pastured.

As a side note I went into an upscale market in a big city the other day and they had the most beautiful meat department, plenty of cuts with bones. The butcher was cutting up a whole lamb.

[Urban Forager]

I think the meat gets delivered to the grocery stores w/o the bones. The meat department then just portions it and packages it. I know in the small town I live in there aren't any butchers. I but 1/2 a cow so I get all the bones. the next best thing would be to to check out the Mexican Markets, they probably have goat (chivo) and even if doesn't say organic it probably is raised w/o antibiotics and is pastured.

As a side note I went into an upscale market in a big city the other day and they had the most beautiful meat department, plenty of cuts with bones. The butcher was cutting up a whole lamb.

[Wildrose]

Hehe. I have to be honest here... I bet the reason they're removing the bones is so that the bones can be processed into things like bone meal and pet food. It makes things more pretty and they get to make more money. Win/win, except for those of us who like bones.

[Damiana]

Asian and other ethnic grocery stores are your best bet for anything close to finding a whole animal. Grocery stores serving the general America family make everything all tidy and skinned and deboned.

By the way, I would not recommend eating brains. There are a whole lot of nasty prion-related diseases you can contract from them. It's not just from domesticated animals force fed their own brethren either, wild animals can get it too. But hey, the incubation period for prion-caused illnesses are super long so if you're willing to risk it...

[doublehelix]

You really can't find any meat with the bone in it? I see that at every grocery store...maybe not as much as there used to be, but there is definitely bone-in meat...even Safeway, Bashas, Walmart, etc have some....pretty sure I saw oxtails at Bashas a couple days ago...do you have any Asian/Latin markets near you? You must, it looks like you live in AZ too??? Those will usually have more of what you're trying to find.

Maybe it's the stores where I am...with the price of gas, I tend to shop local. I will check Basha's when I'm in the valley for oxtails!!

[doublehelix]

Will try these places listed, we do have an Asian market, not close, but when I am down there, I am checking out the meat department!!!