c/butchers

Bone-in vs boneless for stew meat, I was wrong for 10 years

I always trimmed everything off the bone for stews, thought it was wasteful and messy. Then last Tuesday I threw some neck bones in the pot on a whim, the broth had this depth I never got with just chuck. Anyone else find that the bones actually carry the flavor more than the meat itself?

Took a $12 bone saw to a test run and it beat my $400 one

Last month my main saw died right before a big pork order. I grabbed a cheap bone saw from the hardware store out of desperation. Figured it would last one job. That thing ripped through 40 shoulders like nothing. The blade stayed sharp, the motor didn't bog, and I finished an hour early. My fancy one is still sitting in the shop waiting on parts. Has anyone else had luck with budget tools over the expensive brands? Or am I just getting lucky so far?

Packer in Denver showed me why I was wasting 20 minutes a day

Watched a USDA inspector shadow a crew at the 5280 processing plant last Tuesday. He pointed out that my trim line was doing the same cuts twice because we never staggered the hanging order. Fixed the rail sequence and now we're clearing 15 more carcasses a shift. Anyone else ever had an inspector drop a workflow tip that cut their hours?

An old timer in Portland told me my lamb chops were wrong

Guy must have been 70, watched me trim a whole rack with too much fat left on. He said I was losing money and flavor, leave a quarter inch max, not half. I changed the way I break down every lamb shoulder now, and my case sales went up about 15% at the Saturday market. Anyone else get corrected by a customer and actually take the advice?

That rib order mixup cost me $120 and a cracked cooler

Last Friday at my shop in Omaha, I grabbed what I thought was a full case of pork ribs but it was actually lamb racks from the back fridge, didn't notice until I had 14 racks cut and wrapped. Customer came back and said the meat tasted off, so I had to eat the cost and redo the whole order from scratch. Anyone else ever mix up similar cuts late on a busy day, and how do you keep your walk-in organized to avoid that?

The Thursday before Thanksgiving that nearly broke me

We sold 47 turkeys by noon that day, and the line was still out the door when my saw blade jammed on the last one, but somehow we got everyone out by 3 PM, has anyone else had a holiday rush that felt like a fever dream?

Old timer at the shop said to age beef on the bone, I fought him for weeks

He told me in 2019 to leave the T-bones whole for 21 days instead of cutting them day one, and when a customer ordered a tomahawk that had gone dry on the top layer, I finally saw what he meant about the marrow keeping the middle tender, so does anyone else let their cuts hang longer than their boss wants?

A customer told me my lamb chops were cut too thick, took me 3 weeks to adjust

Guy comes in last month, points at my rack of lamb and says 'these are for a dinner party, not a steakhouse.' I was doing 1.5 inch cuts out of habit. Switched to 1 inch and now I sell more chops per rack, less trimming waste too. Anyone else get stuck on an old cut size and have a customer snap them out of it?

My grinder bandsaw blade snapped mid-shift, nearly took out my hand

Last Thursday at the shop, I was breaking down a 200 lb ribeye primal and the 1-inch blade let go at the weld point, whipped across the table, and gouged the concrete wall 3 feet from me. I had checked tension that morning but not the weld seam, which I should have, since I bought that blade 4 months ago. Anyone else check welds before each use, or is that overkill for a $40 blade?

Bone-in vs boneless for stew meat, I keep going back and forth on this

So last month I got a whole chuck roll from a local farm in Lancaster and decided to break it down for stew. I did half bone-in and half boneless just to see. The bone-in batches came out way richer, almost like the marrow did something, but the yield was a pain and I lost time trimming. Then my buddy who runs a shop down the road says he never sells bone-in for stew because customers think they're getting cheated on weight. But the old school guys swear by it. I've been at this for like 5 years and I still can't decide which way to recommend. Anyone else flip flop on this? How do you handle it when someone asks for stew meat, do you just give them whatever's leftover or do you actually cut to order?

That one customer who asked me to french a rack of lamb, then watched every move

Last Saturday this older guy came in, maybe mid 60s, and asked me to french a rack of lamb. No big deal, I do it all the time. But he wouldn't just wait at the counter. He stood right at the glass, watching me scrape every single bone clean. After about two minutes he goes, 'you're not cutting the chine bone off, are you?' I told him no, I leave it on unless they ask, and he just nodded and said 'good, most places butcher it.' That stuck with me. Normally people just stare at their phones or talk about the weather. This guy actually knew what he was looking at. I finished the rack, trimmed it to about 8 ounces per portion, and he paid without any fuss. But I still think about that moment. How often do we get customers who actually understand the craft enough to call you out? Has anyone else had a customer who clearly knew more than they let on at first?

Why does nobody talk about keeping your knives dry between cuts?

I used to wipe my blade and set it down wet on the board, then last month in Tulsa I saw a guy's $300 carbon steel start rusting mid-shift just from that, so now I pat it dry with a towel after every single cut and my edge lasts way longer, has anyone else noticed this or am I just paranoid about moisture?

That demo day in Nashville changed how I hang carcasses

Went to a workshop last spring at a packing house outside Nashville. They had a guy from an old-school shop showing how he splits the rail order so the heavy quarters don't hit the same hook line. I'd always just hung things in the order I cut them. He pointed out that a full hind on a tired hook can sag by the time you're done with the front. Swapped my setup that week, using a red tag system for the weight sequence. Now my cooler holds shape better and the boss stopped complaining about bent rails. Anyone else run into hook fatigue or do you just muscle through it?

Switched from a bandsaw to a hand saw for breaking down primals

Used to rely on my bandsaw for everything, breaking down whole carcasses into primals. Felt faster but I was always losing meat to bone dust and the blade would wander on bigger cuts. Last month a buddy at the shop in Denver showed me how to use a 12-inch hand saw for the same job, and damn I was losing way less weight. The trick is letting the saw do the work instead of forcing it, and my yield jumped almost 3 percent. Anyone else tried swapping power tools for manual on certain cuts?

Picked up a tip for breaking down a whole pig faster

I used to struggle with getting the shoulder blade out clean until a old timer showed me to cut along the back side of the scapula first... Tried it on a 180 pound hog last Tuesday and saved a solid 20 minutes. Anyone else got a trick for tough joints like that?

Had my band saw blade snap on a pork shoulder yesterday morning

I was breaking down a whole pig for a customer order and halfway through the shoulder the blade just went ping. Cost me 45 minutes to swap it out and reset tension. Anyone else have a brand of blade they swear by for bone work?

Spent $300 on a new bandsaw blade and it either saved me or burned me depending on how you look at it

I dropped $300 on that carbide-tipped bandsaw blade for breaking down steer quarters. First week it cut through bone like butter, no lie. But after about 30 sides it started dulling faster than I expected, and now I'm wondering if I should've just stuck with my old $80 bimetal blades that I swap out monthly. The carbide blade costs less time changing blades but more money per replacement. My buddy swears by them for heavy work, says they last six months easy. I'm only two months in and already seeing slowdown. Is this just a learning curve thing or did I blow my budget on hype? Anyone else gone carbide and regretted it or loved it long term?

Rant: I think dry-aging at home is overrated

I used to dry-age everything for 45 days in a fridge, but now I wet-age sirloin tips for 14 days in vacuum packs. The texture is way more tender without losing 30 percent weight to trim. Has anyone else tried both and went back to wet?

Serious question, are bone dust particles an actual health risk or is it overblown?

I was reading through some old USDA guidelines last night (real thrilling stuff, I know) and found a stat that said something like 60% of bone dust from saws is small enough to float in the air for hours. That surprised me because I've been working in a shop for 8 years and we never wear masks during cutting. On one side, I've never had a problem and neither has any butcher I know. But on the other side, that's a lot of tiny particles going into your lungs every day. Has anyone here actually changed their setup because of this, or do you think it's just one of those things they warn about that never happens?

Used to pull ribs by hand for 10 years, now I use a boning hook every time

I was working a Saturday rush last spring and my left hand just cramped up halfway through a rack of St. Louis cut spare ribs. The old timer next to me, Marcus, handed me his boning hook without saying a word. I tried it on the next rack and it cut my time down by like 15 minutes per slab. Has anyone else made a similar switch that seemed small but totally changed your workflow?

That old beef hindquarter technique my first boss showed me finally clicked

Last month I was breaking down a 300 lb steer at my shop in Austin and I remembered how my first boss from 3 years ago used to split the sirloin flap in a specific diagonal cut. Tried it again after watching a YouTube video that explained the muscle grain direction, and it saved me 20 minutes on trimming. Has anyone else had a random old trick suddenly make sense years later?

Spent $45 on a boning knife from a restaurant supply store and it changed my breakdown game

Hit 500 whole pig break downs this morning... didn't even realize

Was just counting up my tickets after service and saw I've done 503 whole hog break downs since I started at this shop. Is that normal for two years in or am I just getting slow?

TIL most home cooks are way too gentle with cheap steaks

I watched my neighbor pat a sirloin dry with a paper towel for 10 seconds last week and then wonder why it boiled instead of seared, you need to get that surface bone dry and then leave it alone in the pan for at least 4 minutes before even thinking about flipping, has anyone else seen people ruin decent meat by fussing with it too much?

Hit 500 whole chickens deboned this morning and my hands still hurt

I counted up my tally from this year and realized I hit 500 birds deboned just for my Saturday special alone. That number surprised me because back in March I was struggling to do 20 in a shift without mangling the thighs. Now I can knock out a chicken in about 90 seconds flat but my left hand still cramps up by the end of the day. Anyone else track how many of one cut they do over time?