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Post by gunsablazin on Jun 22, 2015 21:47:11 GMT -5
Hey everybody, this is my first post on this forum. I want to get a few opinions from some real butchers or steak connoisseurs on what I should be doing and if I've been making any mistakes over the years.
To start, I'm fortunate enough to have a family that raises cattle and my wife and I always get half of a steer. We raise it until it's about a thousand pounds, keep it in a catch-pen and feed them a mix of corn and sweet-mix. The taste is always fantastic. But here's the deal, we always take them to a processor that doesn't exactly seem to offer many choices.
We're not really into exotic things, like tail, tongue, or cheeks; and many of the roasts we choose to have ground up into hamburger. Occasionally I get some short ribs and we get a few sirloin tip roasts. I usually get a twenty pounds of sausage links as well. That's all pretty standard stuff. Where my question lies is in the steak department. For years we only got rib eyes, massive sirloins,t-bones, and cube steaks. One year I was able to deduce that I could have strips and fillets rather than t-bones...But that's it. It's like they don't care to offer many choices, even though I'd be willing to pay for the processing.
I'm just wondering if there are fantastic cuts of meat that I'm missing out on... I cringe to think that I've been turning brisket into hamburger, or skirt steaks into sausage... When I thaw out a sirloin they're seriously like 16" long...huge...and there appears to be multiple different cuts of meat in that one massive slab.
Please pardon my ignorance on the matter, but I'm trying to educate myself before I have another steer slaughtered. I'd love to see shrink wrapped packages off prime rib, London broil, porterhouse, skirt, brisket, etc.
Any opinions are appreciated! Thanks.
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Post by BBQ Butcher on Jun 23, 2015 8:04:42 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum This is what you can/should get out each HALF of the beef Beef Forequarter Bone-in or boneless chuck roasts/steaks, bone-in or boneless shoulder(arm) roasts or steaks, short ribs, stew meat, ground meat, shank meat, brisket, skirt steak, bone-in or boneless rib eye roasts/steaks (prime rib). Beef Hindquarter Boneless Bottom round roasts/steaks (or cube steaks), top round roasts/steaks (london broil or swiss style), eye round roast or steaks, sirloin tip roasts or steaks, bone-in sirloin steaks (or boneless sirloin steaks and filet mignons), bone-in T-bone and porterhouse steaks (or boneless strip steaks and tenderloins), flank steak, another skirt steak, stew meat, ground meat and shank meat. You will also have liver, heart, kidneys, tripe, tongue and oxtails to flip a coin over. I would keep the Skirt steaks, the Hanger steak (off the diaphragm), half of the Top Round into London Broil, the whole Brisket for bbq or slow cooker. Yes, your Sirloins do have different muscles......the Top Sirloin, the Ball Tip, Tri-Tip and Flap meat. The processor (hopefully knows what he's doing) can break down the "Hip" before it is cut into bone-in Sirloin Steaks, and the other muscles can be left as small roasts or cut into individual steaks. As far as the Rib is concerned, have them remove the "Cap" (great for Kabobs or even a steak), then one good sized 3-4 bone Prime Rib and the rest cut into bone-in or boneless Rib Eye steaks.
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