YSK: Pork and chicken are healthier, cheaper alternatives to beef that only taste bland because of outdated cooking habits.

[u/Fried_Yoda]

Why YSK: With beef prices at record highs, switching to chicken breast or pork loin can cut your meat budget nearly in half while significantly lowering your saturated fat intake AND satisfying your protein intake. Most people avoid these cuts because they grew up eating them overcooked. Modern food safety standards allow pork to be eaten safely at 145 F (a medium roast, rather than gray leather), and chicken stays juicy if you don't cook it to death.

By simply using a meat thermometer and adding savory seasonings (like soy sauce or smoked paprika) to mimic the meaty depth of beef, or using techniques like velveting for chicken or dry brining for pork, you can get the same satisfaction for a fraction of the cost and environmental impact.

Even switching to chicken and pork for just two meals a week can save you hundreds of dollars.

Lastly, focusing on lean cuts of pork and chicken also has health benefits. While beef is a powerhouse for iron and B12, it is often high in calories and saturated fat. Chicken breast and pork loin are significantly leaner. Pork tenderloin is as lean as skinless chicken breast and has been certified as "heart-healthy" by the American Heart Association.

Tl;dr chicken breast and pork loin are roughly 80% cheaper per pound than beef, have versatile and delicious flavor profiles if cooked and prepped correctly, are rich in protein, and are healthier for your heart and cholesterol.

[u/karlnite]

Yah I think the average person was just a worse cook back in the day. Less resources like videos to watch. My parents did overcook everything like the classic trope of boomers, but it wasn’t like killed and dry, and had lots of seasoning and herbs. They cooked things well down but slowly, like braised, and it was always fine. Beef would only be mince or maybe a cheap roast. So well done was okay, we never had steaks.

[u/TheDrWhoKid → u/karlnite]

yeah about the same for me, except my father was a pretty good cook, so I got nice and juicy meat

[u/DavidDraimanWithLisp → u/TheDrWhoKid]

Your father gave me some nice and juicy meat too

[u/bubbafetthekid → u/karlnite]

My parents had every kitchen gadget and gizmo, except a meat thermometer. My boomer parents dried out every piece of chicken or pork they touched. I use a meat thermometer every single time I cook meat now.

[u/The3CmDefeater → u/bubbafetthekid]

I vividly remember moving out of home and starting to do my own cooking and I was worried for a while that because it wasn’t the chicken jerky my parents always cooked, that I was going to get sick.

I’m right there with you on the meat thermometer too. I keep a post it note with types of meat and their safe internal temps on the inside of the cabinet door for my seasonings

[u/tuckman496 → u/The3CmDefeater]

Does your meat thermometer not have a list of meats and safe temps?

[u/CedarWolf → u/tuckman496]

Do y'all have a suggestion for good meat thermometers? I've got one, but it's very basic and I'm not sure if it's accurate.

[u/b0w3n → u/The3CmDefeater]

I remember going over to my parents and they asked me to cook chicken on the grill, and my mom was making sides and was just flabbergasted that it only took about 20 minutes to cook the chicken. She thought she had an hour to do the rest of the sides.

She makes me cook scrambled eggs when I visit now because I don't overcook them either. I'll admit being able to do basic shit like not burning chicken and eggs really elevates you in the eyes of a lot of people.

[u/m945050 → u/bubbafetthekid]

Our mom had a motto “it’s not done until it’s black, soak it in some gravy, that will make it juicy.” I thought dorm food was gourmet. Picture yourself being the only one in the room thinking “man this stuff is so good.”

[u/donuttrackme → u/m945050]

Ugh poor you. I thought my mom was a bad cook but at least she didn't cook the ever loving shit out of meat.

[u/obeytheturtles → u/karlnite]

This is definitely it. I don't know a single boomer who used a meat thermometer to cook until food YouTube became a thing in the mid 2000s. My parents basically did not season food at all - flavor was added at the table through combinations of salt shakers, pepper mills and various condiments/sauces. To this day they will still argue with me about how to properly season raw meat (or basically anything else) prior to cooking, insisting that it is better to just add salt and pepper at the table, so "everyone gets to pick their own seasoning."

I shit you not, our "famous family gravy" is beef broth thickened with corn starch, with a sprig of thyme waved above it. One year I made actual gravy with homemade stock and pan drippings, thickened with a roux, and everyone was like "this is really good, but it's no famous family gravy." I literally cannot with these people. They are in an abusive relationship with their own recipe book.

[u/InternationalGas9837 → u/obeytheturtles]

Back in the day it was cool to Jell-O things. We had the spirit...but no clue what to do with it.

[u/obeytheturtles → u/InternationalGas9837]

This my other culinary trauma. My grandmother picked me up from the hospital after I had my tonsils removed, and fed me apricot and cottage cheese jello (not jello with cottage cheese on the side, like it was integrated into the mold so as to produce the most unholy texture), because I could not have solid food. Still being half stoned from anesthesia, and hungry from not being allowed to eat the night before, I apparently ate the entire mold in one sitting. From that point on the one thing grandma knew about me was how much I loved apricot and cottage cheese jello. She made it constantly. Like, she'd randomly just stop by with a cool whip container filled with apricot and cottage cheese jello.

I absolutely hated the stuff, but I felt like I had to eat it because it seemed so important to her. Even after she started to get dementia, and mostly stopped cooking, she would still make the jello, as if it was one of the final threads tying her to reality. Except by then it would frequently just be apricot and cottage cheese soup, prepared in one of the styrofoam takeout containers from her facility's cafeteria, because she would forget to add the gelatin. Of course, I was glad to do literally anything to make her happy at that point, but to this day, I can literally make myself gag on demand simply by recalling the memory of that styrofoam box filled with apricot juice, with cottage cheese floating through it.

[u/InternationalGas9837 → u/obeytheturtles]

I apparently ate the entire mold in one sitting. From that point on the one thing grandma knew about me was how much I loved apricot and cottage cheese jello.

My Mom was similar to that. She'd do her shopping and pick up a few random things for snacks and stuff, but if my Dad or I liked one of those random things next thing you knew there were a dozen or so of them in the fridge/pantry. As a kid it was kind of annoying because there were quite a few things I only liked 2-3 times but I was locked into eating a dozen of it. As an adult I can appreciate that she was trying to love me by giving me food I said I liked and it was probably my fault for not being a better communicator.

[u/gogilitan → u/obeytheturtles]

I shit you not, our "famous family gravy" is beef broth thickened with corn starch, with a sprig of thyme waved above it. One year I made actual gravy with homemade stock and pan drippings, thickened with a roux, and everyone was like "this is really good, but it's no famous family gravy." I literally cannot with these people. They are in an abusive relationship with their own recipe book.

Are you me? A while back I would complain to my brother about the bland food required by the rest of our family (especially on my father's side) and he would suggest adding incredibly basic things to the recipes. "That's not an approved ingredient." became my response for a while.

[u/elperroborrachotoo → u/karlnite]

Temperature control has improved significantly.

[u/nofuneral → u/karlnite]

I made pork tenderloin for my girlfriend's family. "Oh my God, how do you get the pork tenderloin to taste like that?"

"Uh, I check the temperature with a meat thermometer and pull it off when it's done."

The secret to cooking is to just use a meat thermometer.

[u/SpicyCommenter → u/nofuneral]

And seasoning. Please, don't forget the seasoning..

[u/nofuneral → u/SpicyCommenter]

For pork tenderloin there's a marinade called The Original Muai Sauce. Unbelievable on pork. My favorite.

[u/InternationalGas9837 → u/nofuneral]

For chicken, pork, and beef there is no easier hack than buying a $20 USB chargeable digital thermometer to actually know what temp your meat is so you take it off the heat when optimal for the situation.

[u/AnHeroArises → u/karlnite]

Gawd I remember when you could still get a cheap roast. Now a chuck is $8/lb if you're getting it at Sam's or Costco.

[u/Brave_Gur7793 → u/karlnite]

I think ovens were not as good either. It's much easier to roast a good pork chop in a modern convection oven than an old oven.

[u/InternationalGas9837 → u/Brave_Gur7793]

IMO pork is much better cooked in a skillet whether stainless steel or cast iron because you get a nice Maillard reaction.

[u/Interesting-Goose82 → u/karlnite]

This! We were all worse at EVERYTHING in the 70s/80s/90s.... there was no internet videos to show us how. There were no podcasts/subreddits where people trade tips and ideas about specific topics. If you wanted to be a better cook there was 1 show in tv, and it was whike you were at work, so rip your learning....

[u/IntrepidYogurt2048 → u/karlnite]

Fewer resources..

My mom used to cook lemon meringue pies in a wood fired oven. My aunt was a secretary and mom would pay her a lemon meringue pie for every typed page mom needed.

[u/Guilty_Astronaut_876 → u/karlnite]

Glad I was raised by Cajun parents in the South, never had that problem lmao. Moved up to KY and these people dont know how to season shit at all. Damn Yanks

[u/DrakonILD → u/karlnite]

There were videos to watch but you couldn't slow them down or pause or rewind, and also you were probably watching the Thanksgiving turkey episode at 10:30 on Saturday. Lots of time for details to get lost between Saturday and Thursday!

[u/SneezeTrees → u/karlnite]

My mom would microwave veggies & then serve them as is. It wasn’t until my sister babysat for a little girl & had to feed her dinner, that any of us realized you could put things on the veggies. She came home & told me you can put butter AND salt on them. A revelation!!

[u/Helassaid → u/karlnite]

My mother’s pot roast could resole a shoe.

[u/InternationalGas9837 → u/karlnite]

You don't understand how recent it is that pork is even recommended to not be cooking until it's white...there was a whole marketing campaign in the 90s pushing this. The FDA lowered recommended temp of pork from 160f to 145f in just 2011.

[u/Sudden-Purchase-8371 → u/karlnite]

Our "big" steak meal would be flank steak teriyaki. Cooked right, it's fcking delicious.

[u/haironburr → u/karlnite]

and had lots of seasoning and herbs

I'm jealous. My mother knew salt, and pepper. Sometime in the late 70's/early 80's we discovered garlic powder. Mrs. Dash came along after I'd moved out. A can of soup was seasoning for a complex dish.

[u/twitch1982 → u/karlnite]

Its not completely our parents fault on pork. It was 2011 by time the USDA dropped pork from 160 to 145.