Everyone says to keep your knives sharp but I figured 'close enough' was fine. I spent almost 4 hours fighting through sinew and fat on a single 800-pound steer last Tuesday. My wrist was killing me and the final cuts looked like a dog chewed them. How often do you guys actually stop to sharpen mid-job?
I figured spending a little more would get me something that held an edge better. It was a brand I'd seen some guys at the shop recommend online. But after breaking down maybe 5 deer total I noticed a chip near the tip. Emailed the company and they said it was user error, wouldn't do anything about it. Went back to my old $40 Victorinox and it's still going strong after two years. Anybody else have a fancy knife let them down like that?
Drove down to Lockhart last month. Watched a guy at Kreuz Market trim a packer brisket in like 4 minutes flat. He left a solid quarter inch of fat cap. No weird angles. No ugly jagged edges. I had been taking off way too much fat for like 2 years. Came home and tried it their way. The bark set up nicer and the flat didn't dry out. Any of you guys change your trimming style after seeing another butcher work?
Was reading a book called The Art of Beef and it said a 1000lb hanging carcass can drop to 700lbs after a 30 day dry age. Thats a ton of moisture loss I never really factored into my pricing. How do you guys account for that when quoting customers?
I always trimmed briskets the way I saw on YouTube, taking all the fat down to a quarter inch. Last week at the stockyard auction in Omaha, a retired butcher named Walt pulled me aside. He said I was throwing away flavor and that the fat cap on the point side should stay closer to half an inch. He showed me on a choice packer he bought, and the marbling ran way deeper than I thought. Tried his method on a prime brisket yesterday and the flat didn't dry out like usual. Any of you old school guys cut fat different than the online tutorials say?
I'm on the fence about whether hitting a number like that means I'm getting efficient or if I'm just rushing too much. Last Tuesday I broke down 112 birds before lunch and my wrist was screaming by 3pm. Do you guys track your volume numbers or just go by feel for when you're pushing it?
Been breaking down carcasses for about 8 years now. Always used a standard straight boning knife because that's just what everyone had. Then this guy from a shop in Portland came through town and let me try his curved 6-inch. Felt weird at first but after one shift I could feel the difference on the rib bones. It just follows the curve naturally instead of me fighting to get the angle right. Anyone else made a switch like this or am I late to the party?
I was reading through some old Meat Science journal articles last week and found a study that really caught me off guard. It said that whole packer briskets lose about 8% of their weight just from purge after being in cryovac for 72 hours. That's nearly a pound on a 12 pound packer. I always figured the moisture loss was minimal until you opened the bag. Does anyone else account for this when pricing out their primals, or am I overthinking the numbers here?
They had a whole room set to 34 degrees with fans running, and the flavor on their ribeyes was unreal compared to the wet aged stuff I get from my supplier. Has anyone here built their own dry aging setup or is it not worth the hassle for a small shop?
I've always been a 'just grind it up for burger' guy when it came to scrap and trim. Never paid much attention to how much I was throwing in the grinder. Then last Thursday I weighed my bin before starting and it was 92 pounds for the day alone. By Saturday I'd hit 500 even for the week. That number made me realize I've been giving away perfectly good profit for years. Has anyone else actually tracked their trim weight and been shocked at the number?
Guy at the local shop I buy from told me I was leaving way too much meat on the blade bone and showed me how to cut tighter along the cartilage. Been getting an extra 2-3 pounds per primal since then, anybody else get a random tip that totally changed their yield?
So last Tuesday I had a guy order 12 ribeyes for a family reunion, all dry-aged 45 days. I trimmed them up beautiful, wrapped them perfect, put them in the walk-in. Then the new kid accidentally set the temp to 55 instead of 34 on Friday night. I came in Saturday morning and they all had that slimy smell. Had to toss every single one, about $480 worth of product. Has anyone else had a rookie mistake cost them a big order like that?
Threw a $120 prime ribeye in the back of my fridge with no fancy bag, just a wire rack and patience. It came out with a flavor that beat anything from my shop's locker, but the crust was a nightmare to trim off. Anyone else go cheap on dry-aging gear and still pull it off?
Was trimming a case of shoulders for sausage and my old 6-inch flex boning knife snapped right at the handle. Had to finish the last 20 pounds with my chef's knife which was a total pain. Anyone got a brand of boning knife that actually holds up to heavy use?
I always wondered why my steaks had that ragged look until a customer pointed out how much cleaner they'd be if I let the meat warm up a bit first. Has anyone else had that talk with themselves about tempering before trimming?
I was breaking down a whole ribeye primal and this retired butcher comes in just to watch. He said 'son, you're leaving too much chain on the cap' and offered to show me. He took my knife and made this long sweeping cut that saved me maybe 6 ounces of meat per roast. Has anyone else gotten random tips from old timers that just completely changed your yield numbers?
I've been a butcher for about 8 years now and I keep a little tally on my phone of how many hogs I break down start to finish. Last Tuesday I hit 500 exactly. That number surprised me because I remember struggling through my first dozen and losing count of how many times I nicked my finger or messed up the belly cut. The milestone matters to me because it means I finally know the muscle groups by feel, not just by looking at a chart. I still get nervous before a big order of 10 hogs shows up though. How do you all keep track of your skills improving over time or do you just wing it like I did for years?
Got a small primal of ribeye from my supplier. Stuck half in a dry aging bag from the store and hung the other half proper in my walk-in. Bagged one had that weird off smell after 21 days, real one was perfect. The bag meat lost way more weight too. Anyone else tried both and seen the same thing?
Been using the same dull blade for like 6 months on pork shoulders and it was tearing everything up. That sharpener paid for itself in one week with how clean my cuts are now. Anyone else just put off spending on sharpening gear way too long?
I always thought they were a gimmick compared to a proper cool room, but the flavor concentration on that cut was so close to the real thing it actually blew my mind... anyone else been converted by these things?
Always seared and grilled pork shoulder like it was a steak, trimming off the cap because I thought it was just extra fat. Watched a pitmaster in Arkansas throw a whole untrimmed shoulder on the smoker and it came out way more tender than anything I ever made. Anyone else change up how they prep a cut after seeing someone do it different?
Spent 20 minutes digging through the USDA's website after a customer argued with me about it. Turns out grain finished beef grades higher like 80% of the time. Nobody talks about that in the shop. Has anyone else had customers insist grass fed is always better for steaks?
I know most guys here swear by the cleaver for rib sections. But after I had to replace a broken blade on my Hobart last Tuesday, I borrowed a buddy's setup with a good band saw. Made cleaner cuts and saved me 20 minutes on a full ribeye roll. Anybody else find the saw beats hand tools for speed?
Everyone raves about the whole animal approach but I saw them wasting so much trim. They threw out a whole bucket of good fat that could've been ground into sausage. Am I the only one who thinks the 'nose to tail' talk is mostly marketing?