I have not read the rest of this thread, just this most recent post, but I got 1/4 beef last week. The cow was apparently on the smaller side, at 610 pounds, so we paid our price per pound based on 1/4 of this total weight, so our portion was 152.5 pounds. We buy through a small local store, so our price per pound includes cut and wrap and everything in one number. We have 36, one pound packs of ground beef, about 18 pounds of stew, stir fry and cubed steaks, 10 pounds of steaks (we opted for rib roast for Christmas rather than rib steaks, and we chose to have more other roasts than steaks, so our steaks are NY strip, top sirloin, tenderloin and tri-tip), about 30 pounds of roasts and 6 pounds of "soup bones". I told them I wanted a share of the organs, they just left it for me to work out with the store, I think it depends what the other buyers want, but you should be entitled to a share of the organs. I'm not sure why, and we didn't get this before, but they also packaged about 25 pounds of bones and 18 pounds of "beef scrap". I have not gotten these when we've gotten beef before, even last year through this same place. Maybe it's because we discussed the organs being for the dogs (though I declined "dog bones" ) but I wanted soup bones, I really don't know. I'm going to thaw a pack of the scrap and see if it's feasible to cook that for the dogs, but I may also share it with my neighbor who hopes to have a deer to process this fall. Anyway, I just had to throw in that last part because all of this, including the 43 pounds of stuff we've not gotten before, fit in 3 cardboard boxes. Heavy boxes, but still will fit in the car with no problem. I think without the extras, it would have been pretty close to fitting in just 2 boxes.

I just saw some olive tapanade when I went out to lunch - in a jar for sale. Said good for 28 days after opening which gives me an idea of potential shelf life without freezing. So I think I'll try 1/2 batch and if any is left as I'm approaching 28 days I'll just freeze and see how it comes out. I was thinking chuck roast - that is leaner than brisket right?

I've tried a number of methods from essentially boiling it when you add a bottle of something or too much liquid and you wind up fishing around in this sludge to find the shrunken tough meat to sauces to other methods. Less liquid is better. The key, as Jim said is the proper meat. I like a chuck roast or a pork shoulder roast. They'll give off plenty of fluid. I like to put some onion on the bottom so it's not all gray on the bottom and it gets some flavor. Some put sacrificial veggies in there as a rack thinking it flavors the gravy, OK, maybe it does. But I like the taters on top in a drier atmosphere so it'll brown those babies and they're delicious. They'll give off moisture too so again, adding liquid is a recipe for soup. I definitely vote to brown the meat. Onions & garlic should be sautéed too if you want it better. People think a "slow cooker" is a magical chef that can make a lousy cook a good cook and eliminate basic cooking techniques a thought with which I don't agree but I digress. If you want it simple, put a can of mushroom soup on top of a piece of roadkill, sprinkle it with onion soup mix, make up some instant mashed potatoes and open a can of gravy. Serve with leftover green bean gasserole. (shudder) And of course if this is what you like, go for it and enjoy it, no need to bother bellyaching about it. I also firmly believe that you can easily overcook things in a slow cooker. You can easily boil/steam all the moisture out of meat, turn the vegetables into mush and I really think it's important to realize it's an appliance that needs to be properly used to achieve best results. I've had delicious meals from slow cookers and I've had what I wouldn't feed as dog food that was made in a slow cooker. Cook's Country this weekend did a show about using a pork roast in a slow cooker. Their emphasis was what I've found. Less moisture is better. Here's an adaptation using a beef roast

I recently cooked a bottom round roast. In my case, I cut it into thick steaks, at least an inch thick, add salt (not as much as G. Ramsey), ground pepper, and garlic. Sous vide at 133 F for about 24 hours for medium rare - if for more medium try 140 F. Sear on a skillet or grill briefly, serve. For mine I made a horseradish gravy using the drippings from the bag. This was vey good - not as good as a regular steak, of course, but still tender. Note that my cut was extremely lean (read: potentially tough) since it was what ended up in my house through a local beef share from cattle that are fully pastured all their lives. Equipment needed: a sous vide immersion device (they are really coming down in price - I got mine for $60 something about a year and a half ago), a stock pot, foil to cover the top so water doesn't evaporate while this does its thing. I also bought reusable silicon bags with a tight zip locking feature so I'm not adding to the plastic stream (or making food taste like plastic). Those are pricy but you can use them again and again. (Click image to see a larger photo) You can also cook the whole thing that way, but since I didn't want to cook it all at once, the steaks helped make good portions. I might go a couple more hours if a whole roast, just to give the interior time to reach temperature before "counting".