Consumers Beef Over Meat Prices (Ranchers love Atkins)

cbs ^ | 11-7-03

[steppenwolffe]

At Gorat's Steakhouse in Omaha, Nebraska, they've had to do something they don't like to do -- raise the price of a steak dinner three times since spring.

"I hate it, because you know, I want the average family to be able to come in and enjoy a meal. But, the way it's going, it's tough on them," says Louis Gorat, the owner.

Beef prices already at record highs are still on the rise, selling for 30 to 40 percent more than this time last year due to increased consumer demand and supply shortages, reports CBS News Correspondent Cynthia Bowers.

After a number of lean years, the beef industry finally has what it wants. Thanks to popular diets like Atkins and South Beach, Americans finally feel like its OK to eat meat again. The only thing is, they may no longer be able to afford it.

For cattlemen like Bill Rhea, it's a time of contradictions. "People don’t know how to react, don’t know what to do," he says.

With a ban on imports from Canada due to the mad cow scare, he's finally making good money on his stock. But he worries about a possible backlash.

"It's like anything else, we're gonna price ourselves out of the market," Rhea says. "We're going to run up against a price wall where the consumer says 'Hey, I can't afford this.'"

Bill Barnhisel thinks he's already hitting that wall at his Chicago meat market, where prices are forcing customers to make a choice.

"I think people are buying, maybe shying away from some of the more expensive cuts, maybe buying a lesser cut," says Barnhisel. "So instead of having a steak, maybe they're making a taco one night, or making some hamburgers or something."

You may want to keep those meatloaf recipes handy, because prices are likely to be something to beef about for some time to come.

[dtel]

Longhorns get killed at the local sale barns.
If you have a local Longhorn sale, the prices are somewhat better.
For example, in East Texas we have The Best of West sale every two weeks, good cows and bulls will fetch pretty decent prices.

[Oorang]

MAPLE-BARBECUED SPOTTED OWL

1/2 cup white-wine vinegar 1 tablespoon salt 1 cup vegetable oil 5 whole spotted owl breasts (with skin and bone), halved 10 spotted owl thighs 10 spotted owl drumsticks 10 spotted owl wings

maple barbecue sauce (recipe follows) for basting and as an accompaniment

For maple barbecue sauce:2 large onions, chopped fine 2 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard 1 1/4 cups ketchup 2 1/2 cups chicken broth 3/4 cup cider vinegar 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup In a bowl whisk together the vinegar and the salt, add the oil in a stream, whisking, and whisk the marinade until it is emulsified.

Divide the owl pieces between 2 large bowls, pour the marinade over them, and let the owl marinate, covered and chilled, overnight. Grill the owl on an oiled rack set about 4 inches over glowing coals for 10 minutes on each side, or until it is cooked through, baste it with some of the barbecue sauce, and grill it, turning it, for 2 minutes more. Serve the owl with the remaining sauce. Make maple barbecue sauce:In a large heavy saucepan combine the onions, the oil, the Worcestershire sauce, the mustard, the ketchup, the broth, the vinegar, and the syrup, bring the mixture to a boil, and simmer it, stirring occasionally, for 50 minutes, or until it is reduced to about 3 1/3 cups. The sauce may be made 1 week in advance and kept covered and chilled. Makes about 3 1/3 cups.

Serves 8 with leftovers

[Oorang]

Wow, I would be thrilled to get $2.00 p/pound. Our Angus steers are going to the butcher in a couple of weeks and we have them all sold at $1.50 (sold as halves) hanging weight.
I could never go back to grocery store beef. Raising our own we know what we are eating. No hormones, etc. They are fed high quality hay, a mixture of oats, barley and molasses and the last month lots of corn (as well as pasture grass). They are as good as the cuts you get from the Omaha Beef mail order place and all for $1.50 p/pound.

[hispanarepublicana]

RoTel is a brand of chopped tomatoes with green chiles. You could probably just use chopped, stewed tomatoes. Also, I suppose it would be alright to prepare it without the beans......although, they do contribute to the taste of the dish. By the way, pinto beans are known as one of the lowest glycemic dishes in existence, as is prickly pear (nopalitos)--both can be found in the Mexican food sections of the grocery store. I've wondered if more hispanics get diabetes because they are genetically programmed to eat these low glycemic foods and don't for the most part anymore. I've been to homes in Mexico where, every meal, the "diabetic one" at the table is served a helping of nopalitos prepared just for them by the kitchen help.

[mewzilla]

First we think we're entitled to cheap gas. Now it's cheap beef. And prices are high for both for the same reason. Sheesh. Wish consumers would just quit whining.

[mewzilla]

FWIW, pork makes a pretty good green chile stew, too. So does hamburger. Which is pretty close to the recipe up above without the beans, add diced taters instead.

[Snuffington]

With a ban on imports from Canada due to the mad cow scare, he's finally making good money on his stock.

The mad cow scare was an excuse. At most, that would have been a temporary thing, long since lifted.

I think it was really a smack upside Chretien's head for scorning the U. S. in so many ways (the Iraq war was only one) for so many years. Unfortunately, the brunt of it is falling on U. S. friendly Alberta. And of course, the resulting beef shortage is falling on the American consumer.

[hispanarepublicana]

Aaaarrghhh!!!! Too much red wine on a Friday night.......I left out one key ingredient........1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted, goes on right before the RoTel layer!!!!

(Cream of mushroom soup is another ingredient that goes in almost every crockpot recipe.)

[hispanarepublicana]

Please see post #48 for an important correction!

[lodwick]

Check out Ranch Foods Direct

[Carolina]

Heh! I knew I'd find you here. I'll take mine medium rare, please.

[lodwick]

heheh - the price of beef has gone through the roof locally...$24.99/lb for choice, not prime, but choice tenderloin of beef! So anytime I see a cow meat thread, I will check it out to see how others are faring around the country.

Cheers back there.

[Cuttnhorse]

I knew I'd find you (and me) eventually on a food thread! LOL!

[lodwick]

Farm & ranch types have to share our information...

Chilean cheers down there, Cuttn.

[Cuttnhorse]

I can go into the big supermarkets down here in Chile and buy country of origin-labeled beef from Brazil, Argentina, USA, Paraguay or Chile.

Why is there so much resistance to this type of labeling in the US?

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

If beef prices continue to go up, how do you properly prepare a PETA member for the grill?

You would be better off just hunting woodchucks. Once you clean a PETA there is hardly any meat left.

[Free Vulcan]

My parents get their beef from the guy across the road. He uses some antibiotics at birth (required here by the state)and that is it. Corn and pasture fed. Charges them cash beef prices, they have offered him more but he won't take it. Even if they paid $2/lb. it's a steal compared to what you pay for the crap in the store. The meat is so good it about makes you cry.

[gopheraj]

I know but we needed this money fast and Blue Jean was the one to go. He has very good bloodlins too. Classic, Rural Delivery, Pencil Horns.

Oh well. LOL

[gopheraj]

If you'd like I can email you some pics of his "babies" LOL They aint babies anymore. Tipper has almost 6 foot horns. Lasso will be bigger.

[GrandMoM]

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