Making a Meat Puzzle: Breaking Down Half a Cow (Bearded Butchers)

[Michael_in_TX]

Two days ago the Bearded Butchers posted an absolutely fantastic video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qReSsWr7Gw

They take an entire half a cow and break it down completely into the primals, then further into every typical cut. And when I say, completely, I mean completely: at the end they weigh the meat, the trimmings and fat for ground beef, and the amount they discard.

The coolest thing about the video is that they reassemble everything into a "meat puzzle," which clearly shows where on the cow each of the cuts originate and how they relate to each other:



The camera work is impressive; they show clearly how each cut is separated with a knife and saw. The skill of these two men is astonishing. They clearly have done this a time or two.

The video is lengthy -- an hour and sixteen minutes, although there are two short quasi-ads in the middle you can easily skip -- but it is worth watching in its entirety. I learned a tremendous deal and more than I have from any other video trying to explain where beef comes from.

[Michael_in_TX]

Another thing I really liked about the video is, for example when they were cutting the sirloin steaks, you could see how the fat pattern changed as they went deeper into the sirloin primal.

That was useful not only in understanding "which way is up" on a sirloin steak, but also understanding, potentially, where in the primal it had been cut.

[Uncle Bob]

You're correct about these lads, very skilled at their trade. I subscribed to their channel a year or two ago, worth every minute.

This is a good example of how comparatively easy it is to learn about a subject matter in these times of "instant" information flow and availability. When I was a wee lad you'd have to dig through a long row of encyclopedias, or go through the whole library mambo of index cards and so on, or, if you were bold enough, beg an artisan to show you what you wanted to know more about. I suspect today's youngin's don't sufficiently appreciate what an information gold mine they are born into.

[RonB]

And I'm guessing using a stone tablet and chisel to write your lessons was no fun for you as a kid either.

[Michael_in_TX]

To your point it is now possible -- I almost would say common -- to get a doctoral degree without ever setting foot in a traditional university library. (Granted, all academic journals are now online, of course.)

[Oak Smoke]

Truly good butchers aren’t numerous these days. It is a hard physical job. My son was a butcher for Whole Foods for years and then a successful butcher in a high end meat market. One of his customers convinced him to walk away and try his hand at selling insurance. He’s making more and is much happier than before. He keeps saying “I can’t believe they pay this much for doing this”. It’s good to see these guys still doing incredible work and teaching.

[Mosca]

I watched a couple minutes, then cast it to my regular TV and now I’m going to actually watch all 75 minutes. And I usually have a 5 minute limit on YouTube vids.

[tenphases]

I loved this video it was super informative and so much work!!

[Mosca]

What I found interesting is cutting away silverskin and gristle. When I cut it, I don’t want to give up a single square millimeter of red; they just cut that stuff away and they’re done with it! It falls under “what you didn’t see doesn’t affect you”. If it’s cut away before I got it, I never know, but if I have to cut it away myself it feels wasted, even though I paid less to buy a cut that needs to be trimmed!

[Michael_in_TX]

I saw that, too! I thought they've be using their thin knives to only take away the unwanted fat/gristle....sorta like what we typically do with a pork tenderloin, but they were very broad in how they did that.

[Bad Hat BBQ]

Thanks for posting. This is a great resource

[PaynTrain]

Michael_in_TX These guys are the real deal, local to my location. I highly suggest you try some of their spices (I'm an Original fan). Great holiday hams too!

[Michael_in_TX]

Very cool. I've been interested in their Black seasoning for quite a while now.

[Michael_in_TX]

Following up on this, The Bearded Butchers have released two additional videos in the same vein:

Pig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQhToBXidu8
and Lamb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZpsQ8f0AR0