Watched a head butcher ruin a whole tenderloin and it changed how I trim beef

Was at a wholesaler in Omaha last month, this old timer who's been doing it 30 years grabbed a knife and went after a whole tenderloin like it was nothing. He was just hacking away, leaving silver skin and fat caps all over the place, made me cringe so bad I had to say something. He looked at me like I was crazy and said "the grinder don't care about silverskin" but I kept thinking about the poor restaurant that's gonna get that meat. After that I started buying whole loins and breaking them down myself at the shop. Took me about 5 tries before I got it clean and consistent, but now I charge a premium for my trimmed cuts and people actually notice the difference. Any of you guys run into butchers who just don't care about trim quality anymore?

2 comments

2 Comments

derek7810d ago

Kind of disagree here. If the trim is going to the grinder anyway, silverskin and fat caps aren't hurting anything and making him slow down would just waste time.

fionaw5410d ago

Yeah, but @derek78 is missing the point. If you're selling trimmed tenderloin as a premium cut, that silverskin and fat cap makes it look terrible and you're shorting the customer. The grinder stuff is fine, but the whole loin shouldn't be treated like scraps from the start.