I will confess, I do. Motivations will vary as to why you would want to break down your own primal cuts, but most don't really matter if it's something you choose to do because you are intrigued by the process. Sure, some see it as a way to better control portion sizes, or have a better feeling about the quality of your proteins. Some want to produce "specialty" cuts that commercial butchers/grocers don't see as popular enough to invest the effort. And some think it's a money saver, though I can make arguments in either direction, especially if your time has actual monetary value. All that said, I enjoy this process because it's somewhat of a challenge, and I see value in controlling portions and quality. The more you might be interested in doing this as well, you need to understand that the process is more enjoyable if you invest in what most would consider specialized equipment........certainly not common to the majority of kitchens. Tools like purpose shaped knives, vacuum sealing/packaging devices, meat grinders, and so on. (part of the argument against saving money, but then there's the argument in favor of justifying more "toys".)
Recently, STEbbq ,(or whatever newer screen name he's changed to......again
)
brought up a discussion about chuck roasts that prompted a couple other members to bring up the idea of cutting your own from the chuck primal most often known as a Chuck Roll. It's almost like some were reading my mind. A couple weeks ago I got a flash ad from Sam's Club pitching their selling Choice grade Chuck Rolls (Prime grade is currently not available as we are seeing the effects of draught induced herd culling last and this year). The description intrigued me as I routinely cut large rib roasts into ribeye steaks, and beef tenderloins into filets and other small cuts. Like many of you I went to YouTube to see if there were any tutorials.............oh yeah, there are plenty. If you're interested in this sort of thing I would encourage you to view several videos as each, while mostly similar, contain variations in approach and technique. And the presenters style may be done in a way that is more or less meaningful to you based on your learning style. My only cautionary statement here would be that most of those folks are professionals of one level or other and that your skills may not be quite at their level. In other words, some operations they make look easy (or decisions quickly made) are based on far more repetitions of the process than you or I might appreciate at first.
I started out by setting up my work station at the end of my kitchen island. A large cutting board, a couple knives for trimming and dividing, and some sheet pans to act as landing zones during various operations.
Here's the whole roll fresh out of the cryovac packaging, all 20-ish pounds of her. This is pretty much the positioning/orientation that most of the vids utilized.
I'm not going into any detail on the major separation cuts as those are generally well covered in the recommended vids. I will show what yields I chose to do. This next pic shows the two chuck eye steaks and five chuck roasts I cut. How many steaks you get will be dictated by how the primal was butchered at the processing plant. Some will have more of the ribeye end intact and yield a third steak, but the one I have here didn't. The roast probably look small to some folks, because they are. Keep in mind, what you're more likely accustomed to with 3-4 lb roast is when that primal is cut across it's entire section which incorporates portions of other cuts you'll see later. These ranged in size from just over a pound to two pounds. Since we most often are cooking for only two people this actually works out pretty well. The chuck eye steaks are similar to ribeye so should be enjoyable.
The next pic is what was cut from that large silver skin portion on the left tray above. These are the cuts that make the above roasts as small as they are. The left most cut is the Sierra Steak, it resembles a flank steak in texture and appearance. I ended up cutting it in half making two one pound portions which, again, works well for the two of us. That middle cut that looks something like a mini tenderloin got cubed up for stew meat. I could have put it in the trim pile that will end up as burger grind, but we make occasional dishes that call for braising beef chunks so this will do that well. On the right side of the board are the Denver steak. This yielded nine pieces, but one of them had a bit more taper than I'd like to manage when grilling so I packaged eight steaks and tossed the oddball in the grind pile.
This last pic is the pan where I piled the trim destined for burger grinding and the pile of silver skin and other undesirable stuff. Net out there was 1 3/4 lb. of waste/junk and 3 pounds of grind. Since this is comparatively lean I'll be adding somewhere around 3/4 lb. of fat to get the 75/25 mix I prefer for burger meat.
Not too bad on eventual yield weight wise, roughly 18 lbs, plus a little allowing use of saved fat in my freezer in the grind. Is it worth it? It is to me for the reasons stated above, but, similarly, I can see where some folks see no benefit. You makes your choices and you takes your chances.
Recently, STEbbq ,(or whatever newer screen name he's changed to......again
)brought up a discussion about chuck roasts that prompted a couple other members to bring up the idea of cutting your own from the chuck primal most often known as a Chuck Roll. It's almost like some were reading my mind. A couple weeks ago I got a flash ad from Sam's Club pitching their selling Choice grade Chuck Rolls (Prime grade is currently not available as we are seeing the effects of draught induced herd culling last and this year). The description intrigued me as I routinely cut large rib roasts into ribeye steaks, and beef tenderloins into filets and other small cuts. Like many of you I went to YouTube to see if there were any tutorials.............oh yeah, there are plenty. If you're interested in this sort of thing I would encourage you to view several videos as each, while mostly similar, contain variations in approach and technique. And the presenters style may be done in a way that is more or less meaningful to you based on your learning style. My only cautionary statement here would be that most of those folks are professionals of one level or other and that your skills may not be quite at their level. In other words, some operations they make look easy (or decisions quickly made) are based on far more repetitions of the process than you or I might appreciate at first.
I started out by setting up my work station at the end of my kitchen island. A large cutting board, a couple knives for trimming and dividing, and some sheet pans to act as landing zones during various operations.
Here's the whole roll fresh out of the cryovac packaging, all 20-ish pounds of her. This is pretty much the positioning/orientation that most of the vids utilized.
I'm not going into any detail on the major separation cuts as those are generally well covered in the recommended vids. I will show what yields I chose to do. This next pic shows the two chuck eye steaks and five chuck roasts I cut. How many steaks you get will be dictated by how the primal was butchered at the processing plant. Some will have more of the ribeye end intact and yield a third steak, but the one I have here didn't. The roast probably look small to some folks, because they are. Keep in mind, what you're more likely accustomed to with 3-4 lb roast is when that primal is cut across it's entire section which incorporates portions of other cuts you'll see later. These ranged in size from just over a pound to two pounds. Since we most often are cooking for only two people this actually works out pretty well. The chuck eye steaks are similar to ribeye so should be enjoyable.
The next pic is what was cut from that large silver skin portion on the left tray above. These are the cuts that make the above roasts as small as they are. The left most cut is the Sierra Steak, it resembles a flank steak in texture and appearance. I ended up cutting it in half making two one pound portions which, again, works well for the two of us. That middle cut that looks something like a mini tenderloin got cubed up for stew meat. I could have put it in the trim pile that will end up as burger grind, but we make occasional dishes that call for braising beef chunks so this will do that well. On the right side of the board are the Denver steak. This yielded nine pieces, but one of them had a bit more taper than I'd like to manage when grilling so I packaged eight steaks and tossed the oddball in the grind pile.
This last pic is the pan where I piled the trim destined for burger grinding and the pile of silver skin and other undesirable stuff. Net out there was 1 3/4 lb. of waste/junk and 3 pounds of grind. Since this is comparatively lean I'll be adding somewhere around 3/4 lb. of fat to get the 75/25 mix I prefer for burger meat.
Not too bad on eventual yield weight wise, roughly 18 lbs, plus a little allowing use of saved fat in my freezer in the grind. Is it worth it? It is to me for the reasons stated above, but, similarly, I can see where some folks see no benefit. You makes your choices and you takes your chances.
Prices vary, here it was $5.48 per lb. The Butcher Wizard video demonstrates maximizing the chuck roast and burger grind, he doesn't even consider the Sierra steak when trimming.
Comment