{"id":7083,"date":"2025-08-12T00:17:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T00:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/?p=7083"},"modified":"2025-08-12T00:17:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T00:17:23","slug":"109-and-counting-and-observations-on-cooking-old-meat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/12\/109-and-counting-and-observations-on-cooking-old-meat\/","title":{"rendered":"109 And Counting and Observations on Cooking Old Meat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Greetings and Salutations!
WOW!!!<\/strong>
A guy takes a break and MAN do the comments go full on explosive! Right now as of this typing, there are, no shit 109 comments<\/strong> regarding my situation…

Funny that… there’s a parable in there with that particular number<\/strong> and expulsion maybe? I might be getting a ‘Hint From On High’ maybe?

I mean really?<\/strong>
109 on the nose…

Sheesh… even plain statements and I’m making a ‘statement’ it would seem…. the Editor said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Only 3?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those are rookie numbers… I got to pump those numbers up!

Seriously tho… But for all the concern and advice I greatly appreciate it and y’all who took the time to offer me support and\/or advice. <\/strong>Much love for y’all for all the ‘stuff’

No worries though

Everything is cool. The cathartic aspects was that we didn’t have any serious<\/strong> “must kill each other” issues… no yelling, no serious fights… which is ALWAYS a plus… and Ricky? Well Ricky essentially told her she was lucky AF to have me as a husband… that she should be<\/strong> the wife that a guy like me deserved.

Hence it being Cathartic for me right?

So. THAT <\/strong>was what I was referring to. It was a good weekend. I mean I did find out that her Dad AND Mom BOTH took a header recently. Like some serious<\/strong> header(s) which they should <\/strong>have been hospitalized for, if only for observation and their own good… and DC is, per usual, worthless. In this case the excuse is\/was she has ‘Covid’ and therefor can’t help Mom and Dad lest she ‘infect them’.

Meh.

Not my circus anymore.
Whew
I really feel bad<\/strong> to a certain degree.
Dad was kinder to me than my own Dad to a point.

He deserves better, but I used to tell him, and I did tell him this (and I wasn’t joking) that he needed a stronger ‘Pimp Hand’ with Mom, as she’s not making the best decisions as she tends to run the show, and is not properly rational (in my eyes) due to the early onset of Dementia\/Alzheimer’s anymore…

Add on that the major problem is than NONE of them are willing to state the obvious, and that’s that they no longer have the ability to care for themselves<\/strong>. This is ALSO why Ricky-The-Saint came into play… he’s a retired RN like Gretchen’s Mom, and offered to be a neutral third party IF her Mother went full retard in refusing help… as I recall he said something that “Nurses can talk to nurses, and we listen to each other professionally, and it might help!” and gave us his phone number to call IF she needed backup so to speak.

See… Gretchen’s Mom is ‘sliding down the dementia rails’ if you will. However, BECAUSE she was a nurse, well… as in many instances, the Nurses know as much, as if not better than some of the harebrained Croakers out there, so trying to tell<\/strong> Gretchen’s Mom anything<\/strong> vis-a-vis her mental state or her inability to care for Dad, welp…

Just like a typical Whammenz, she takes it as a personal attack<\/strong><\/em> when we question her choices, and that BECAUSE she was a Nurse, she knows better, and refuses to listen to ANYTHING we try and tell her, even to the detriment of Dad and herself.

Hence the dilemma.

BUT

Like I said and told Gretchen, I’ll be a shoulder to cry on, but as far as me being a performative assistant?

Nah.
Hard Pass.

I mean tonight I am<\/strong> making her Dad a batch of Molasses Cookies as they are<\/strong> his favorite, but as far as me stopping my life, dropping everything, and jumping in the car to be Captain Save-A-Hoe, the (highly unappreciated) White Knight Wonder?

I’m noping the fuck out there.
It’s not personal,
It’s business.

Anyways, I hope that give y’all a bit better understanding of the situation. I mean I saw for myself that Gretchen said point-blank that she’s “…enjoying her freedom!” and that “… she has options.” so she’s got all of that going for her, and I wish her nothing but the best and wish her well with ALLLLL that freedom, and what it entails.

Now…
Last night’s dinner:
I think I’ve mentioned that we have what I call “the never-ending spaghetti sauce” pot. Meaning I’ll make a great<\/strong> meat sauce and as it gets used, I keep adding more of ‘whatever’ we need to keep it going. I got the idea from a video I saw some time ago of a noodle vendor in either Korea or Japan where the noodle soup traces it’s origins back like 200+ years… Meaning the original batch<\/strong> was cooked, and as the time rolled on, well, the pot never emptied as the shop just kept adding<\/strong> to the pot, keeping it fresh, hot and always full.

The never-ending sauce here rolls along the same lines.

When the meat starts running out, I season and cook another couple of pounds and add it. When the sauce-sauce (the tomato part) starts getting low, I add a couple of quarts of sauce. And occasionally, I’ll randomly throw in some diced tomatoes with either onions and peppers, or even a can with chili peppers that would normally be used in a chili.

So last night I cooked up a batch of meatballs as well as a 2.4 pound batch of ground beef. The ground beef was an Aldi bought cheap 80-20 blend. I found is deep<\/strong> in the back of the extreme<\/strong> deep freezer in the garage. The label on it was very interesting <\/strong><\/em>in that the meat had been in storage since late April\/early May of 2024. I took a pic and you can see the deep freeze in this picture:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

$4.09 a pound.
WOWSERS!
The cheapest<\/strong> beef I could find at Publix tonight was this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You might not be able to see it, but that’s $5.49 a pound on sale from $7.07 <\/strong>for a 75-25 split, which is waaay crappier than the 80-20.

Which also brings up another thing.

I had forgotten this particular pile o’dead cow flesh. It was completely and utterly buried in the back of the deep freeze, next to a turkey Sapper got from work from a few years back. I practically had to do the “Ice Man” thing to chisel it out. Surprisingly, ZERO freezer burn and it came out fresh as the day it went into the deep cold.

Now all of you know I’ve always<\/strong> been the ‘primary cook’ here at El Casa del Grande Campisino. I cook with enough regularity that I notice different effects of various ‘things’… and I’m mad at myself for not getting a picture, but after I defrosted the Aldi 80-20, and started cooking it, well… the amount of ‘liquid fat’ that I needed to drain was far less<\/strong> that the 80-20 meat I’ve been cooking as of late.

Like 1\/4 of the amount of liquid.
A LARGE and NOTICIBLE difference!

Meaning the meat I’ve been cooking as of late<\/strong><\/em> which has been and is generally ‘fresh and recent’ I personally think that despite <\/strong>the “80-20 blend” claimed<\/strong><\/em> on the label, the amount of liquid fat leads me to believe it’s more like a 70-30 or even a 65-35 blend… THIS batch had like waaaay less liquid fat that needed to be drained off before being added to the Endless Sauce…

It makes you wonder if they’re ‘adulterating’ the meat with a higher fat content, as the majority of ‘normies’ wouldn’t know nor understand the difference. The only <\/strong>reason I took notice is since I cook ALL the time, that the ‘leavings’ meaning the liquid fat was far less than I was used to.

Considering just how fake, corrupt and ghey we’ve discovered the world really is<\/em><\/strong> I have ZERO doubts that I’m correct in this. Add on I plan to PROVE it in that this want the only package of the meat I found.

There’s an identical<\/strong> pack that was bought and then frozen at the same time. My intent is to buy a ‘current’ pile of ground beef which is labeled 80-20, cook both batches separately, and measure exactly how much fat I drain from each batch<\/strong><\/em>.

I’m curious as to what I find out.
Any bets that the ‘new meat’ versus ‘last years meat’ shows a significant difference? I’m not taking any sucker bets I think…

I’ll poast it when I do it.
It should be entertaining.
Otherwise, I’m back to the normal boring grind. I do have a minor bit of good news however. I’m going back to finish what I started with that Lee Enfield Mark 3 (SMLE). All the emotional baggage and distractions made it hard for me to focus on doing and participating in my passion, the restoration process. I ask you to forgive my reticence, and tell you to watch out as I plan on getting this one<\/strong> done shortly.

It’s going to be something else as the barrel is ‘like new\/used’ with a lot of surface pitting, but the rifling is pristine, <\/strong>which means WHEN (not if) I get this done, I’m going to have a 1921 Short Magazine Lee Enfield that’ll (if I have my way) shooting MOA. I also have the stock repair parts, and the cleaner, so stay tuned. Good things come to those who wait.

So More Later
Big Country<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greetings and Salutations!WOW!!!A guy takes a break and MAN do the comments go full on explosive! Right now as of this typing, there are, no shit 109 comments regarding my situation… Funny that… there’s a parable in there with that particular number and expulsion maybe? I might be getting a ‘Hint From On High’ maybe? … Continue reading “109 And Counting and Observations on Cooking Old Meat”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7083"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7089,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7083\/revisions\/7089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigcountryexpat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}