Thursday, October 10, 2013

FFwD: Boeuf a la Mode: Thwarted

I had every intention of cooking this week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe on time. The weather is turning slightly chilly here, and some sort of pot-roastey thing sounded pretty good. I went to the Commissary on Monday to buy any of the three cuts of beef that Dorie suggests, but...
Empty. The meat section was completely bare. I think it's funny that there are rows of barbeque sauce lined up sporadically. Here, put some bbq sauce on your...nothing.

Beef is exorbitantly expensive at Italian supermarkets, and does not come in the cuts we Americans would expect. There are a lot of very thin-cut slabs of beef. Nothing roastable. Cows aren't really local here, which I suppose explains the high prices. When I want beef, I rely on the Commissary. "Rely on" may be too strong a word. When I want beef, I drive 40 minutes to the Commissary and hope that they're in stock.

For what it's worth, this has nothing to do with the government shutdown. This is the worst I've seen it, but the meat section has been pretty poorly stocked whenever I've gone for the past few weeks.

A friend tells me the shelves were in decent shape when she went yesterday, so hopefully I'll be able to make Dorie's beef next week.

15 comments:

  1. Well, I made the wrong recipe from the book this week, so I will be not have a pot roast either...
    Those are some empty shelves!

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  2. That looks like the shelves around here when a blizzard is predicted :/ Wow!

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  4. I'm Italian American and that explains why Italians don't do beef.

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  5. Liz is right. When we have a storm in the midwest or here in Colorado. the grocery shelves and counters go bare very quickly. This is exactly "the look". This is a good recipe and, when meat is available, I encourage you to try it. I am so sorry you couldn't do it this week.

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  6. Stock up when there is supply and make it then! 5stars for your effort for the 40mins drive!

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  7. What a sad picture. It says "disappointment" loud and clear. Hope that whatever you did make for dinner was delicious.

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  8. Oh no! What can you do when the cupboard is bare?

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  9. My work computer has the Blogger unfriendliest browser! Maybe a similar roast can be made with lamb loin or another easier to find protein for you. It's like a hurricane went through the commissary.

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  10. Oh, what a sad, sad state of affairs! It makes me realize how spoiled we are to always have well-stocked grocery shelves. And if I can't find something at one store, I drive 5 minutes to another one.

    Kudos to you for the effort. Definitely make this one when you get a chance. It's well worth the wait.

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  11. I also am so surprised to hear of this- but I thank you for taking those photos as we really had to see it to believe it. It makes me feel really guilty for grumbling to myself as I marinated my meat on THURS night....but I only had to drive 5 minutes and the wine store was next to the grocery store. A plus for effort- 40 minutes away, egads.

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  12. LOL this happened all the time to us in England! But it was due to either a recall in the States or a lack of product (you know that the beef is USDA that shipped overseas to Germany and distributed to other commissaries in Europe?... so if their supply received was short, then the rest of the commissaries supplies will suffer until the next shipment)... You could easily make this with lamb or pork though - whichever is cheapest, and if you use a cheap cut of meat and make sure you cook it long and slow, it will be melting in your mouth tender too : )
    Good luck!

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  13. OMG! That is pretty funny. Well, if it makes you feel better I had to go to 4 markets in Palm Springs to find a roast - guess our markets felt it was still too hot to roast anything.

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  14. Wow; I'd have been pretty grouchy to see such bare shelves after a 40 minute drive. I didn't love this one but haven't gotten around to posting it yet. Hopefully this week.

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