Showerthought: My quick trim on a side of beef saved hours without a quality drop, against common advice.

In my experience, taking less time on the initial break down can still yield clean cuts, but your mileage may vary.

3 comments

3 Comments

My butcher buddy showed me that a sharp boning knife and knowing the major seams can cut breakdown time in half. In my experience, if you follow the natural lines in the muscle, you don't need to be as careful with every bit of fat. Your mileage may vary, but I've saved hours on whole lambs and hogs using this faster method. Take this with a grain of salt, but for beef, I focus on removing the big silver skin and main fat caps quickly. The key is trusting that some trim can be cleaned up later if needed, without hurting the main cuts. It's all about speed once you're used to how the animal is put together.

spencer_lee4d ago

Rushing just ruins good meat, and wasted trim adds up fast. Slow cuts save more money than speed saves time.

davidn554d ago

Totally! A sharp blade makes all the difference for finding those seams.