c/butchers

One insane Saturday at the shop last month

I had a guy come in wanting 20 pounds of beef liver for a single family cookout and then 20 minutes later a vegan walked in asking if we had any plant-based meat alternatives. Anyone else get customers like that back to back?

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sage_rodriguez•2d ago

Grinding my own burger blend felt like overkill until I did it once

I always bought pre-ground chuck from the store, figured grinding my own was just extra work for no real difference. Last Tuesday I picked up a brisket end and some short rib trimmings, ran them through the grinder myself, and the texture and flavor on the patties was night and day. Anyone else get surprised by how much better homemade grind tastes even with basic cuts?

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cora_perez•4d ago

Had a customer last week ask me to butterfly a whole lamb

Guy comes in on a Tuesday afternoon, says he's throwing a party and wants a lamb butterflied for the grill. I've done it before but not in a while. Took me about 20 minutes with a boning knife and some patience. He watched the whole thing and asked if I could teach him. I told him sure, bring your own lamb next time and I'll walk you through it. Has anyone else had people ask to watch you work like that?

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patricia_chen67•4d ago

I used to trim all the fat off ribeyes until a customer told me I was ruining them.

Switched to leaving a 1/4 inch cap after a guy named Vince explained the fat renders down to flavor, now I sell way more at the counter and haven't looked back - anyone else get schooled by a customer on their own cuts?

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blairf48•4d ago

Dropped $400 on a new band saw blade that's supposed to last forever, now I'm not so sure

Bought one of those fancy carbide tipped blades for my old Hobart back in March. Talked to the rep at the supply shop and he swore it would outlast three standard blades easy. First 200 pounds of pork shoulder went through fine. Then I hit a bone chip that must've been from a badly split spine and it chipped a tooth. Now it's got a nick that leaves a ragged edge on everything. $400 down the drain basically. Should I just go back to the $80 standard blades or is there a trick to keeping these things safe from bone fragments?

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theaw65•7d ago

Knife guy at a farmers market in Portland fixed my edge angle for free

I was at the Saturday farmers market in Portland last month and this older guy had a little sharpening setup near the cheese stand. He asked to see my boning knife I use for breaking down chickens. He took one look and said I was grinding at 20 degrees instead of 15. He ran it over his stone for maybe 2 minutes and handed it back. That knife cuts through skin and fat like butter now. I never would have paid for that lesson but he just smiled and waved me off. Anyone else had a random stranger fix a basic technique you thought you had down?

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evan_harris14•7d ago

Finally saw the difference dry-aging 21 days vs 28 days on a ribeye

I've been dry-aging at home for about a year now, mostly sticking to 21 days. Last month I tried a 28-day prime ribeye from Creekstone Farms and the difference was way bigger than I expected. The 28-day had a much deeper, nuttier flavor and the fat rendered softer. Has anyone else noticed a big jump between those two timeframes on different cuts?

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allen.ruby•8d ago

That one Tuesday last month where everything went right

I had a full week of bad breaks last month - messed up a lamb order, my bandsaw blade snapped on a Tuesday morning, and the delivery truck showed up with a whole beef loin that was all beat up. But then on Thursday I got a perfect 250-pound steer from a local farm near me in Ohio, broke it down in under 3 hours with no waste, and two of my regular customers came in and bought up all the chuck roasts within 10 minutes. Has anyone else had a day where the stars just aligned and made you feel like you actually knew what you were doing?

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ryan_coleman21•8d ago

Finally figured out how to keep my saw blade sharp longer

Been fighting with my bone saw getting dull after just a few sides of beef. Tried everything, different blades, different speeds. Then an old timer at the shop told me to stop using the saw to cut through the joints. Said to break them by hand first. Tried it last week on a full hind quarter and the blade is still cutting clean after 3 days. Anyone else do this or am I just late to the party?

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lily_ramirez4•8d ago

I realized I was sharpening my boning knife wrong after a butcher in Boston watched me for 2 minutes

I've been a butcher for about 4 years now, and I always thought I had my sharpening routine down. Last month a older guy at a shop in Boston's North End came over and said I was using way too much pressure and ruining the edge. He showed me how to let the stone do the work with light passes, and now my knives stay sharp 3 times longer. Has anyone else had a basic technique totally flipped on them by a pro?

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drew_west•9d ago

That Saturday wrecked my whole week's yield.

Last Saturday I had a half ton of pork shoulder come in that was way warmer than it should've been. The supplier's reefer had been sitting at 45 degrees for probably 6 hours during transport. I had to toss 400 pounds of it because the internal temp was already pushing 50. Anyone else deal with delivery trucks not keeping their chill?

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ivan230•9d ago

The fancy butcher shop downtown uses pre-cut steaks from a box

Walked into that new place on 5th street cause I heard they do custom cuts. Watched the guy behind the counter pull out a cryovac pack of ribeyes from under the counter. No whole primals hanging or even in the cooler. Just opened a box and slapped em on the tray. Charging $28 a pound for that. Am I crazy or is that just a grocery store with a nicer sign? Has anyone else seen this kind of thing in their town?

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sagelane•9d ago

Spent $40 on a boning knife that couldn't handle a pork shoulder

Picked up this cheap boning knife from a hardware store near my shop because I forgot my good one at home, and the blade literally bent on the third cut into a pork shoulder. Had to finish the whole breakdown with a paring knife, which took forever and made a mess. Anyone else had a budget blade let you down at the worst time?

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blairf48•9d ago

Rant: Dry aged a ribeye for 30 days and got a mold I wasn't ready for

I got a nice prime ribeye from a local farm in Kentucky, figured I'd try dry aging it in my home fridge for a month. I didn't have a special setup, just let it sit on a wire rack over a tray, and I checked it every few days. Around day 24 I saw greenish black spots that weren't just the normal white mold, smelled a bit off too, so I cut deep into it and lost about a pound of meat. I learned you really need a dedicated dry aging fridge with proper airflow and humidity control, otherwise you're just gambling. Any of you folks tried dry aging at home or do you stick with the pros?

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theaw65•9d ago

Had a lamb shoulder fall apart on me during a demo in Minneapolis last month

I was at a farmer's market gig showing how to break down a whole lamb. Crowd of maybe 30 people watching. I got going on the shoulder and the blade slipped right through a joint I didn't see coming. Bone fragment shot into the display case. Looked like a mess. I just picked it out, wiped the case down, and kept going. Nobody said a word but I could feel them staring. Has anyone else had a cut go sideways in front of a group?

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ryan_kim63•10d ago

Can we talk about how people keep trimming lamb chops wrong?

I swear half the guys at my shop in Portland cut them too close to the bone and leave like 2 inches of fat cap on top. Last Tuesday a customer brought one back saying it was 'too greasy' and I had to explain it wasn't my knife work lol. Has anyone else dealt with people who don't know to trim that fat down to a quarter inch?

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lilymurphy•10d ago

Hit 500 pounds of sausage made in a single month this January - is that a lot or just average for a home butcher?

I got into a debate with a guy at the farmers market who said 500 pounds of sausage in a month is rookie numbers, but my neighbor who's been doing this 20 years said that's solid work for someone without a commercial setup. I hit that number grinding and stuffing every weekend in January, and it felt like a big deal to me until that market guy knocked it down. For those of you who track your output, what's your personal best for a month and do you think there's a standard benchmark we should be aiming for?

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blaked79•11d ago

Confession: I used to buy boxed primals for years before I learned breaking down whole carcasses was way better

Back when I started out in 2012 I would just order boxed ribeyes and striploins from the distributor. It was easy but I felt like I was missing something. About 3 years ago my mentor told me to try breaking down whole steer primals myself. The difference in trim control and yield is night and day. I save about 15 percent on meat cost now and my customers notice the quality. Has anyone else switched from boxed to whole and never looked back?

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green.jessica•15d ago

Old timer at the shop told me to never trust a pre-packed grind

Back in 2019, this graybeard guy at my first butcher gig said always grind your own from trim or you'll get burned. I ignored him once on a busy Saturday, grabbed a tube of pre-ground chuck, and ended up with a recall from the supplier three days later. Anyone else got a piece of advice they wish they'd listened to sooner?

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the_logan•15d ago

Hit 500 whole chickens broken down this week and never counted before

Started keeping track on a whim last January. Just a tally mark on the board each time I broke down a whole bird. Hit 500 yesterday. Never realized how many I actually do in a year. Anyone else keep random counts like this in their shop?

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allen.quinn•20d ago

That organic butcher shop in Portland had me scratching my head

I stopped by this high-end place called The Meat Epicure last month and watched their guy trim a whole ribeye. He cut off almost all the fat cap and the deckle like it was trash, leaving maybe a quarter inch on top. Am I crazy for thinking you need more fat than that for flavor or is this some new style I missed?

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the_abby•20d ago

Been a whole month since I switched to dry aging my own beef at home. Is it worth the effort or just a gimmick for home butchers?

So I started dry aging in a spare fridge I got off FB marketplace about 4 weeks ago. Dropped like $80 on a prime rib roast from a local farm outside Portland. Now I'm cutting off the crust and losing about 20% yield to trimming. My wife says the flavor is way richer but my buddy who works at a shop says home dry aging is pointless without a humidity controlled room. Anyone else go through this and think it's actually better than just buying a wet aged cut?

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cameron318•22d ago

Warning: That new apprentice almost cost me a whole shoulder yesterday

I let the new kid try to bone out a pork shoulder on his own after watching me do it twice. He got about 15 minutes in before I heard the knife hit bone in a way that made my stomach drop. Turns out he was trying to follow the scapula backwards and was about to cut through the tenderloin. Had to stop him and redo the whole thing. Has anyone else had a helper that just couldn't grasp basic seam butchery without mangling something?

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hayden720•22d ago

Chat with a farmer yesterday changed how I look at beef grading

I was breaking down a side of beef and talking to a local farmer who supplies some of my grass-fed stuff. He flat out told me that the USDA grading system is basically useless for the type of meat he raises. Said his calves are slaughtered at 30 months instead of 18, and they'd get a Select grade even though the marbling and flavor beat anything from a feedlot. That hit me hard because I've been chasing Prime and Choice all these years. Now I'm wondering if I should just ignore grade stamps and start pushing grass-fed and grass-finished hard at my counter. Has anyone else dealt with customers who only buy based on the grade sticker?

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hall.quinn•22d ago

Tried dry-aging a ribeye in my home fridge for 10 days and it came out tasting like a damp sock

Ngl, I thought I could hack it with a regular fridge and a wire rack, but the humidity was all wrong. The outside got this funky mold that even trimming couldn't save. Has anyone actually pulled off home dry-aging without a dedicated setup?

2 comments