Slow cooker questions...

[Lozzles]

Okay Weka...what's a bola? does it grow in the ground or run around on legs?

[Workingman]

I had to go look.

It appears to be what we might call the point end or thick rib of brisket.

[Lozzles]

Oh I see. I'm a bit disappointed as I wanted to be some strange beasty that we don't get over here

[Kaz]

Me too!

[Weka]

Oh, you don't have bolar? Ok. So, corned beef, bolar, silberbeet, I'm starting to get a list here.
Our corned beef is very different before you protest.

Bolar is a very tough piece of beef that needs careful cooking for hours to get edible, or so I thought till I cooked my piece from my half cow. It was Devine!

[Diflower]

Ah, I think your corned beef is the same as Osc's Weka, that's had us confused before as well

[Kaz]

Bolar sounds like our brisket?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brisket

[Workingman]

I already said that. Look ^.

[Weka]

After a rather arduous Internet search, I came up with this.

Originally Posted by LongRidge
I understand that the bolar is the tender part of blade roast, which comes from the shoulder blade.
]

Next post said she was correct according to butcher husband, so that puts it about a blade steak
http://www.dartmoorbutchers.co.uk/Products.php

Interesting for me, is our corned beef is the same cut, it must just be the Corning process that is different

[Workingman]

Interesting. There are obviously regional variations using the same word for similar cuts.

When I was looking I got the impression that bolar was a cut from somewhere in the region of the shoulder to the shin. That vertical region crosses the horizontal cut we know as the brisket, so at some stage they are nearly the same.

There are even different cuts in the UK depending upon where you live. In Yorkshire the brisket goes from the rib area, over the shin and round the the breast to give us three brisket joints: point end, thick rib and plain old brisket. All of them have to be tied for roasting. Point end is the dearest of the cheap cuts and the meaty bit looks like a number 9 or a comma when tied. Thick rib is folded and tied, it looks like an n or horse shoe. Common or garden brisket is rolled in a spiral like a Catherine wheel.