Credit Crunch Fails to Bring About a Return to ‘Cheap Cuts’ Shoppers Still Have Expensive Tastes

By ALISON CHIESA

PAST generations knew something about stretching the cheapest cuts of meat. Our mothers and grandmothers would have been familiar with brisket, topside, chuck or half shoulder of lamb – and many could have rustled up 10 dishes from a pigeon carcass.

With the credit crunch taking a large bite out of carefree food shopping, back-tobasics cooking is returning to vogue.

Television cook Delia Smith has relaunched her Frugal Food recipe book, which helped feed recession-hit 1970s Britain. And, for the first time in more than a century, the Manual of Workhouse Cookery is to be republished.

Despite the re-emergence of frugality as a virtue, a survey today finds that consumers are still ignoring the more economical cuts of meat.

The poll of 1000 shoppers from across the UK shows an increasing generational divide.

Many of those questioned were unaware of the efficient techniques used by past generations. The shift away from slow, no-nonsense cooking means that adults aged 18 to 34 are now more likely to grill meat on the barbecue than prepare traditional dishes such as mince and potatoes or stew.

When asked about the favourite dishes cooked by their grandparents, 17per cent of Scots listed soup, while mince and stew each received 16per cent of the vote.

Despite this, 42per cent of people in Scotland said they did not cook these dishes themselves – 29per cent because they did not know how and 19per cent because did not have the time.

The survey also suggested that Scots were more squeamish about offal than consumers elsewhere in the UK. Around 16per cent of Scots did not cook it because of its associations, while the UK average was only 11per cent.

But consumers north of the border were keener than the rest of the UK to make stock. Around 45per cent said that, in the past year, they had boiled up meat or poultry bones – the UK average was 32per cent.

Britain’s obsession, with fillet and breast has also fostered an unwillingness to experiment with unfamiliar ingredients. Only 10per cent of Britons had cooked mutton or brisket, and only 3per cent had used feather steak – a tender and flavoursome cut prized by the French and costing a fraction of the price of prime beef.

To d ay the upmarket supermarket chain, Waitrose, which commissioned the survey, is launching a campaign encouraging consumers to re-connect with cheaper cuts of meat, which it claims are “every bit as delicious” as their posh rivals.

Waitrose meat buyer Andy Boulton added: “Our mothers and grandmothers were experts at making what little they had go a long way when it came to cuts of meat but these thrifty techniques seem to have been lost inside a generation.

“There are plenty of ways to make a little meat go a long way. It is not only a costeffective way to enjoy high welfare, great quality food, but a means of appreciating the full range of wonderful flavours and textures that are there for the taking.”

The campaign – in which consumers are invited to join a online chatroom to share their tips on making meat go further – might help halt Waitrose stop discerning shoppers deserting for discount supermarkets such as Aldi.

Recent figures showed Waitrose profits slid 8per cent, while its downmarket rival Morrison reported a 19per cent rise in the first half of the year.

Originally published by Newsquest Media Group.

(c) 2008 Herald, The; Glasgow (UK). Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.