limey wrote:

>
> >
> >>We used to have ox tails frequently when I was first married. They were
> >>cheap for very little money we
> >>could buy enough oxtails to have a real feed of them. Recently, I have
> >>been finding that it costs more
> >>for enough ox tails for a reasonable serving than it does for steak, and
> >>it just doesn't seem right to
> >>have to pay so much for a meal that needs other ingredients and a time and
> >>work to prepare.
>
> Phred wrote:
> > The damn things are obviously becoming too popular!
> > Lamb neck chops are going the same way. :-(
> >
> > Cheers, Phred.
>
> I've often used smoked necks to flavour green beans - they were cheaper than
> ham hocks. Yesterday at the supermarket, the name had changed to "smoked
> pork" - and for a small package of neck bones with hardly any meat, as
> usual, they wanted almost $5.00 US. Crazy. Since when were bones more
> expensive than the meat?
>

Unfortunately, it seems to be a trend. Many of those old braising favourites
that used to be dirt cheap are now much more expensive, sometimes even more
expensive that those lean cuts that can be prepared with minimal effort.
Chicken wings used to be very cheap here, but then came the Buffalo wing craze.
Restaurants used to make a dandy profit on them because they bought them cheap
and they were simply deep fried and tossed in hot sauce. Now wings are quite
expensive. I can by a package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts that will
easily feed two for less than it costs for a decent feed of wings.