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If you think the average American supermarket has every kind of meat, cheese, drink, and vegetable, you are in for a big surprise traveling the world. In many

If you think the average American supermarket has every kind of meat, cheese, drink, and vegetable, you are in for a big surprise traveling the world. In many ways American markets have fallen behind relatively poorer countries in variety. Most of what is sold are monocultures and packaged foods. The selection of fresh produce (or any produce) is often disappointing.

MisterBastahrd 2y ago
Yep. For example, one staple dish of Cajuns is called "rice and gravy." Essentially, you sear thinly cut 7-steaks, remove them, cook down some trinity, then add the steaks back with some water or broth and seasonings. That's it. The steaks simmer in the broth for hours and create their own gravy. We serve it over rice, usually accompanied by some roux peas (tres petit pois cooked in a roux with onions and bacon) and cornbread. Simple, easy, flavorful. But I live in Texas now, home of all the cattle, if you believe the marketing. And I can't find 7-steaks unless I go to a Mexican meat market, because the DFW area is so bourgeois nowadays that the steaks simply don't pass muster for the local market. Hell, I'm more likely than not to end up in a Mexican market simply because the produce is better and cheaper. Same with beef shank. Osso bucco is traditionally made with veal shank, and oxtails are all the rage, but I can't find beef shank unless I go to an HEB. Most places don't carry the cut. And if I couldn't find beef shank, I could always go with beef neckbones, but uh... HEB is the only place around me that sells that either.
- marssaxman 2y ago
  > cook down some trinity I've never heard that term; does it refer to mirepoix?
  - selimthegrim 2y ago
    Yes. “Holy trinity” locally.
  - jfengel 2y ago
    Close. It substitutes green pepper for the carrots. It serves pretty much the same culinary purpose as mirepoix.
- selimthegrim 2y ago
  Are 7 steaks the same as hamburger steaks? e: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-bone_roast https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-bone_roast I guess I’ll know now what it means to miss New Orleans when I leave. And here I was worrying about not being able to find collards and turkey necks.
  - MisterBastahrd 2y ago
    Yeah, that's a 7 steak. I guess most people sorta see it as a trash cut, but it's got enough fat in the spaces between muscles that it ends up being a nice gravy. Collards and turkey necks are not hard to find out here. Just don't ever expect to find any good hoghead cheese. I tried some Boar's Head recently and that reminded me of the 1970s era images of stuff suspended in aspic.
- rmccue 2y ago
  As someone who’s not American, I’m unclear; is going to a butcher not an option? Have they been competed out of the market by supermarkets?
  - chasd00 2y ago
    from a google search: "A 7 bone steak is a cut of beef from the chuck section of a cow's front shoulder, which is considered a tough area of the animal.". You're not going to find that in a regular grocery store because not many people will buy it. You will find every other cut of beef, pork, and poultry considered edible though. You can go to a butcher but they're less common than a regular grocery store. Also, butchers usually have less selection since they're a smaller operation. EDIT: i live in Dallas, Texas and "HEB" is just another brand of grocery store so "having to go to HEB" just means having to go to the grocery store.
    - dsr_ 2y ago
      Boston here. Market Basket always has 7bone, Costco never does. Different stores, different clientele.
    - rmccue 2y ago
      > Also, butchers usually have less selection since they're a smaller operation. That’s curious; I’d have thought you’d have more selection since the butcher is, y’know, doing the butchering, so any cut is possible. In the past if I’ve needed an “exotic” cut, the butcher would be where I’d go.
    - jandrewrogers 2y ago
      In most places I've lived, including Seattle, butchers typically buy the whole animal. They move smaller quantities but every possible cut of meat is available, you just have to ask. They may run out of a cut, since availability scales with the number animals they butcher and demand is uneven over the entire animal, or you might want something unusual outside the scope of their default breakdown of the animal, but you can always ask them to reserve that part from the next animal and they've always been happy to oblige in my experience.
- prawn 2y ago
  I have looked a few times in Walmarts and not found duck breast, which is something I eat in Australia once every 2-4 weeks. And also noticed particular cuts of beef that I'd expect are missing. I have been to the US 10+ times, usually 1-9 week roadtrips, and can't remember ever noticing an independent butcher (though sometimes there is an equivalent within a non-Walmart grocery store).
  - maxerickson 2y ago
    Duck just isn't commonly eaten in the US. You probably won't find it at butchers either. Independent butchers aren't all that uncommon. Though, for example, my town has 3-4 grocers that sell meat without having a counter (but I expect you could talk to the butcher at a couple of them), a grocer that does have a counter, and then a couple of independent butchers.
    - prawn 2y ago
      Duck probably isn't eaten here all that much, but at my local supermarket there'd be breasts, Peking Duck flavoured breasts, confit legs, and another Peking Duck kit. In that not-overly-large shopping complex, there are two supermarkets (one of which has loads of European smallgoods, like 40+ types of cheese) and also: independent greengrocer, butcher, fishmonger, bulk grains store, bakery chain, etc. Used to be a poultry-specialist butcher too. Most shopping centres I can think of here will have an independent butcher, plus more separately outside those. There'd be dozens of butchers in a city of about 1 million.
      - maxerickson 2y ago
        My (relatively large in area) county has about 35000 residents.
  - MisterBastahrd 2y ago
    Your best bet for duck related products in the US is probably either an upscale grocery store or an Asian grocer like HMart. They tend to carry a lot of meat and offal products that most groceries in the US don't normally carry.
- adolph 2y ago
  If it weren’t for HEB (CM) and La Michoicana the earth would be a food desert. https://www.lamichoacanameatmarket.com/en/our-company/ https://www.lamichoacanameatmarket.com/en/our-company/
vundercind 2y ago
I think we’re backsliding on choice, if anything. It gets even worse if you look at packaged stuff. “Look, twelve brands of coffee!” but actually it’s three because some of them are owned by the others, or by the same parent company.
- freshpretzels 2y ago
  Do those twelve brands taste different from one another?

MisterBastahrd 2y ago

Yep. For example, one staple dish of Cajuns is called "rice and gravy." Essentially, you sear thinly cut 7-steaks, remove them, cook down some trinity, then add the steaks back with some water or broth and seasonings. That's it. The steaks simmer in the broth for hours and create their own gravy. We serve it over rice, usually accompanied by some roux peas (tres petit pois cooked in a roux with onions and bacon) and cornbread. Simple, easy, flavorful. But I live in Texas now, home of all the cattle, if you believe the marketing. And I can't find 7-steaks unless I go to a Mexican meat market, because the DFW area is so bourgeois nowadays that the steaks simply don't pass muster for the local market. Hell, I'm more likely than not to end up in a Mexican market simply because the produce is better and cheaper. Same with beef shank. Osso bucco is traditionally made with veal shank, and oxtails are all the rage, but I can't find beef shank unless I go to an HEB. Most places don't carry the cut. And if I couldn't find beef shank, I could always go with beef neckbones, but uh... HEB is the only place around me that sells that either.

marssaxman 2y ago
> cook down some trinity I've never heard that term; does it refer to mirepoix?
- selimthegrim 2y ago
  Yes. “Holy trinity” locally.
- jfengel 2y ago
  Close. It substitutes green pepper for the carrots. It serves pretty much the same culinary purpose as mirepoix.
selimthegrim 2y ago
Are 7 steaks the same as hamburger steaks? e: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-bone_roast https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-bone_roast I guess I’ll know now what it means to miss New Orleans when I leave. And here I was worrying about not being able to find collards and turkey necks.
- MisterBastahrd 2y ago
  Yeah, that's a 7 steak. I guess most people sorta see it as a trash cut, but it's got enough fat in the spaces between muscles that it ends up being a nice gravy. Collards and turkey necks are not hard to find out here. Just don't ever expect to find any good hoghead cheese. I tried some Boar's Head recently and that reminded me of the 1970s era images of stuff suspended in aspic.
rmccue 2y ago
As someone who’s not American, I’m unclear; is going to a butcher not an option? Have they been competed out of the market by supermarkets?
- chasd00 2y ago
  from a google search: "A 7 bone steak is a cut of beef from the chuck section of a cow's front shoulder, which is considered a tough area of the animal.". You're not going to find that in a regular grocery store because not many people will buy it. You will find every other cut of beef, pork, and poultry considered edible though. You can go to a butcher but they're less common than a regular grocery store. Also, butchers usually have less selection since they're a smaller operation. EDIT: i live in Dallas, Texas and "HEB" is just another brand of grocery store so "having to go to HEB" just means having to go to the grocery store.
  - dsr_ 2y ago
    Boston here. Market Basket always has 7bone, Costco never does. Different stores, different clientele.
  - rmccue 2y ago
    > Also, butchers usually have less selection since they're a smaller operation. That’s curious; I’d have thought you’d have more selection since the butcher is, y’know, doing the butchering, so any cut is possible. In the past if I’ve needed an “exotic” cut, the butcher would be where I’d go.
  - jandrewrogers 2y ago
    In most places I've lived, including Seattle, butchers typically buy the whole animal. They move smaller quantities but every possible cut of meat is available, you just have to ask. They may run out of a cut, since availability scales with the number animals they butcher and demand is uneven over the entire animal, or you might want something unusual outside the scope of their default breakdown of the animal, but you can always ask them to reserve that part from the next animal and they've always been happy to oblige in my experience.
prawn 2y ago
I have looked a few times in Walmarts and not found duck breast, which is something I eat in Australia once every 2-4 weeks. And also noticed particular cuts of beef that I'd expect are missing. I have been to the US 10+ times, usually 1-9 week roadtrips, and can't remember ever noticing an independent butcher (though sometimes there is an equivalent within a non-Walmart grocery store).
- maxerickson 2y ago
  Duck just isn't commonly eaten in the US. You probably won't find it at butchers either. Independent butchers aren't all that uncommon. Though, for example, my town has 3-4 grocers that sell meat without having a counter (but I expect you could talk to the butcher at a couple of them), a grocer that does have a counter, and then a couple of independent butchers.
  - prawn 2y ago
    Duck probably isn't eaten here all that much, but at my local supermarket there'd be breasts, Peking Duck flavoured breasts, confit legs, and another Peking Duck kit. In that not-overly-large shopping complex, there are two supermarkets (one of which has loads of European smallgoods, like 40+ types of cheese) and also: independent greengrocer, butcher, fishmonger, bulk grains store, bakery chain, etc. Used to be a poultry-specialist butcher too. Most shopping centres I can think of here will have an independent butcher, plus more separately outside those. There'd be dozens of butchers in a city of about 1 million.
    - maxerickson 2y ago
      My (relatively large in area) county has about 35000 residents.
- MisterBastahrd 2y ago
  Your best bet for duck related products in the US is probably either an upscale grocery store or an Asian grocer like HMart. They tend to carry a lot of meat and offal products that most groceries in the US don't normally carry.
adolph 2y ago
If it weren’t for HEB (CM) and La Michoicana the earth would be a food desert. https://www.lamichoacanameatmarket.com/en/our-company/ https://www.lamichoacanameatmarket.com/en/our-company/

vundercind 2y ago

I think we’re backsliding on choice, if anything. It gets even worse if you look at packaged stuff. “Look, twelve brands of coffee!” but actually it’s three because some of them are owned by the others, or by the same parent company.

freshpretzels 2y ago
Do those twelve brands taste different from one another?