c/butchers

The temperature log on my new fridge made me see aging beef wrong

Got a Bluetooth probe last month and found my walk-in swings 4 degrees overnight, which supposedly wrecks dry aging. I always thought 38F was 38F, but now I'm wondering how many butchers actually track this stuff daily or just trust the dial.

Those 'bone-in' lamb leg roasts are lying to you

Butchered three from the same supplier over two weeks and the aitch bone placement was off by a solid inch each time, made my frenched cut look sloppy, anyone else seeing inconsistent mutton anatomy lately?

Spent $400 on a band saw blade, best money I've made in a month on new setup

After fighting a dull blade for weeks I finally dropped $400 on a proper carbide tipped band saw blade for my pork breakdown line in Austin. Cuts through spine and shoulder like butter, my carpal tunnel pain is gone and I'm done in 2 hours instead of 4. Anyone else ever drop big cash on a single tool that made them feel stupid for waiting so long?

I finally noticed my knife angle was off after 12 years

Was breaking down a pork shoulder last week and a customer asked why my cuts looked ragged compared to my apprentice's. Turns out I've been tilting the blade too flat this whole time, anyone else have a moment where a simple comment made you rethink something you'd done forever?

Warning: my band saw blade lost its edge overnight and I caught it just in time

I was slicing through a pork shoulder Thursday and noticed the cut felt rougher than usual. Thought it was just the fat. Next morning I go to do the same job and the blade is tearing instead of cutting, leaving shreds all over. Turns out the blade tension had loosened up and I'd been running it crooked for about 3 days. That wore the teeth down uneven on one side. I checked after every sharpening before, but never checked tension during the week. Got a new blade in and it's night and day, like cutting butter again. Has anyone else had tension sneak up on them that fast, or do I just got bad luck with cheap blades?

Took me 3 months to figure out my band saw blade was on backwards

Honestly, I kept getting rough cuts and burning on my pork chops no matter how much I adjusted the fence. I switched blades twice, sharpened the old one, even blamed the meat for being too cold. Finally my buddy from the shop down the road came by and pointed out the teeth were facing the wrong way, he laughed for a solid minute. How do you check your setup before you blame the cut, do you look at the teeth first or just go?

Found out the hard way why beef hangs at 38 degrees for 14 days

I always just cut what came in and never asked questions. Then last Tuesday I got a side that was only hung for 3 days and tried to break it down anyway. The texture was rubbery, the fat wouldn't render, and my customer actually complained about chewiness. My mentor finally walked me through the cold chain logistics, and now I get why the aging room timer matters more than my knife skills. Has anyone else dealt with a supplier rushing the hang time?

A regular asked me to trim his brisket fat, now I do it different every Friday

This guy comes in every Friday around 11am, always asks for the same flat cut. Last week he watched me trim and said, 'you're leaving too much on the side, the grain runs the other way.' I thought he was nuts, but I flipped the brisket and looked again. He was right, I'd been cutting against the grain for months on that spot. Now I check the fiber direction before I even touch the fat cap. Anyone else had a customer teach them something they missed in training?

That demo at a Denver packing school changed my knife habits

Went to a 3 day class at the Denver institute last spring. The instructor showed us how most guys sharpen way too steep, like 20 degrees on a boning knife. He did a side by side cut through a beef shank, one knife at 15 degrees, one at 20. The difference was night and day, less tearing and way fewer resharps. I switched my whole station to 15 degrees and my wrist feels better by Friday. Anyone else drop their angle after a demo or is it just me?

Hand-boned the whole hog vs machine saw, I'll take the knife every time

Back in 2019 at the old shop in Omaha, we got a band saw for the pork sides. Boss wanted speed, said we'd double output. First week, I lost so much meat to bone dust and sloppy cuts, maybe 15 pounds off a 200 pound carcass. Swapped back to hand boning, took an extra hour per hog but the trim yield paid for my time. Anyone else find the old way still beats the machine for quality?

Wet aging vs dry aging a whole ribeye, dry took the win for me

I finally got around to testing both methods side by side with two 15 pound ribeyes from the same steer last month in my shop. Wet bag one was easier and zero loss, but the dry aged one in my little 34 degree cooler lost 18% weight. After 21 days the dry one had this nutty, beefy smell and the crust cut off clean, while the wet one just tasted like a regular steak. Has anyone else done a direct comparison and found the extra trim worth it for their customers?

Changed my mind about dry aging in the bag after a mold mess in Ohio

Had a small batch of striploins going in the Cryovac bag for 21 days. Checked them last Thursday and found green spots on two of them, not the good kind of mold. That ruined the whole experiment for me, about $180 worth of beef down the drain. The old school guys at the Cleveland market said to just use a wire rack in a dedicated fridge with airflow, and honestly a few test cuts since then have tasted cleaner and more consistent. Has anyone else tried the bag method and hit the same wall?

The retired butcher in Austin told me to age ribeyes on a wire rack, not in the cryovac bag

He said the bag traps moisture and kills the crust, so I tried his way with 6 steaks over 5 days and the difference in bark and tenderness was massive, has anyone else had better luck with open-air aging or am I just paranoid about the fridge smell?

Cutting board epiphany while breaking down a hog last month

Last month I was doing a 200 pound hog at the shop in Greenville. My cutting board was this old plastic board that I've used for years, and I always griped about how much the meat slid around. Then my helper, a retired guy named Dale, handed me a towel wet with vinegar and told me to wipe the board down first. I did that for the whole breakdown and my knife bites were so much cleaner, zero slipping. Has anyone else tried wetting their board with vinegar or something before a big cut? I felt like an idiot for not figuring that out sooner.

Had to pick between dry aging and wet aging for our shop

Six months ago I finally had to choose one setup for our counter in Austin. Wet aging is way cheaper and takes less space, but dry aging brings in the customers who ask for it by name. I went with a small dry ager and honestly the first 45 days were rough, lost a whole brisket to mold I didn't trim right. Now that I got the hang of it, the flavor difference is night and day, but I still wonder if the extra $3.50 per pound is worth it for most folks. Anyone else run both and how do you price the dry aged stuff without scaring people off?

Hit 2,000 pork butts this morning, the math caught me off guard

That's 2,000 shoulders since I started tracking on a grease-stained pad back in March, and when I did the quick count I realized I've gone through over 12,000 pounds of pig that never once got a single complaint about being dry, so has anyone else logged their cuts and been stunned by the real volume of what you've handled?

Took me 8 years to stop over-trimming lamb shoulders

I always cut lamb shoulders down to the bone like the videos showed, leaving barely any fat cap. Last month a customer in Portland asked why my chops were so lean and dry, and that got me thinking. Tried leaving a half inch of fat on the next batch, cooked way better and the customers actually noticed. Has anyone else found that following the fancy butchery demos too closely ruins the eating quality?

Vent: My band saw blade snapped mid-order and I almost lost it

Last Thursday during a rush of 40 pork shoulders, the blade blew apart on an old bone and flew across the shop. I was ready to swear off band saws forever, but my buddy from the meat market down the street convinced me to check the blade tension instead of blaming the machine. Anyone else have a near-miss like that and figure out it was a setup issue, not the equipment?

Had a chat with a retired cutter that changed how I trim briskets

Last Saturday at the Des Moines farmers market, this old timer named Hank watched me work a brisket for a minute. He said I was taking off too much fat on the first pass, and that the silver skin should stay until after the rest. I tried his way on a 14 pounder and the yield jumped almost 2 pounds, it felt totally weird at first but the texture came out better too. Anyone else get advice from the older crowd that goes against what they teach in butcher school?

Switched to a bone saw for pork shoulders after a close call last month

I used to muscle through with a cleaver, but after a blade slipped and nicked my thumb joint on a Tuesday rush, I grabbed a cheap reciprocating saw attachment from the hardware store and never looked back. Anyone else made the switch for big cuts, or am I overthinking the risk?

Noticed a massive difference after I switched my boning knife from a 6 inch to a 7 inch

I used the same 6 inch Victorinox for like 4 years straight. Thought that was just how it felt. Then I grabbed a 7 inch F. Dick off a buddy's truck two months ago and man, the extra inch changed everything. I'm trimming briskets way faster and my wrist doesn't ache after a 10 hour Saturday shift. Any of you guys find a big jump in performance just from changing blade length?

6 months of dry-aging a prime ribeye and the difference is night and day

Noticed a big shift in pork quality since the local feed mill changed their corn source about 8 months ago.

The fat on the shoulders went from flabby to firm and the color deepened to a nicer pink, has anyone else seen this change with their suppliers?

Old timer at the shop told me I was trimming ribs wrong for 5 years

I always used to cut the brisket bone flush with the rack, but this retired butcher watched me for like 2 minutes and said "leave a quarter inch of bone past the meat on the spare ribs." He explained it helps the rack hold together during the cook and gives a better bite. I tried it on my next batch and the whole texture improved. Has anyone else had someone call out a simple thing they were doing backwards for years?

Customer complaint changed how I hang my quarters

Had a lady last month complain her prime rib roast had a weird dry patch on the fat cap. Turns out my gambrel hook was resting on the same spot for 6 hours during the chill. Switched to hanging from the Achilles tendon only and haven't had a complaint since. Anyone else run into pressure marking from hooks?