Good morning Veeky Forums. It's been a while since the last thread, but with the upcoming holidays I figured it might be a good time to post one. That being said, the butcher is in- feel free to ask any questions you may have about cuts of meat or anything else related to the field and I'll do my best to answer what I can in a timely fashion.
That being said, AMA Veeky Forums.
What do you reckon/know to be the nicest cut of human meat?
It seems I get one of these questions in every post.
I don't believe there is such a thing as a "nice" human cut. Humans eat highly processed foods and junk that even some animals would pass by. Additionally, many of us live highly sedentary lives and are highly emotional people. Stress, fear, and other emotional aspects change the way the meat tastes when an animal is killed for processing (due to muscular tension, built up acids, etc.). Obviously it only matters what the animal is feeling when they are being killed, but regardless- humans aren't exactly an ideal stock for consumption.
That being said, the theoretical "best cut" from a human would mimic the cuts from any other animal. The rib section and the loin sections would be the most tender; the rib section and the chuck section would be the most flavorful. Given this concept, the rib section would be the best overall choice.
Thanks OP.
If I wanted to get the large piece of meat that NY strips come out of, what would it be called? What if it were bone-in instead of boneless?
Same goes for NY Sirloin. What's the name for the large piece that they come from?
I've started buying whole choice angus ribeyes in cryovac from a wholesale club and cutting them into 10 or 12 steaks, vacuum packing them individually and freezing them because the price per steak is quite a bit cheaper. I eat one every 2 weeks or so. Does it make sense to you for me to be doing this instead of getting it from a butcher?
Dear OP how to spot good/bad steak cut ?
Do you ever get tips?
Not OP, but if you are cutting them the way you like, and freezing them with a good seal and no air, this is very wise.
Sorry for my delayed responses- I had an appointment run late today.
The whole NY strip is called a striploin. If you get it with a bone in, you'd say a bone-in striploin. If that doesn't ring a bell to your local meat department, you can say "a whole bone-in strip" or a "whole boneless NY strip".
We don't use the term NY Sirloin locally- do you know if there's another name for it? (Or, could you tell me your general location/country?) I'll try to help you with that too though.
What has said is pretty valid. You may notice a difference between frozen (even if vacuum sealed) and fresh from a butcher- but the savings in cost is often worth it to the average customer. Make sure that as was mentioned in 's post that you're getting ALL of the air out with your sealing process. That is the best way to preserve the quality and flavor of the cut when freezing it.
Good steaks vs. bad steaks, eh? If you're primarily looking at it from the perspective of it being cut, then what you need to look out for is: doorstops (cuts that are uneven/slanted), end cuts (cuts that are oddly shaped in comparison with similarly-named cuts), steaks that have been botched (uneven cutting which resulted in knife marks on one of the steak faces), and steaks that have been left with unnecessary excess fat (you've likely seen these before).
If I've missed the actual question, please restate it and let me know.
I have been offered tips a few times, but it is against company policy to accept tips from customers (whether inside or outside of the business). We're also not allowed to accept bribes, or any other form of pandering from customers in order to receive better cuts or for us to hold better quality steaks for them. There used to be problems locally in these areas, so we've eliminated them. (aka people were essentially being steak lobbyists for the wealthy patrons)
I'll chime in as well
A good cut, be it a steak or a chop or taking the bits off of a chicken, should be one motion. A measured, but with necessary force, smooth movement
If a nigga is sawing at meat like an animal or starting and stopping in different places, the meat is gonna be jagged, ragged, misshapen
At the very least a good cutter will trim off the damage. A hack will sell it to you regardless
It hurts when you're learning and have your work on chickens deemed unfit for the case, but it's a good lesson starting off
Is rib eye the best for Philly cheese steak? How thin do I slice it?
Butcher are you a good person?
The typical defining factor of a "Philly cheesesteak" is that the meat is from a thin-sliced delmonico/ribeye. From what I've seen, the typical the thickness is between 1/16 and 1/8 of an inch (though some do slice theirs thicker).
I feel that I am a good person. However, there are probably others that disagree with me. I know that my profession is not always held in the highest of regards with the general public. Then again, without people doing what I do, there would be a lot less people eating meat-related products...
how do I get retired dairy cow
The best bet to find a retired animal would be to look for a farm that specializes in that particular type of animal. For instance, we have a couple of farmers markets local to where I live that sell their locally popular milk and cheeses to the public. If I wanted a dairy cow, I would look to them first. However, know that a retired animal has likely had a difficult and strenuous life due to their production duties on their farm.
Philly guy here, If you aren't from the northeast I would suggest getting it from a korean store. Or if you can ask your butcher to slice it that thin.
oh I want to make stock from it. back in escoffiers time they didn't really use veal bones they used older cattle. I remember he was even complaining that the beef he was getting in England was too young at two or three for his purposes. So my plan was to use some highly flavorful old bessie that's been eating a true grass diet for years, and use that. Of course I'll lose the collagen, so instead if doing espagnole like they used to for demi I'd get some bob veal and use that too. I bet this would all end up being significantly cheaper than veal bones these days too.
Is there such a thing as "too rare"?
>it is too rare. Yes there is such a thing as too rare
That sounds absolutely delicious. I don't know too many local farms that sell their retired cattle, as they tend to keep them for themselves (due to the low demand for older cattle in our area). However, I believe that would still be your best bet to get your older beef for the stock you're hoping to make.
For most people, absolutely. As far as cooking beef goes, some beef is eaten without any cooking whatsoever. When considering cooking to remove parasites or bacteria from beef, it is generally considered important to cook at least medium. However, rare, medium rare, and even black and blue (or Pittsburg rare) are also viable cooking options at restaurants.
In the end, the cooking all depends on your desires as the person eating it.
I've a pair of questions:
1) what's a good use for #9 on this chart? I already used #8 to make stracotto di manzo (which is basically just sauerbraten made by north Italians) and #9 has been in my freezer the last several days looking lonely.
If the chart jogs memory of me asking some stuff before, hi. I was able to finally find a store that can sort of meet some of my beef needs. And it's an odd place, too: it's an Asian supermarket that recently reopened after being closed for a month for renovation and expansion. They extended the butcher's counter and now boast a huge section full of primals. Prior, they only sold more typical Chinese/Vietnamese cuts of beef.
Anyway, that's how I wound up with #9 leftover. They sold the two together as one, boneless vac-pack which I separated at home myself.
And question 2) is $2.79/lb a good price for a whole brisket? They averaged around 16lbs each (so around $45ish each).
If you recall, I was lamenting the comparative leanness of brisket in the US before. This store's briskets are all beautifully fatty and that makes me happier than a bus full of retards pulling into a Chuck E. Cheese parking lot.
Is it safe to consume pre marinated steak that has been expired since 2 weeks ago?
It burns when I pee. What do
you have UTI
Shank (geretto) is perfect for braised veal (ossobuco). You can also boil it, though if boiled it can result a bit gummy.
(please excuse my english)
I don't like meat that has the white chewy stuff in it, I think it's called fat or gord? For whatever reason I can't chew it. So I have to stick to really lean steaks. My dad says this reduces the taste of the meat. Of lean steaks, what is best to get? Fillet? And should I get grass fed? How does grass fed change the beef?
Also best way to cook leaner meat?
How do I get a butcher to provide this stuff? (tendon with meat on it)
>korean store
This desu. In seattle we have other asian stores like Viet-Wah, Uwajimya, H mart, and tons of local non chain shops. They usually will label the nice thin cut stuff he's talking about as "hot pot" meat in chinese stores or "sukiyaki" cut in japanese stores. Larger stores will usually have a whole dedicated butcher section you can ask at, just be sure to bring google translator because there is zero chance the person behind the counter speaks english.
Go for a female from 15 to early 20's.
Go for one who is not too fat but not muscular, just a normal kind of fit. The best cut is the thigh, I recommend to marinate it.
It's a foreign chart to me, but as far as I know it's shank meat. Like mentioned, its often used to make ossobuco. Some people use the shank meat for meat in their beef and vegetable soup because it has meat that can be eaten after it's been stewed for a while and the bone adds flavor to the pot for the stock.
At my shop, we take the shank meat and grind it down because most of the people want the bones from the shanks rather than the meat. We do sell shank meat as well though.
I would advise against it. Most times marinades are more about adding flavor to something rather than being a true preservative for it. Was it cryovac'd? There may be a chance for it; but more than likely even vacuum sealed it is better to throw it away.
and I'll get to your questions when I get back from the store.
There are two things you could be thinking of. One of them (fat) is often on the exterior of the meat and can have slight, moderate, or abundant deposits (called marbling) inside the interior of the meat. The toughest, chewiest part is what is commonly called gristle- and does not render well; thus remaining chewy.
Fat is the building block of flavor for anything food related, but if you season properly, lean steaks can taste delicious too.
Out of the lean steaks, your choices are new york strip, fillet mignon, eye round steaks, bottom round steaks, chuck tender steaks, and a few various others. The most tender and flavorful of these, however, would be either fillet mignon or new york strip.
Grass fed beefs vary in flavor, and are often leaner than grain-based (or whatever food mixture some of these farms are using anymore...) beefs. I could tell you more about grass-fed beef, but it would take a while. Let me know if you want me to do it when I get back from work today.
I think that the best way to cook any kind of steak (for the average person) is either to grill it, which is the best option in my opinion, or to pan fry it. Make sure you hit one side with a hard sear and to reduce the heat setting when you flip to the other side. That way you sear both sides properly, and you're handling the meat as little as possible. Many people like to marinade leaner cuts, and if you have it, you could always sous vide it. That would provide perfect results every time.
I've actually never sold tendon before. I'll check around and see if I can find anything else out from my coworkers for you. We have, however, sold thin cut meats with fat on the exterior before though (special orders).
Most tendon comes to people in this form
The picture showed is a layer of meat around and attached to this cut that is left with the tendon before it is cut apart into tiny slices.
In order to get the right cut, you as a butcher must somehow be able to get this cut with the meat still on it. is that a possibility?
It definitely is available to us. The way your dish was cut it up looked as though it was drawing the tendon from interior cuts rather than an external one. Those tendons are from the lower shank area where it connects to the feet of the beef. If that's what you're looking for, a local butcher could definitely procure it for you.
I apologize that I wasn't certain of the exact portion of the beef you were looking for earlier. Typically that portion is throw directly into the grinder at a butcher shop. If you get your meat from a grocery store, it's likely they won't have it; as it's not as useful for them. The "butcher shop" at most local stores are really 'meat shops' with 'meat cutters' who have never parted an animal in their lives nor will they have a quarter (or half) beef in the back. Most stores (including the one I presently work at, unfortunately) buy in boxed beef because it's a lot cheaper and easier to maintain. The profit margin causes boxed beef to be the only choice (that, and USDA regulations for food; which are always getting tighter).
I still get to process game for friends and family, but I don't get to work with large portions of beef anymore. That being said, I'm still a butcher due to my knowledge and time processing carcasses- I'm just serving the role (in my local store) as a meat cutter.
Tl;dr- you can definitely order that from a real butcher shop. Ask for beef tendon and you'll get it. Otherwise, as for the lower shank/leg and you'll probably still be able to get it. Just let them know what you're using it for if there's a loss in translation- most cuts have multiple names...
Any more questions for the butcher Veeky Forums? This will be the only bump I'll give the thread if there is no further interest.
Is $2.79/lb for a whole (15ish lbs) brisket a good price wholesale? I can only compare to the retail price for pieces of brisket (3-5lbs at $5.99+/lb) and can't find prices for whole briskets.
$2.79/lb for a brisket would be a great price to pay (at least compared to the typical cost locally, mind you). It's always a good idea to check to see the grading on your meats too though. $2.79/lb for select vs. $2.99 for choice makes a difference in the end product.
Typically the 'retail price' of briskets comes from the fact that it's cut down and trimmed for use. A moderate portion of a whole brisket's weight is its fat cap. Therefore, you'll need to take that into account when you're considering buying one.
Do you have a favorite way of cooking beef tenderloin? I'm going to make one soon for family at thanksgiving I usually just use garlic salt and bake it until reaches medium but I am open to suggestions. Making Turkey another another night going to two thanksgiving dinners.
Wtf is up with meat glue?
My favorite tenderloins were the ones my uncle used to cook for company when I was young. He would cook them with a smart amount of salt, pepper, fresh herbs, a little oil, and he would put some fresh rosemary along the side and the top of the roast. It was always delightful. He would also have heirloom or fingerling potatoes cooking at a similar time so he could place them around the finished roast for presentation purposes. That, and a potato that is sucking up au jus is rarely a bad thing.
I haven't made a tenderloin roast at my house in a long time- it's always steaks because that's what I know my company would enjoy eating the most.
I'm sure there's plenty of good recipes online though if you're looking to change from your regular cooking pattern.
Meat glue (as its name suggests) acts as a binder to put together multiple pieces of meat into a shape that you desire. Often if meat is being 'glued' it is being rolled into a cylinder shape in order to be tied up and shaped to look like fillet steaks. I have never used it, and I don't know any stores in my local area that do either. It's misleading and is untrustworthy. The technical term for it is "transglutaminase"- but it's easier to say meat glue.
Do you need to know more about meat glue? Or are you satisfied with my current answer?
>transglutaminase
I will have to remember that. Is that how deli meat is formed?
That's sort of how they do it for certain deli meats. Those loaf-looking (or sometimes oddly shaped) meats are often pieced together by use of binding (or "sticky") proteins. I was told something about myosin a long time ago, but cannot recall details...
At any rate, once they're able to be molded, they're placed into their desired mold shapes and then they are cooked to solidify the shaping of the meat. Once cooked, they remove them from their molds and seal them up to be sold to stores that will slice them into deli meat for sandwiches.
I don't know all of the details, but that's the general process as far as I know it. Then again, I'm a butcher/meat cutter; so I could have some false information- but hopefully that helps you.
I was just looking into why certain deli meats like turkey breast or chicken breast or even roast come in very large ball like shapes when there is not a bird or cow alive shaped like that.
Thanks Butcher!
Butcher, what cuts of meat are usually ground to make 80/20 minced beef?
We often call 80/20 ground chuck- and it traditionally was made as such; meaning that anything from the chuck section of the animal could be ground to make the beef. However, in more modern years many stores buy in "chubs" or tube beef that is weighed out by machines and can be from any section of the animal so long as the overall fat content matches.
Often in grocery stores, the 80/20 "ground chuck" blend is created from whatever is left over from various cutting throughout the day without a real concern for the overall fat content. Since it's the highest fat content beef sold in most stores, even if it is closer to 75/25, it appears to look like 80/20 to the average consumer based on what all of the other grinds look like.
At my store, we only grind literal chuck meat out for our blend. It's also not old meat, but meat specifically bought to be ground to keep our product as fresh as possible and to keep our quality control at an extremely high mark. I definitely don't guarantee that at most stores though.
Home made sauerkraut. Why is kimchi over classing it?
Where in living hell can I buy a goddamn duck
Also thank you based butcher your threads are GOAT
Where do you live? My local grocery store in bumfuck nowhere California has duck frequently
not fresh, i mean but still
Stupid Maine - even in first world California you can't get ducks? They're right there!
People around me aren't going for anything other than sauerkraut. We have quite a few varieties that people make locally, and we also have a lot of traditional recipes from relatives native to our area. Some of them are still doing traditional barrel cured krauts too.
I have seen recipes for both, and some of the kimchi recipes I've come across are actually pretty similar to a traditional kraut... but I don't know anyone that makes kimchi near me.
From what I've gathered, kimchi can also be made spicier than a traditional kraut, which is possibly why people are so interested in it presently. It seems we're in a spicy/hot phase right now- I can't go to a restaurant without them having some variety of sriracha dish... it's actually getting pretty old for me. But hey, everyone has their preferences and it's definitely not my place to say what's delicious and what's not.
There's plenty of farms near me, so I can't say I've ever had a hard time getting duck. We have duck (drake and hen), goose, capons, turkey, and other farms within a 20 mile radius of my house. That being said, I can't remember the last time I had duck for dinner...
Sorry that you don't have any better luck finding duck in Maine. I'm sure you have better luck getting Elk meat than I do! Even though we have farms close by that would seem likely to sell fresh duck, almost all of the duck in stores around me only have frozen duck- as the demand is not extremely high for them. I guess I could always go to the farm and pick one up for processing later though...
Try Asian grocers if you have any near you, where I live (Colorado) the big grocery chain stores can special order frozen duck (but might not want to if you're not going to buy the entire case), but I can get duck whenever I want at a big Asian grocery and at a much better price than a special order elsewhere.
Thanks pham. I'm in Aus but assume it wouldn't be much different, I tried asking a major supermarket what the fat content was in their ground beef and they couldn't tell me.
Here its not sold as "80/20, 90/10"etc, it's sold as 3, 4 or 5 star quality, lower the star the more fat there is, but I think it star is about 75/25. 8ve never seen 1 star.
They couldn't tell me the fat content of their 3 star beef, which I suspect is approx 80/20. They just said it depended on a bunch of things like season, type of cuts used etc.
I was just curious how they wouldn't know even approximately if they were grounding chuck, but if they are using chubs then it'd make more sense that they have nfi
One of the reasons that "ground chuck", "ground round", and "ground sirloin" came about was because it was hard for numbers to come into play for true percentage ratings. It was just known that chuck was fatty, round meats less so, and sirloin was even leaner. With the advents in technology and the further demand for "reproducibility" and "standards", we needed to make sure that percentages were included on the packaging. Of course, I'm not sure there's an agency that actually goes around to check percentages of our beefs... I don't think I've ever seen someone test them, at least. However, the chuck meat we have is specially packaged to be at 85%; though we call it 84. The round meat we use is certified at 88%, which is what we sell it at. Our sirloins have no markings- but we take the fat off of the top butt sirloin and mix it 50/50 with sirloin tip meat. That way you get a good red blend of sirloin. It could be leaner than 93% some days, but those that buy sirloin are usually doing so for health reasons- so it doesn't bother them any.
I'm not surprised that other countries aren't as anal as the USDA is about what is exactly in the grinds. From what I hear most people don't try to sue companies to death when they mess things up themselves... I wish I had a more decisive answer for you mate, but I'm afraid there's only so much I know about meats outside of the US and my own locale.
Cheers anyway, you've been a big help.
Not OP, but that's an interesting one. I save the tendons from my steer, but they are about the size of my finger, with nothing attached. They're essentially the Achilles. There are thin ones throughout the shank meat. Perhaps if you got boneless shank (shin) meat?
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT LONDON BROIL?
Not OP. Reverse sear for a tenderloin is pretty great. Decide what to do with the tails (cut them off or fold them under) but make sure that you have a uniform piece to cook. I'm a thermometer guy, so I check doneness with that. Can't risk it.
OP, tell us a bit more about ground beef. I'm curious about restaurants that tout their (half short rib, half sirloin) different grinds. Can we really notice it?
The other ground question I have is about Waygu/Kobe ground meat. I've always assumed that the benefits of those breeds/methods are only seen in cuts, not in ground. Would one of those burgers just be fattier? Or is their something I'm missing?
Not Op, but London Broil is not the same cut (at least, in New England). It means a large, flat steak that is typically not high quality, and should be cut into thin strips. A flank or flap meat could be a London Broil. Markets should really tell the consumer where it is from on the steer, because it can be different.
Hi OP, thanks for your hard work here and in meatspace.
I want to make a stew - is stewing steak of raising steak the better choice, or something else again? To add to that, I want to make a beef stock ahead of time - should I just ask the butcher for any waste beef elements and bones he's throwing out, and specify it's for stock?
Thanks again, it takes still and a strong stomach to do what you do.
VERY INTERESTING
Should I
a) Glaze a ham and heat it gently in an oven/weber for a few hours
b) Buy a pork leg and smoke it for 8 hours then let it hang for a week and do a)?
Is there a noteworthy difference between short loin and sirloin? Where i come from nobody seems to bother making the distinction.
London broil (top round/inside round) isn't really a top tier meat, but it serves its purpose. London broils, in my area at least, are thick top round steaks (hence the roast factor) that are often marinated before grilling. Typically a slower cooking time and lower temperature are desired because they're moderately lean and will be tough if overcooked. If I prepare one, I plan to eat it medium or medium rare.
Meat thermometer is the way to go. Tied and tucked tails are also good ideas to help keep a generally uniform size of the roast. The tail will, unfortunately, get cooked more thoroughly most of the time due to being more thin than the rest of the roast- however, this works good for people who don't like it as rare. There's definitely no room for error with a beef tenderloin.
In my area, there's only one term for a london broil. I haven't heard that other areas use anything else. Interesting. I'll have to take a look into that. I know some people want "top round roasts" instead of london broils sometimes- but from what I was told, that only changes the direction the meat is cut...
Ground beef is an interesting bit of work. The texture of the beef and the tenderness can be changed based upon what goes into it. However, the more it is processed/handled, the less of the original characteristics the meat possesses. The reason short rib tastes as good as it does is because it is a fatty meat. Sirloin is a lean meat, so the blend between the two gives it an 80/85% lean content.
In the end, I cannot guarantee that each beef gives a unique flavor to the meat- but I can tell you that if I blended a whole new york strip or delmonico and made burgers, you would know they were tender in comparison to a traditional burger.
Wagyu (Japanese cattle) and Kobe (specific cattle from the Hyogo prefecture) beef are particularly interesting matters... (continued in next post)
I'm not OP but I can certainly weighin on the different types of ground meat. Different cuts certainly do taste different.
I experimented a great deal with this using a meat grinder at home to perfect my burger recipe. My hands-down favorite is short rib. It's much more flavorful than the other meats I have tried, though sometimes it can be a little too fatty in which case you can add some leaner meat to lower the overall fat content. I grind the short rib then try and gauge the fat content by looking at the meat after it comes out of the grinder. If it looks too fatty (too many white specks) then I add some sirloin.
Brisket has sort of a sweet taste to it, that's my 2nd choice for burgers. I tried making them with skirt steak as well. Those were damn tasty but I only did that once due to the work/cost involved. In my area skirt steak is quite expensive, and it's a bit of a pain to work with since you have to remove the membrane.
Chuck is the "standard" for burger patties. It does seem to have the right ratio of meat to fat but I think that some of the other cuts are far tastier. IMHO the reason why chuck is so commonly used for this is because it's cheap and easy--just toss it in the grinder and go. But it's certainly not the tastiest.
how do you feel when you chop up animal bodies?
(continued)
While there is Wagyu cattle raised in the US, it is often half blooded cattle where they mix it with a preferred breed that is already raised in the US. From what I've read and heard, it is often crossbred with angus cattle (which we got from Scotland to begin with...). It seems like a moderately common thing for us to take great things from other countries and try to rebrand it ourselves... however, I digress. I have never ground Kobe beef, nor have I had it in my shop. If you're a Kobe beef retailer in the US you are given a plaque that shows that you offer certified Kobe, and each piece of beef is given certain certified numbers for you to know that you are actually being served Kobe beef. Wagyu, on the other hand, is merely a Japanese cow (of which there are multiple different types).
Theoretically, the same benefits to the cuts would end up in the grinds as well- but who the hell is going to spend $25 (or more) per 1/4 pound burger? This might just be in my area, but if a burger is over $15, no one is going to touch it. Local business try to say they have "Kobe sliders" for about $15 bucks, but I've never seen them ordered- and I guarantee they're not really Kobe... so who knows. I would never grind anything important from a valuable cow just for the sake of grinds. There's a reason we use scraps for grinds most times- and when you buy something special like Kobe or Wagyu, it's unlikely that you're getting an entire beef (which would be ungodly expensive), so it's sort of cost prohibitive to try to serve those kinds of beef (especially as grinds).
For stew, I usually use pectoral meat and let the stew go for hours while stirring it occasionally. You could also use chuck or bottom round meat for your beef cubes/stewing cubes, but if you can get pectoral meat, I recommend it.
As far as stocks go, I would ask your local butcher for marrow bones, knuckle bones, or shank meat. All of these have nutrient-rich bone while the shank meat also offers some meat around the bone that you can also add to your stew.
Either option is viable, and it really depends on what you're hoping to eat for the week. A glazed ham is delicious as shit, but it's often sweet. The smoked meat, on the other hand, will be less so. I've never let my smoked meats hang (that were at my house, mind you), as I've never had enough around that it wasn't eaten shortly after production.
Sirloin and short loin (in the US, at least) are two completely different areas of the animal. Beefs are broken into (more or less) five primals. From the head down, it's chuck, rib, loin, sirloin, and round. The short loin comes from the loin section of the beef and offers you the new york strip and the fillet mignon. You can also keep the bone between them and sell it as t-bone/porterhouse steaks. The sirloin portion offers you steaks such as the sirloin cap steak and top butt sirloin steaks.
The loin section is more tender and features more expensive steaks than the sirloin section of the animal. Let me know if you want me to break this down further.
Skirt steak burgers... sounds like you had a bit of a splurge on that one. Skirt steaks are expensive around these parts- almost cost prohibitively so (I think it's $15/lb last I checked).
Chuck is definitely the most common because it's cheap, but also because the fat content provides ample flavor and juice for grilling. Also, almost no one complains if their chuck is too lean- but if their round is too fatty, there's issues.
I feel as though I provide a service that many people don't have any desire to do, or that it would gross them out too much to do on their own. For this reason, I feel good when I know that I am helping out my community and allowing them to continue living the life they want and eating what they want.
I also try to make sure that I'm doing the best I can to utilize every single scrap from the beef that has been placed in front of me. There's no honor in providing the community with beef if you've wasted part of the animal's sacrifice in the process. Once a beef is slaughtered, it's important that you show it the respect it deserves as a food source. Every steak must be beautiful, every grind must be placed with care and stacked evenly, every roast needs to be trimmed to perfection and evenly cut, and every bone must be cut for stock or for dogs (often dogs in our area) to assure that the entire animal has been properly spent. Anything less than this and I feel as though you've dishonored the life of the animal that was killed.
Nice dubs my dude. I found it difficult hacking into a chicken and cracking all the bones to boil the whole thing up. The sensation that reminded me that it was a creature made of flesh and the brittleness of it squicked me because it reminded me of human fragility and mortality. We need people like you who will not have existential crises preparing meat desu
What's your educational background, and why did you decide to become a butcher? You certainly write like a very well educated person.
It's not that I have no existential crises, it's more than I know I won't take more than I can use/sell. Additionally, I won't kill more game than I can properly use during a hunting season. Life needs balance and if you're killing more than you can use it's an unfortunate instance. Every life that is extinguished for food should only be done when it is known that the entire carcass will be properly utilized. It's sort of a traditional butcher's code. If I have three doe tags and my buck permit for the year and I know I can only use all the meat from two of them, I know I'll be throwing away two doe tags because I refuse to let meat go to waste from the animals. I knew people in college that would kill 10-15 deer a year (or so they claimed) and they would only take the back straps while leaving the entire rest of the carcass in the field to rot. Shit like that pissed me off.
Anywho, someone has to do the work- so I don't mind being the one to do it.
I don't want to delve too deeply into my education, but I can tell you that I did get a bachelor's degree from college. However, my degree was not (and still isn't) highly viable in my area. There's a lot of competition for my degree path, and my area is absolutely overstuffed with qualified individuals for the same position I'd be vying for.
Because of that, I was unable to get a job in my field. Since I was a meat cutter when I was in high school, I decided that it would be similar enough to what I used to do and that it would hold me over until I got a job in my field of expertise. However, I have yet to find one. I can't complain, as my current wages are enough to pay for my mortgage and pay back my loans. God knows pretty much anyone who gets a degree will be paying it back for at least 10-15 years of their life, if not more due to the ever-rising costs of attending college...
>utilize every single scrap from the beef
I think that reflects admirably on your character. When I get my single deer for my wife and I each season and butcher it myself, the bones are completely clean and I saw them into pieces for stock. While the ribs are not as good as beef or pork ribs, we smoke them like pork ribs. The heart and liver are harvested too, of course. The only thing we dispose of are the shins, the hide and the head. I know the hide could be cured but I don't know how and am not willing to pay for it.
It would surprise most people who know me, but I feel a great deal of sadness when I kill such a beautiful and noble animal; see it in it's majesty and then strike it down by my own hand. I feel absolutely obligated to use every bit I can, and I admire you for feeling the same way.
Would you not consider giving the doe tags away, or perhaps hunting with a friend whom you know would find use for the carcasses? It would be a shame to waste deer but also surely a shame to waste the tags. Do you know how to tan a hide, or perhaps know someone else who could? Jam the head on a frame (taxidermy skills required) and you'd have found a use for everything.
That is the way it is meant to be, friend. Taking a life and harvesting an animal is serious business. It needs to be treated as such.
It's illegal to give someone else your tags last I checked. Also, I share my meat with friends, family, etc. already. Surprisingly I don't have chest freezers at my house despite my profession. I'm a big proponent of fresh, local, and not gathering to excess. If there is room in friend's freezers for some venison, I'd be glad to take another deer during the season.
I'd rather waste a tag than have wanton waste of an animal. Those extra deer will be available next year or will have (hopefully) procreated more deer for the general population for the following year.
As far as tanning hides, I do not have experience in this field, but I know some people that do. I don't keep the heads for trophies, I would rather use the meat from the head (cheek meat/jaw meat) and then give the ocular muscle to my friends who eat that shit like candy.
The antlers can be repurposed as well (given it was a buck, of course)- but I do not like the concept of "trophy hunting" to be attached to why I hunt and why I process game. I'm totally down with other people who want to keep their heads mounted on their walls and I understand why there's a large draw for it. It's just not for me.
Fair enough then. I didn't know any head parts could be used except for the tongue. That business with the ocular muscle is just bizarre but to each his own. As for the tag thing I was either testing you, or not American. Only you can decide which. Either way, I wish I could go hunting with someone who knew what to do after the rooty tooty point and shooty part.
I agree entirely about the ocular muscle. I have no interest in it... but my neighbor certainly loves it. He'll eat all sorts of "goodies" from carcasses. He says they're all 'delicacies'.
The most important part of the animal to know how to save if you wanted to try to start cutting down your deer yourself is the back strap. Basically there's meat that goes along both sides of the deer's back- those are what you want. There's also tons of videos on YouTube if you'd like to see a little more of how some of the parts are processed out.
It's always nice to have a little bit of basic processing knowledge just in case push comes to shove and you're in a survival instance.
Sure, well it's unlikely but not impossible I suppose. Youtube has been a godsend for a lot of Veeky Forums-related uncertainties. For example, I prepared a rabbit that had been skinned but nothing more. It's good that the information is out there.
Hi Butcher.
Are you a ninja?
Prepping a rabbit is a lot like prepping most other animals. They just don't break into as many parts as a larger animal.
A ninja? That's a pretty odd question. I have no training in their arts. I did Shaolin Kung Fu when I was young, but I don't think that qualifies me as a ninja...
If you're more interested in me being able to sneak up on targets and kill them for processing, that is legitimate. I'm not really on a kill floor though, and aside from some hunting I don't end up killing anything via stealth.
What's the best meat you can find in a grocery store to use for stir frying?
how would one go about getting their grimy american hands on some precious superior japanese wagyu? the marbling gets my dick hard
What are, generally speaking, the cheapest cuts of meat I could get from a butchers?
>that was what you are looking for
as I said, this is NOT what I am looking for, this tendon has been sheered of all excess meat simply because it isnt viewed as valuable as a cut. I am looking for the picture. the second picture I just posted recently was only so you are actually sure what part of the animal this meat comes from.
Hey butcher bro, can you tell me everything you know about rib eye steak, including cooking methods
I would use nothing better than sirloin for stir fry. Sirloin cap if it's really important.
I've never imported Japanese beef, so I cannot be sure. Kobe beef is probably what is making you jizz your pants though. Americans do raise wagyu beef- but that high grade marbling would be considered 5 star or ultimate/optimum from our supplier. It's not the same as Kobe though.
Bottom round, chuck, neck meat, and shank meat are typically the cheapest.
Im cutting the late shift today, so I can only answer a few questions now that I'm on break- but I'll get back to any other questions when I get home.
Do you dry age at your store?
We've got a cold room here (we operate in the Denver area, that's all I'll say) where we hang all sorts of beef, especially for cutting ribeye later, and the smell is such an odd thing. Almost rotten, but in a way I love it
Is it annoying when people don't know what they're looking for
PAN
NICE AND HOT