# If you had to pick only one type of meat for the rest of your life... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579 "2010-01-19T17:24:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/21 "2010-01-19T20:37:56Z")
Pork. It just seems the most versatile meat to me. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/22 "2010-01-19T20:48:31Z")
I’m going to go with chicken for the simple reason that I don’t think I’d get tired of it. It’s not my favorite kind of meat (that would be ham), not the best source of lean protein (that would be turkey), and it’s certainly no bacon. But the taste of chicken never gets old. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/23 "2010-01-19T20:50:14Z")
Pork. There just too many different ways to prepare pig. I’d miss burgers and steaks, but I’d get over it. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/24 "2010-01-19T20:51:07Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Without cow butter? I was told there would be cheese. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Angel\_of\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_Doubt)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/25 "2010-01-19T21:06:45Z")
Do we get it for free or the same price no matter what the cost? If so I’d go for Lamb. Lots of tasty fat and I’d never get bored with it. Lamb chops, to be precise. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/26 "2010-01-19T21:14:00Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Easy, pork. > > But if you mean one single cut of meat? Hmm…little more difficult, but I’d go pork shoulder. Great stew meat, great for smoking, you can grind it to use for sausages or pork patties, plenty of fat to render to save for other applications. You can cure the picnic part of the shoulder into hams. Good stuff, that there pork shoulder. Probably with you on that. ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/27 "2010-01-19T21:50:51Z")
Definitely pork. With a little ingenuity, there isn’t much you _can’t_ do with pig… and besides, a life without bacon is not a life worth living in my books. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/28 "2010-01-19T21:53:23Z")
Does this include meat by-products? Because I love chicken soup, but otherwise don’t have much use for chicken. ---
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/29 "2010-01-19T22:56:50Z")
I choose the most dangerous prey… man. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/30 "2010-01-19T23:30:16Z")
really difficult for me to decide. If i had to pick a single animal, probably cow. If I had to pick a single cut, hmmm… I am torn between chuck and the whole prime rib with bones, eye and all. The bones are sort of needed for making stock, it can be eaten as a rib eye, a prime rib or in a pinch ground into mince or chopped into stew meat. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/31 "2010-01-19T23:56:38Z")
Chicken, I suppose. You can dress it up or dress it down. Fried, BBQd, baked with any of a number of sauces, gravied over biscuits, stir-fried…I haven’t had red meat other than an occasional burger in years. Last time I had a slab of cow in a restaurant, it took forever to chew and swallow and didn’t have all that much taste, IMO, though my friends raved over theirs. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/32 "2010-01-19T23:59:01Z")
I love chicken, I could easily live on that as my one kind of meat ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/33 "2010-01-20T00:02:30Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > What would it be? > > Even though I love fried chicken and ribs and bacon and prime rib and steak… 80/20 ground beef. No question. > > You? 😕 “80/20”? ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/34 "2010-01-20T00:11:52Z")
> [@Mahna\_Mahna](#): > > Definitely pork. With a little ingenuity, there isn’t much you _can’t_ do with pig… and besides, a life without bacon is not a life worth living in my books. Well, you can’t make a good steak with pork. If you can choose the whole animal, there isn’t much you can’t do with cow. I’ll bet you can even come up with a decent cow based “bacon”. You can’t ever make a good steak from pork. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/35 "2010-01-20T00:23:35Z")
Another vote for pork- although I would really miss beef and lamb- they just aren’t as versatile. Plus, anything you can do with chicken, you can usually do with leaner cuts of pork too. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/36 "2010-01-20T00:28:56Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 😕 “80/20”? lean/fat ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/37 "2010-01-20T00:33:27Z")
Beef. No contest. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/38 "2010-01-20T01:17:40Z")
yes but what cut of chicken? thigh? wing? chicken wings for the rest of my life sounds like some kind of cruel sisyphian punishment. i’m going to second beef prime rib. mmmmmmmmmmmmm ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/39 "2010-01-20T01:40:24Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > Well, you can’t make a good steak with pork. If you can choose the whole animal, there isn’t much you can’t do with cow. I’ll bet you can even come up with a decent cow based “bacon”. You can’t ever make a good steak from pork. Beef bacon does exist. It’s much leaner than pork bacon, usually. I’m not sure whether such a thing as “beef ham” does exist, but I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody made something similar. That said, I’d miss the taste of pork products more than beef. Sure, I’ll miss a good, aged ribeye, but the pork ribs, hams (think of the great hams of the world–the prosciuttos and serrano), pulled pork, pork rinds, sausages (real sausage is pork in my world), fatback, lard, etc., more than makes up for what a steer will give you. Pork just seems to be so much better for curing and smoking (no matter what Texans tell you. ;)) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579/40 "2010-01-20T03:16:32Z")
Prime rib. Duh. Hell, if I could afford it, I’d glady have it for dinner every night NOW. How can you get tired of prime rib? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-only-one-type-of-meat-for-the-rest-of-your-life/525579.md?page=3)