# Bones: soup, crab, dog, then and now



## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

When I was a kid bones were available at any grocery store. If you wanted "dog bones" you got a sack full of bones. If you wanted to go crabbing you got a sack of bones, all for free. If you wanted to make soup you told the butcher you wanted "soup bones" and he sold you knuckle bones with meat on them, or marrow bones with some meat on them for next to nothing. 

Today it is next to impossible to find soup bones. I finally discovered that if I went to a grocery run by and for Asians I could get bones. The fellow has the marrow bones cut in 2" chunks, the knuckles split with the tendons covering them. He lets his customers choose the pieces of bone they want.

The catch is that the bones are $2 per pound. This same market sells lamb (or more likely mutton) at a fixed price for any cut. 

Anyone else here still hunt bones for making beef soup? 
Ox


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## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

I used to buy soup bones on a regular basis, but it's been years since I've found any. I especially miss ox tails for soup, but for years on the rare occasion I found them they cost as much as steak!  The last good place for getting bones of any kind was B&B Meats at 11th & Yale, and they've probably been closed for 20 years...guess that's showing my age, lol!

The last place I found lamb in Tulsa was at Perry's on Lewis, which used to be a really nice store years ago, but the last time I was in must have been 10 years ago, and it was dirty and smelly, the produce was practically rotten, and the meat had an unpleasant odor. I left without buying a single thing and haven't been back. I used to get really great lamb chops and roasts there for pretty reasonable prices.

Would you mind sharing your Asian store, Ox? You can PM me if you don't want to post it to the board. I used to shop at one at around 32nd and Harvard, but they're not nearly as good as they used to be. I'm also trying to find a good Indian market and a Hispanic market. 

There's a big Hispanic market on Garnett just south of 21st, but they've become more mainstream. You used to be able to get pretty good bones there, as well as more unusual items such as cabrito (goat), but not any more. They only speak rapid-fire Spanish too, so I miss a lot, lol.  They do have a little cafe where they serve a pretty wide variety of food and have excellent tamales and chile rellenos, but on the pretty spicy side.


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## mrs whodunit (Feb 3, 2012)

A grocery store near us always has soup/dog bones. Not cheap like they used to be


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## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

Mrs. Whodunit, you've sure got that right! I remember when they used to give them away just for asking, lol, but that was when stores still had their own butchers.

Ox, I guess it depends on how much you want those bones, lol. I found this Oklahoma Food Coop that sells "soup bones" for $3.09 a pound or ox tails for $4.39 a pound...and you have to order them in advance, lol!  http://oklahomafood.coop:8888/shop/producers/natfa.php

I actually found this place several years ago, but didn't see anything I wanted bad enough to pay the prices they were asking. It looks like it's gotten a little better, but not much.

I haven't actually been by there and can't picture where it might be. The address is 420 South Utica. I'm thinking it would be right about where the old Winchell's Donuts used to be, across from the old TG&Y? Like I said in the other thread, I don't get to that side of town often any more. If you ever happen to drop in, please give me a heads up on what you think, and I'll do the same.


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## okiemom (May 12, 2002)

Reasor's grocery will still cut most anything you want. I can get lamb most anytime or call them and they will order it for you. beef shank, oxtails and bones are there. Petty's fine foods at Utica has most everything, but maybe not cheap.


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## Barnbum374 (Oct 5, 2013)

We raise our own steer for butchering. I try to use as much of the steer as possible including the bones for broth. the butcher process them and vacuum seals them in small batches that I freeze and use throughout the year. 

There is nothing better than home made beef and barley soup started with beef bones!


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## mrs whodunit (Feb 3, 2012)

99Â¢ a lb for dog bones.


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## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

Mrs. Whodonut, that sounds like a heck of a bargain if you don't raise your own meat or buy beef for slaughter! 

Barnbum, that sounds wonderful. I'm just not up to doing it for myself. I used to have a family that I bought a side of beef from about once a year, but she got real sick, and they lost their place and moved away. I just haven't found another one to replace them. I'm one of those "snout to tail" people, lol, I like to use everything but the moo or oink! 

Thanks Okiemom! The nearest Reasor's to me is about 20 miles away, but it's a small, horrible store, must be the worst one in their entire chain and an embarrassment to them, lol. They don't do much business, and I'm always amazed that they even stay open. 

But I do go to Tulsa once a month or so and can stop in one of the nice big stores there. I used to shop at Reasor's pretty regularly before moving out here. Their overall prices are kind of high, but their meat and seafood are excellent, and they have great sales on other stuff! I guess I kind of forgot how good their meat department was, so thanks for remininding me. 

And you know, I completely spaced out on Petty's, and my mom even worked there for a while back in the 70s, lol. I would never shop there on a regular basis (talk about expensive!), but I'll definitely have to check out their specialty meats since I don't buy them often. Guess I just needed my memory jogged...what was my name again?? lol 

This is totally off topic, but I just have to share, it's about Petty's. My mom worked in the deli section in the 70s. They sliced their own ham, turkey, etc., to sell like lunchmeat. They had a lot of tricks to enable them to raise the price and make more money, but the funniest one was the "gourmet glazed ham".

My mom's job was to take a regular ham into the back where no one could see, sprinkle brown sugar over it and then "cook" it with a hand-held chef's torch like you'd use for creme brulee. That's it. Then they'd slice it and sell it for $4.99 a pound (a WHOLE LOT back in those days!) instead of the $1.99 the "regular" ham sold for (which still was a LOT of money then). 

The same regular sliced ham sold at the butcher counter in our neighborhood mom and pop store for 69 cents a pound, just for comparison. But the fancy car/diamond ring/fur coat crowd that usually shopped at Petty's bought that "gourmet glazed ham" up like it was going out of style, ROFL! 

Guess Ox has forgotten about this thread, lol.


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## CrisT (Apr 2, 2003)

We just bought 1/2 a beef from the neighbor. Called the butcher to tell them how I wanted it cut. Told her to make sure I got a big bag of soup bones. She says "oh for the dogs". I said no for SOUP. She asked me how to make soup from the bones. Are you kidding me??? I think truly homemade soup like I make is becoming a lost art!!!


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## LFRJ (Dec 1, 2006)

Yep. Those were the days - when the meat department actually cut meat. Grocers are so full of processed food, most people wouldn't know what to do with a soup bone anyway (their dog would though  ). I was in the grocery the other day and asked if they cut meat. Well, they kinda do, I was told. Mostly, they part out larger cuts and package it up. That's about it. So long gone the days when you could go to a grocer and get soup bones. 

Just about as hard to find a real butcher anymore too. We moved to ordering our beef by the quarter. The butcher calls to ask us how we want it, if we want roasts, ground, bones, entrails, etc. The down side is we have to store it all and pray for few power outages.


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## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

Yeah, back in the ice storm of 2007 here it was before I was fully prepped, and I lost over $1500 worth of food in the fridge and freezer, had the freezer completely full. The power was out for 9 days. Now I can as much as possible and also have a backup generator for the fridge and freezer.

I'm really glad Okiemom reminded me about Reasor's. It's a small local chain, but they do still have their own butchers, at least the ones I've been to, and they have a good quality of meat. I just kind of forgot about them since I moved to the country, they're about 40 miles away now, but I go to that town about once a month or so. Can't believe I forgot about them! 

I bought some lamb chops the last time I was in town, and I'm getting a lamb roast and some ox tails the next time I go. I'm a happy camper! Thanks again Okiemom!


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## LFRJ (Dec 1, 2006)

calliemoonbeam said:


> I bought some lamb chops the last time I was in town, and I'm getting a lamb roast and some ox tails the next time I go. I'm a happy camper! :boumcy: Thanks again Okiemom!


Oxtails! Oh man. The average grocery chain shoppers would REALLY freak out if they learned they were eating soup made of Oxtails!


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Been Away, Callie;
The Asian Store at 129th E. Ave and 31st Street cuts meat, sells bones. They have just about everything Asian--Barb lived in Thailand for years, so likes some of the food. 
This is where I buy bones. It is also the place where they sell any cut of lamb for one price.

There little Mexican stores all over E. Tulsa. I favor the one on 31st street just E. of where 31st crosses the creek near Mingo.
It is hidden away on the S. side of the street in a little strip mall.

There is a big booger of a Mexican store on 21st but I've forgotten exactly where that is. I have to go into town Wed. so I will try to find it.


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## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

Thanks Ox! I'll definitely check it out. I figured you'd been busy with real life, just kidding above.


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