I set up a little dry aging setup with a mini fridge and a salt block in my basement back in October. After 21 days on that 12 pound ribeye primal from Costco, the crust was super dark and the meat had this deep nutty flavor I never got from wet aging. Lost about 30% weight in trim but the taste was worth it. Anyone else try dry aging at home and notice a big texture change?
I’ve been a butcher for about 4 years now, mostly at a shop in Portland. Today I counted and realized I’ve trimmed over 500 pork chops without a single complaint from customers or my boss. It’s not a huge deal but it kinda surprised me how consistent I’ve gotten since I started. Has anyone else tracked their own little milestones like this? It’s cool to see the progress.
I used it 8 times on a single backstrap thinking it would make it more tender, but it turned into a texture like ground meat and I lost half of it through the grates, has anyone else ruined good venison by overdoing it with a tenderizer tool?
Last month a guy brought back a pork chop saying it had a bone chip in it. Ive been cutting my own chops for 3 years but now I double check every loin before I wrap it. Anyone else change their cutting method after a bad review?
I was just going through my invoices last month for taxes and added up all the ground beef I'd sold since opening. Hit 10,247 pounds exactly. That's like 40 cows worth of meat just from my little shop in Austin. Didn't feel like I was doing that much volume but the numbers don't lie. Has anyone else ever totaled up a random category and been shocked?
Was reading through some USDA reports I found online last night and stumbled on that stat about trichinella in pork from 2023. Has anyone else here dealt with customers who insist on eating rare pork?
I swear every time I run short ribs through the band saw at my shop in Philly, bone dust gets all over my apron and boots no matter how careful I am. Saw a new guy last week just letting it pile up on the table instead of wiping it down between cuts. That dust gets into the meat if you are not paying attention and customers can taste that gritty texture. I have been doing this for 8 years and I always keep a wet towel nearby to catch the spray. How do you guys deal with this mess without slowing down your line?
Figured I'd save money sharpening my own blades instead of sending them out... cost me 3 good blades and 45 bucks in shipping to get them fixed after. Anyone else fall for a tool that just made more work?
Guy named Hank who's been cutting meat since the 70s at a shop in Nashville told me to let my pork shoulders rest uncovered in the fridge for 12 hours before smoking. I figured it was some old school superstition but tried it last weekend on a 20 pounder. That bark came out way crunchier and the smoke flavor actually stuck better than any shoulder I've done before. Anyone else tried this method or got other tricks from the old heads?
I threw a prime ribeye in my old mini fridge with a salt block underneath. The smell when I opened it was brutal but the flavor was so funky I had to give half to a buddy who loves stinky cheese. Anyone else ever push dry-aging too far in a home setup?
Stopped by Bert's Meat Market on Gratiot last weekend and watched the old timer there break down a whole rib section. He was using a curved boning knife to separate the tips from the spares, leaving way more meat on the tips than I ever do. I usually just chop straight through the cartilage but he worked around it in like 10 seconds flat. Anyone else have a method for getting more yield off those rib tips?
Had a mentor in Detroit tell me to just scrape and salt them clean years ago and I thought he was nuts - tried it on my end grain board last month and the smell alone convinced me I was the one who was wrong. Anyone else make the switch or am I just late to the party?
Honestly, I didn't even track my numbers until last week when I did inventory at my shop in Portland. I broke down 10,200 pounds of beef and pork combined, which is crazy for a one-man operation. It made me realize I need to hire someone soon or I'll burn out. Anyone else ever hit a number that made you rethink your whole setup?
I was trying to clean up a whole tenderloin for a big holiday order and got way too aggressive with the silver skin. ended up cutting into the meat on like 4 sections and they were all weird shapes. had to turn them into stew meat instead of selling as filets. my boss just looked at me and said 'you'll get it next time' but i felt pretty dumb. anyone else butcher their first few tenderloins this bad?
He said the flavor goes away when you trim them too close, and after trying one his way I think he might be right, anyone else leave more fat on their steaks than the customer asks for?
I picked the dry aging bag for my ribeye last month on a whim and ended up with better flavor but way more cleanup, has anyone else tried both methods and found one clearly better?
He just grabbed my hand and pressed my thumb against a flat where I had just cut and said 'feel that little bump you missed?' and I never forgot it, has anyone else had a mentor teach you a trick like that?
I've been running my own butcher shop for about 8 years now, and I finally hit a milestone that caught me off guard. Last Tuesday, we ground a full 1,000 pounds of beef from a half-dozen chuck rolls we had in the cooler. It took my guy and me about 4 hours start to finish to get it all through the grinder and packed. I never really thought about the number until I added it up at the end of the day. It made me realize how much our volume has crept up since I started out doing maybe 150 pounds a week. Has anyone else kept track of their biggest single-day grind? I'm curious how that compares to other shops out there.
Spent good money on a Lenox carbide blade for breaking down primals and it gave out after maybe ten minutes on a frozen rib section. Anyone else find cheaper blades hold up just as well if you go slower?
I was trimming a ribeye at Ray's Meats in Cleveland last month and the 70-year-old owner said I was leaving too little fat on the caps. He showed me his way and I haven't trimmed a steak the same since. Anyone else get told they're overtrimming?
I was looking up cook times for a 12lb shoulder I'm doing this weekend and stumbled on that number from a USDA breakdown. That explains why my yield is always way lower than I expect no matter how careful I am. Anyone else track their actual yield vs starting weight on bigger cuts like this?
I've been buying from the same hog farm for about 5 years now. Last Tuesday I stopped by to pick up an order and ended up talking to the farmer's daughter who just took over the operation. She asked me why I always request the same cuts and never ask for stuff like pork shoulder or belly in smaller batches. I told her it's just habit from my old supplier. She said I could request custom sizes on anything if I give her a week's notice. That stuck with me because I've been wasting time trimming down big primals when I could just order them closer to what I need. Has anyone else tried working with smaller farms for custom sizing on orders?
Had a client order 60 ribeyes for a wedding reception near Cleveland. I went with bone-in because I figured it looked fancier on the plate. But trimming and portioning took forever. Ended up with uneven weights and had to charge more for waste. The chef was annoyed the bones made plating harder. Should I have just gone boneless next time? Anyone else run into this dilemma?
Used to swear by wet-aging for 21 days in cryovac for my ribeyes, thought it was more consistent. After a batch last fall came out tasting like a wet sponge and lost 3 pounds to purge on 40 pounds of beef, I switched back to dry-aging in my walk-in. Anyone here ever have a wet-aging batch go bad on them like that?
I had about 40 pounds of choice ribeyes sitting in my cooler last week and I had to decide - either sell them as fresh cuts or try dry-aging them myself for 30 days in our spare fridge. I went with the aging process, set it up with a humidity controller and a small fan. Pulled one out after 21 days to test it and the flavor was actually incredible, way deeper than anything I've bought pre-aged from the supplier. Has anyone else tried building their own dry-aging setup or do you guys usually just send your primal cuts out to a processor?