I use to always buy beef at Big C Extra for years.....Good quality good price....Now all the beef is priced for Hi-so shoppers.....Its darn expensive.....

 

Frendship is priced ok but I dont like the quality of the beef.....

 

So does anyone know of a place for inexpensive good beef?

... sorry to hijack redwood1's OP, but if anyone also knows where a cut for a Sunday roast can be had too, that would be great.

11 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

So does anyone know of a place for inexpensive good beef?

Inexpensive would be Thai beef. Unusable unless you slow cook or braise it. Local market might be your best choice if you cant find it at Big C.  A nice cut of chewable beef is not Hi/So at all.

Inexpensive & quality don't match when it comes to beef.

 

Worse, price guarantees nothing, as I've had better local beef, over more expensive Aussie or NZ beef (actually some of the worst), that I've eaten.

 

Though a lot depends on prep & cooking.  So easy to ruin a good steak.

I gave up beef in Thailand long ago....just not worth it.  Chicken and pork are the name of the game in LOS and IMO few people do those two better than the Thais.

11 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Though a lot depends on prep & cooking. 

Never a truer word spoken, however I do buy the Australian tenderloin beef if I want a nice steak with a good wine, but my preference these days is a beef bourguignon, slow cooked in red wine and beef stock, with garlic, tomato paste, carrots, mushrooms and onions and if one really wants to go the whole hog, then add some crispy bacon bits (plenty of other variations on this).

 

Thai beef is good for this and comes out really well after about 3 to 4 hours of cooking. So basically prepare it, set and forget it.

 

Available in Big C or similar.

We buy beef from the Ratanakorn Market in Jomtein to take back up north. We bought it at 'Sophie's' but there are other outlets. Went the day before and ordered it. Payed half and picked up the next day.. Round about 250 a kilo.

Siamburi's has imported NZ and Aussie steaks and other cuts at prices that aren't ridiculous.

 

When I lived in West Africa many years ago, one English couple used to buy the (pretty awful) local beef and hang it for a week or so in their storeroom in one of the wife's stockings. Don't ask me for the details, but I used to eat it and it was tender and very nice. If you're into that sort of do-it-yourself thing you could try it with the Thai beef, which is nothing like as bad as the African version was.

 

The other alternative is to buy a slow cooker or Dutch Oven and cook a tough, fatty joint for 10 or 12 hours, until it becomes like braised stewing steak, tender and falling apart. I do this to make a stew and it's very easy, just needs a bit of patience.

The Market.
find one near to you
wake up early.

I buy the pre packed beef in Makro. It varies hugely in quality. Some of it is perfectly fryable and eaten as steak. There's a diced offering which does well after 2 hours stewing with carrots and mushrooms etc. It's "Thai Brahmin" mostly, but plenty of Aussie imports too.

Hello

I buy either from Friendship supermarket Pattaya Tai or Food mart at bus stand in Jomtien (opposite Pan Pan)

Big C prices for meat are totally overrated

Have a good day

 

 

2 hours ago, norfolkandchance said:

We buy beef from the Ratanakorn Market in Jomtein to take back up north. We bought it at 'Sophie's' but there are other outlets. Went the day before and ordered it. Payed half and picked up the next day.. Round about 250 a kilo.

The smell of the meat area is enough to turn someone vegetarian 

2 hours ago, pomchop said:

I gave up beef in Thailand long ago....just not worth it.  Chicken and pork are the name of the game in LOS and IMO few people do those two better than the Thais.

I agree, I don't bother with beef, happy with chicken and pork

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

I agree, I don't bother with beef, happy with chicken and pork

Chicken is tasteless. It was cheap a few weeks ago. 55 THB per kilo for breast in Makro. But like eating some sort of mattress filling. Now sliced belly pork at 199, down from 240.

32 minutes ago, bradiston said:

Chicken is tasteless.

I'd say a subtle taste, but that's the idea of sauce

4 hours ago, norfolkandchance said:

We buy beef from the Ratanakorn Market in Jomtein to take back up north. We bought it at 'Sophie's' but there are other outlets. Went the day before and ordered it. Payed half and picked up the next day.. Round about 250 a kilo.

What a fruit market that if, only place I buy now, never seen beef there must open my eyes next time

5 hours ago, xylophone said:

Never a truer word spoken, however I do buy the Australian tenderloin beef if I want a nice steak with a good wine, but my preference these days is a beef bourguignon, slow cooked in red wine and beef stock, with garlic, tomato paste, carrots, mushrooms and onions and if one really wants to go the whole hog, then add some crispy bacon bits (plenty of other variations on this).

 

Thai beef is good for this and comes out really well after about 3 to 4 hours of cooking. So basically prepare it, set and forget it.

 

Available in Big C or similar.

We need a tread about prepere a good steak.

 

I have added vinegar to my marinade of local steak as well lime, garlic and other spices for 24 hours in fridge, two hours +- room temperature and slow cook it

Villa Market in Pattaya is a good choice for beef products although somewhat expensive.

I have been told that a process called " Velveting " can make any cheap cut of beef into a tender succulent meat . It is a process used by many Chinese restaurants .  

25 minutes ago, Seppius said:

What a fruit market that if, only place I buy now, never seen beef there must open my eyes next time

I think it's right down the far end

4 minutes ago, bradiston said:

I think it's right down the far end

far end are vegetables, meat and that stinking smell in the middle

48 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I'd say a subtle taste, but that's the idea of sauce

Yes, you're right. I think that was the original idea behind them. Medieval cookery wasn't up to much and sauces made it palatable.

21 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

far end are vegetables, meat and that stinking smell in the middle

I forgot to add. Get there early.

OZ beef is pretty good depending on the cut.Seen advertisements for higher end Thai beef but no places up here in the NE sticks.

 

pork ribs … boil (simmer) in water 1 home…. Make sauce with 1/3 ketchup and store bought BBQ sauce

add brown sugar add a little wasabi in the small tubes bring to boil and simmer 5-10 minutes. Meat falls off the bone and nice kick with the wasabi….

Tesco is now doing Australian steaks and mince. Found them to be quiet edible with good flavour and not too expensive.

Dig deep and pay for the quality. cheap beef is like cheap wine or cheap coffee.

 

You may save a few $ but it tastes like sh*t. You don't want to be called Khii Nok.

12 hours ago, bradiston said:

Chicken is tasteless.

eat chicken wings. the fatty skin gives it lots of flavor. 

 

17 hours ago, champers said:

... sorry to hijack redwood1's OP, but if anyone also knows where a cut for a Sunday roast can be had too, that would be great.

The Sportsman

I still think Friendship offers some of the best priced beef cuts at reasonable prices and they always seem fresh. Their Thai hybrid beef tenderloin is only about 450 baht a kilo and with some marinating is pretty darn good. Just make sure you always have some kind of acid in your marinade to make the beef tender. Balsamic vinegar, lime, coke etc or even a bit of baking soda will do. Then it’s all about the cooking. 

On 4/14/2023 at 11:02 AM, pomchop said:

I gave up beef in Thailand long ago....just not worth it.  Chicken and pork are the name of the game in LOS and IMO few people do those two better than the Thais.

Gave up eating all dead animals 51 years ago, still alive so far, some of the meat I see Thais eating I would only feed to dogs