c/butchers

Had a customer call me out on my ribeye cuts and it actually made me better

About 2 years ago this older gentleman watched me trim a ribeye and said I was leaving too much cap on. I thought I was giving people a deal with extra fat cap. He told me I was shorting them on the eye, which is the money part. So I started cutting closer to the cap and weighing each steak. My sales on ribeyes went up about 15% in the first month. Has anyone else had a customer teach them something they thought they already knew?

I finally stopped wet-aging my beef in the cryovac for 45 days

Used to swear by that 45-day mark until I opened a New York strip last month that smelled like a wet basement and lost $80 worth of meat.

My old band saw finally gave up after 12 years of service

Last Tuesday I was breaking down a half beef and the blade just snapped mid cut. Not just a small pop either, it sounded like a gunshot in the shop. Had to finish the rest of the primals with a handsaw and a cleaver, took me an extra 2 hours. Anyone else have a tool just die on them at the worst possible time?

Tried wet aging a ribeye in my home fridge for 45 days

Got a primal cut from a local ranch outside Austin and decided to try wet aging it myself. After 45 days in the fridge, it had a strong sour smell and the texture got weirdly slimy. Has anyone else had wet aging go bad on them, or did I mess up the temp control?

Changed my mind about using the bandsaw for breaking down primals

For years I swore by my handsaw and cleaver for breaking down beef primals. Thought the bandsaw was just taking up space and making a mess with all that bone dust. Last week I had to break down three whole ribeye primals in a hurry for a catering order. My regular method would have taken me close to two hours easy. Gave the bandsaw a real shot to see if I could speed things up. Turns out I cut that time in half and got way cleaner portions with less waste. The bone dust cleanup was annoying but not as bad as I remembered from my apprentice days. Anyone else stubbornly avoid a tool for years only to find out it actually works better?

That $60 boning knife I bought was a total waste

Picked up a cheap curved boning knife from a restaurant supply store thinking it'd be fine for breaking down chickens. Thing lost its edge after 5 birds and the handle feels like it's gonna crack. Anyone got a solid mid-range brand that lasts more than a week?

Band saw blade snapped mid-cut on a whole ribeye yesterday

I was breaking down a primal and the blade just went flying, almost got me in the arm. Anyone else have a band saw kick back like that and figure out what caused it?

Rant: That fancy butcher shop downtown doesn't know how to age beef

I stopped into The Local Meat Co. on 3rd Street last weekend, and I couldn't believe what I saw. They had a ribeye in the case labeled as 'dry aged 45 days' but it was wrapped in plastic and sat right next to the pork chops like it was nothing. No airflow, no humidity control - that meat was just sitting there losing moisture wrong. Has anyone else noticed these trendy shops faking it with aging claims?

Lost $150 on a "premium" boning knife that chipped on the first deer

I finally figured out why my steaks were drying out during aging

I kept losing too much weight on my dry aged primals in the cooler, like 15 percent in 3 weeks. Turns out my fan speed was too high and the humidity was dropping below 70 percent. I cut the fan down to low and added a pan of water, now I'm getting consistent 8-10 percent loss with way better color. Any of you guys dealt with humidity issues in your aging cooler?

PSA: A customer taught me to feel for bone fragments instead of just looking

I had a lady come back to the shop last month complaining about a piece of bone in her pork chops. I was sure I had cleaned them up nice, but she showed me the piece and I felt pretty bad. So I asked her how she caught it, and she said she runs her fingers along the cut edge after every trim. I started doing that myself, and it made a huge difference. You can feel tiny splinters you would never see, especially on rib bones. Now I run my hand over every cut before it goes in the case. Has anyone else picked up a trick like that from a tough customer?

Wet aged vs dry aged ribeyes side by side changed my mind on the whole debate

I did a little test last weekend with two ribeyes from the same steer. One was wet aged for 21 days and the other was dry aged for 45. Cooked them both the same way, salt and pepper only, reverse sear on my kettle grill. The dry aged one had way more concentrated flavor and a much better crust, but I lost about 25 percent of the weight to trimming. The wet aged one was more tender and juicy though, and cheaper per pound. Has anyone else done a side by side like this and come away with a different preference than you expected?

Had to choose between dry aging a ribeye for 30 vs 45 days last month

I went with 45 days for my first attempt and the flavor was incredible but I lost way more trim weight than I expected, like almost 20% - has anyone else had that much waste on longer aging?

Switched from boning knives to straight shears for breaking down chickens and never looking back

Used to swear by my curved boning knife for poultry, but after a buddy let me try his 7 inch shears on a 40 bird case last Tuesday, I cut my time by almost 20 minutes. The shears just glide through cartilage without any sawing motion, plus my wrist didn't ache after. Has anyone else made the swap, or am I just late to the party?

Saw a guy at the Denver meat expo split a lamb spine in one pass with a cheap cleaver and it made me rethink my whole knife setup

I been dropping $200 on fancy German boning knives for years but that one clean cut with a $40 blade had me wondering if we're all just paying for hype, anyone else had a tool that made you question your whole kit?

The cheap boning knife trick that saved my wrist last month

I been doing this for about 8 years now and my right wrist was starting to ache real bad after long shifts. Tried those expensive ergonomic handles and special grips but nothing helped. Then an old timer at my shop in Portland told me to just switch to a $12 kiwi brand boning knife from the Asian market. I laughed at first cause the handle looks so cheap and plastic. But man it's way lighter than my expensive Wusthof and the blade is thin enough that I don't have to push hard through connective tissue. After two weeks the pain in my wrist dropped by like 80 percent I swear. Anyone else found a super cheap tool that actually worked better for them?

TIL spending $50 on a dehairer was a waste...

Bought one of those fancy dehairing attachments for my grinder about 3 months ago and it just clogged up after the first batch of boar. Tried cleaning it, tried running it dry, nothing worked. Ended up just going back to the old way of trimming everything by hand before grinding. Anyone else find these things to be overpriced junk or did I just get a bad brand?

Switched from electric to hand saws for breaking down primals

I finally gave up on my band saw after it bogged down on a frozen steer quarter last Tuesday. Picked up a 30 inch butcher's handsaw with a 7 tooth blade and it cut through like butter. No more waiting for meat to thaw or cleaning melted snow off the floor. Anyone else go back to hand tools for certain jobs?

I tried wet aging a ribeye roast for 45 days just to see what would happen

I picked up a choice grade ribeye roast from a supplier in Omaha back in February and stuck it in my walk-in at 34 degrees. Left it vacuum sealed the whole time, opened it up last week. Honestly thought it would be mush but the texture was actually pretty solid, just a little deeper in color. Not sure it was worth tying up fridge space that long though. Has anyone else experimented with extended wet aging past 30 days on beef that wasn't prime grade?

Warning: don't bother with expensive bone saws for home use

I dropped $80 on a fancy bone saw from a specialty catalog thinking it'd make breaking down ribs a breeze. Ended up snapping the blade on a pork shoulder after 3 cuts and the replacement cost almost as much as the saw. Anyone else found a decent hand saw that doesn't break the bank?

Question about the 28 day dry age standard for ribeyes

I keep seeing shops in my area, like that big one on Main Street, slap a 'dry aged' label on ribeyes after just 14 days. In my view, that's barely started. A true dry age needs at least 28 days to develop that deep, nutty flavor and tender texture we're all after. Anything less and you're just selling expensive, slightly dried-out steak. Has anyone else had to explain this to customers who got a bad 'aged' steak somewhere else?

My wife pointed out the way I sharpen my boning knife is backwards

She watched me push the blade away on the stone and said her grandpa, a butcher in Omaha for 40 years, always pulled it toward himself for better control. I've been doing it wrong for a decade, but her tip fixed my edge in two minutes flat. Anyone have a different sharpening trick for curved blades?

Finally got a clean split on a full beef rib primal after a year of hacking at it.

I used to just muscle through with my old 10-inch breaking knife, always ended up with jagged edges and wasted meat. About six months ago, a guy at the Smithfield market told me to switch to a 12-inch scimitar and let the weight of the blade do the work. Tried it today on a 109-pound side and the rack came apart like butter. Anyone have a preferred brand for those longer blades?

I used to think a boning knife was just a boning knife

But I picked up a Victorinox 6-inch stiff model after using a cheap flexible one for years. The control on breaking down a whole pork shoulder is night and day, way less wasted meat. Anyone have a favorite brand for poultry that's a bit more nimble?

Heard a guy at the supply house say 'fat is flavor' like it's some big secret. It's butchering 101, not a magic trick.