Restaurants

[Paul]

Been thinking about this. We make our own beef burgers. 750gm minced beef, onions, bread crumbs, seasoning, egg. Mix together and you have 8-10 burgers very quickly. We tend to jazz them up a bit but that's the basics. I haven't tried but I reckon it could be bulked out further.

The beef is the main cost at £4, which puts the burgers at around 40p each.

Tesco value burgers are £1 for 8, 12.5p each. How do we expect low income families to make the correct choices? Cheap filling food or nutritious home made food at three times the price?

I could make 750g of mince go much further though.

[adopted scouser]

Been thinking about this. We make our own beef burgers. 750gm minced beef, onions, bread crumbs, seasoning, egg. Mix together and you have 8-10 burgers very quickly. We tend to jazz them up a bit but that's the basics. I haven't tried but I reckon it could be bulked out further.

The beef is the main cost at £4, which puts the burgers at around 40p each.

Tesco value burgers are £1 for 8, 12.5p each. How do we expect low income families to make the correct choices? Cheap filling food or nutritious home made food at three times the price?

I could make 750g of mince go much further though.

Ketchup and garlic

[T.J.Newton]

I like to make my own burgers sometimes, i usually just buy the cheapest pack of beef mince in asda(under £2), give the meat a real good pounding(hmmhmm!) fill it out with some breadcrums and ingreidients of your preferance(il like thinly sliced hot chillis and little cubes cheddar), an egg white to hold it together and seaoning(salt, pepper+ il like smoked paprika). also sometimes like too use the cheap Beef/pork mixed minced meat asda sell(about£1.50 a pack i think), i wouldnt bother buying good qulity lean minced meat, i find its to chewy for burgers(you need that fat to keep it juicy and tender)

and i imagine if you make a batch you can put them in the freezer for a month or so.

Edited February 13, 2013 by T.J.Newton

[thenodrog]

I like to make my own burgers sometimes, i usually just buy the cheapest pack of beef mince in asda(under £2), give the meat a real good pounding(hmmhmm!) fill it out with some breadcrums and ingreidients of your preferance(il like thinly sliced hot chillis and little cubes cheddar), an egg white to hold it together and seaoning(salt, pepper+ il like smoked paprika). also sometimes like too use the cheap Beef/pork mixed minced meat asda sell(about£1.50 a pack i think), i wouldnt bother buying good qulity lean minced meat, i find its to chewy for burgers(you need that fat to keep it juicy and tender)

and i imagine if you make a batch you can put them in the freezer for a month or so.

Sounds good TJ but I doubt you'll get that again at that price now that meat is being subject to stringent D N Neigh testing!

Here are the fatstock market 'deadweight' prices for cattle last week....

http://www.eblex.org.uk/markets/deadweight_cattle.aspx

Cow price info which (should) constitute most mince and beef for manufactured food products are at the bottom of the page.

Edited February 14, 2013 by thenodrog

[Paul]

Thenodrog I heard a news item which stated horse meat sells at £600/ton and beef £3000/ton. The beef price seems broadly consistent with your figures. Have I read them correctly? Are these prices for what one would consider quality meat - not mechanically rescued scrapings etc?k

I was thinking about this in relation to Tesco and McDonalds. At £3000/ton a "quarter pounder" has a beef cost of 33p with McD selling at £1.99 - £2.69. I'm not sure if that's good or bad news but it possibly suggests the meat quality is better than I imagined.

Tesco say there value burgers are 100% British beef. How then does Romania get involved MF Tesco?

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/tesco-price-comparison/Frozen_Meat/Tesco_Everyday_Value_Beef_Burgers_8_per_pack_397g.html

[T.J.Newton]

Surely there's not actually enough horse meat around for it to become a staple meat source in this country to really rival beef/pork(not without tge price eventually increasing to match beef/pork,etc..)

[thenodrog]

Surely there's not actually enough horse meat around for it to become a staple meat source in this country to really rival beef/pork(not without tge price eventually increasing to match beef/pork,etc..)

No. Truth is that because of stringent production regulations, ruthless supermarket purchasing of cheap imports we can no longer feed ourselves. Off the top of my head I think we are down to approx 25% self sufficiency in pork. However in the cheap 'value' foods horse obviously has been seen as a route to profit.

UK producers have had to adopt stringent welfare and production procedures with pork as well as poultry meat and egg production. Battery cages and pig farrowing crates have been outlawed across Europe but unfortunately many of our EU members have chosen not to implement

the changes as we have done, preferring instead to give their agriculture a cost advantage. Level playing fields do not exist across the EU.

[thenodrog]

Thenodrog I heard a news item which stated horse meat sells at £600/ton and beef £3000/ton. The beef price seems broadly consistent with your figures. Have I read them correctly? Are these prices for what one would consider quality meat - not mechanically rescued scrapings etc?k

I was thinking about this in relation to Tesco and McDonalds. At £3000/ton a "quarter pounder" has a beef cost of 33p with McD selling at £1.99 - £2.69. I'm not sure if that's good or bad news but it possibly suggests the meat quality is better than I imagined.

Tesco say there value burgers are 100% British beef. How then does Romania get involved MF Tesco?

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/tesco-price-comparison/Frozen_Meat/Tesco_Everyday_Value_Beef_Burgers_8_per_pack_397g.html

Go figure with this Paul..... Trading Standards.. http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/shropshire/bus1item.cgi?file=*BADV604-1001.txt

Beefburgers only need to contain 62% beef whilst "Value burgers" only need contain 47% beef! So when the packaging was printed as long as the beef used comes from Britain and Ireland it was OK and printed in good faith even though 53% will be made up of various other cheap fillers. (Lets not discount cross border trading here with the Republic which goes on under the radar. Lets also not lose sight of the amount of growth promoters still widely, but illegally used in Irelend.)

In Tesco's case I'd make the assumption that they in keeping with other supermarkets of course have driven the price paid to their suppliers down so much in what is a rapidly inflating marketplace that their suppliers have 'cheated' in order to survive. Lets rem that the pressure is on the big boys, last quarter figures showed Tesco had made a loss for the first time in years and all the major supermarkets have readily admitted that they have been steadily losing market share to the likes of Aldi/Lidl/Netto etc since Labour led us into deep recession . Couple this to the fact that all supermarkets hate dealing in fresh meat and fish. It's a short shelf life and it's much lower profit margin than other things like frozen ready meals which they just love to sell. They see provision of fresh produce only as a necessary evil and something that they have to do in order to provide one stop shopping for Mrs Housewife

Supplier... "Please Mr Tesco... most of our business is with you and beef prices have risen astronomically and we are losing hand over fist on our deal so please can I have some more money?"

tesco..... "No. Go to hell. If you put your prices up you are sacked and all that packaging you have had to buy will have to be binned"

Supplier.... OK. Sorry Mr Tesco sir.

picks phone up.... "Jerzy ... my friend. Hows the weather in Eastern Europe? Do you still have a few tonnes left of that cheap meat you were offering me last week?

The world of the supermarket is murky to say the least. And as Sec of State Owen Patterson MP has shamefully admitted many times this week the Food agencies in which we place our trust to monitor our food are only concerned with health issues. i.e. if it doesn't harm or kill you we don't particularly care what it is or what is in it.

Like all things in life the answer is for everyone to place trust only in themselves and never to trust completely anybody else!

btw it seems this message is hitting home. I went to my usual butcher this morning and he told me he's run off his feet all of a sudden and Sat he completely sold out!

Edited February 15, 2013 by thenodrog

[ABBEY]

I dread to think what is in tescos cheap lager.

Got thrown out of tescos earlier .. I only said I was starving and could eat a horse .

[Paul]

Well getting back to real food. Anyone visiting Cardiff for rugby or football could do far worse than stay at Dexby Town House hotel and eat at The Cricketers. Both on Cathedral Road, ten minutes from the stadiums.

Restaurant quality food in a pub converted from Victorian houses. Just had chicken livers and bacon in a brandy cream sauce followed by lamb rump with celeriac, roast sweet potato, roast carrots and wilted spinach. £22. Excellent quality and value

[ABBEY]

I used to lodge in a diss house all but on cathedral td when I worked there for three months .there used to be a pub up the rd , the halfway way house ( maybe ) . It did the biggest and best mixed grills I've EVER had ,

[Blue n White Rover]

Nice to see the England Captain return to Bukhara again last night. Twice in 2 weeks for him!

[Tom]

Good for them but I'm still not seeing the relevance of it, footballers aren't renown for their good taste

Tang tonight (rated number 1 Preston restaurant on trip advisor) think ill avoid the ducks tongues and the like and stick to the more traditional fare

[Doug]

Had another great meal at the Red Lion in Hawkshaw the other day. Black pudding with bacon, cheese and mustard for starter was superb. Lamb Shank with mash, gravy and veg for main. The lamb was excellent, so tender and fell off the bone...wow. there was over 20 of us, there were several bottles of wine, loads of pints and it came to £26 each including a hefty tip.

Edited February 16, 2013 by 12milesfromewood

[thenodrog]

Nice to see the England Captain return to Bukhara again last night. Twice in 2 weeks for him!

I'll bet he doesn't get a bill! Am I right BnW?

[Blue n White Rover]

I'll bet he doesn't get a bill! Am I right BnW?

Of course he does, he doesn't play for Rovers! ;-)

[Gav]

Nice to see the England Captain return to Bukhara again last night. Twice in 2 weeks for him!

Has he seen the 3/5 review? that after weeks to make things right?

We went to Zinc again yesterday Manchester near the corn exchange, very good food, consistent and a good setting. 2 courses for £13, fish cakes to start and steak and chips for main, bottle of Malbec, very nice indeed.

Edited February 17, 2013 by GAV

[Guest Norbert]

If you're ever in Coventry, China Red is good. And if you are going to, or from the Ricoh, there is a place on Foleshill Road called the Eastern Diner. It is a bit of everything chicken and chips, curry, pizza and they make home made samosas.

Of course, the usefulness this information is dependant on if we play Coventry City (or Nuneaton Town I suppose), and if Coventry are still at the Ricoh which is by no means certain.

[Tom]

Tang was ok

Not quite sure how its got its number one restaurant in Preston status on trip advisor though from what we experienced. The place itself is a little shabby but the food was good just not notably better than most Chinese restaurants.

Where it may excel however is they have a selection of more unusual dishes (chicken feet, jellyfish, intestines and ducks tongues etc)

The manager was a real gent though, gave us a round of drinks on the house on arrival as our table hadnt been vacated in time by the previous party, to say there was 22 of us that was quite a kind gesture

[thenodrog]

Tang was ok

Not quite sure how its got its number one restaurant in Preston status on trip advisor though from what we experienced. The place itself is a little shabby but the food was good just not notably better than most Chinese restaurants.

Where it may excel however is they have a selection of more unusual dishes (chicken feet, jellyfish, intestines and ducks tongues etc)

The manager was a real gent though, gave us a round of drinks on the house on arrival as our table hadnt been vacated in time by the previous party, to say there was 22 of us that was quite a kind gesture

Indeed so Tom..... but just how profitable must chinese food be? Don't know about jellyfish but the main ingredients for those other 'more unusual' dishes will prob be free. Nothing wrong with them of course but the likes of Swarbrick and Johnson in Goosnargh and other large scale poultry and duck meat producers would have been paying money to companies just to get rid of them to zoo's, mink and maggot farms and landfill ..... until the chinese got wind of it.

Edited February 18, 2013 by thenodrog

[adopted scouser]

Park Plaza Hotel by Westminster Bridge last night, food and Hotel were spectacular

[Sparky Marky]

Park Plaza Hotel by Westminster Bridge last night, food and Hotel were spectacular

Get you.

[adopted scouser]

Get you.

Pressie, I was 50 yesterday ! Some place that, they put a huge picture frame outside so you could stand inside it and have your picture taken with Westminster behind you, nice touch

[thenodrog]

Happy Birthday Nick.

Quite right to make the most of it....... unfortunately it's all downhill from now on.

[gumboots]

Speak for yourself Gordon - I've been to more places since i turned 50 than I had in the decade before, largely since I had no money because of the 4 kids. A health scare made me realise that, what the heck, I'd better get on with things. I've run 5k, further than ever in my life before, visited cities I'd wanted to see for a long time, I was in London at the weekend for a West End show, am off to France tomorrow for a bit of chateau style pampering and am having fun. Life may not begin at 50 but it certainly isn't even beginning to end.