c/butchers

Rubbed a brisket with straight coffee grounds on a whim and the bark turned out like charcoal

I tried it on a 12-pound packer last Sunday from a local farm in Vermont and the crust was so bitter and hard I had to shave it off with a knife, has anyone else had a rub experiment go that wrong?

Broke down 40 chickens at the shop before I noticed the joint trick

I been cutting chickens the same way for years. Just hacking through bone with my cleaver. Then this older guy named Pete from the next county over stopped by for some trim and watched me work. He asked why I was fighting the joint when the leg was practically begging to be popped out. Showed me in 10 seconds how to feel for the socket and separate it clean. No bone dust. No dulling my blade. Made me feel like an idiot but my wrist thanked me the next morning. Anybody else stuck in their ways for years before someone simple showed them a better move?

Vent: I used to think boning knives needed to be razor sharp for everything, but after trimming 80 pork shoulders at Johnson's Market last Saturday I realized a slightly duller edge actually gives me more control on the fat cap.

Switched to a 10-inch scimitar and only touch it up with a steel now instead of honing it to a shaving edge every 20 minutes, but am I the only one who prefers less bite for certain cuts?

Broke my band saw blade mid-breakfast rush last Saturday

I was breaking down a whole pig at 7 AM and my band saw blade snapped right as I hit the spine. The noise was awful and I had about 15 pounds of shoulder half cut. I shut everything down, swapped in a spare blade I luckily had in my toolbox, and finished the job by hand with a bone saw for about 10 minutes. Has anyone else had a blade go bad at the worst possible time? How do you handle it when you don't have a backup?

Spent 3 hours trying to fix a band saw blade that kept slipping

I was breaking down a side of beef yesterday and my band saw blade kept wandering off the wheels no matter what I did. Turned out I had the tension way too loose because I was in a hurry and didn't check the gauge. Anyone else ever chase a simple adjustment for way longer than you'd care to admit?

The customer who asked me to butterfly a chicken 6 different ways

I work at a meat counter in Portland and last Saturday this lady comes up with a whole chicken. She asks me to butterfly it, which is fine. Then she watches me do it and says "no, I meant like a real butterfly, spread out flat." I had to show her the difference between spatchcock and butterflying. She ended up making me cut it 5 more times in different styles before she picked one. It took 20 minutes and she bought the chicken for $12. Has anyone else had a customer who just couldn't decide on a cut?

Walked into a health inspector visit at my shop last Thursday with a half-finished lamb breakdown on the counter

They saw how I was leaving the meat sit for 15 minutes before wrapping and actually complimented the temp control, has anyone else gotten a surprise visit that turned out okay?

Why does nobody talk about knife handles making or breaking your cuts?

Last month, an old timer at a butcher shop in Kansas City told me my knife handle grip was too tight and causing me to twist the blade on longer cuts. I swapped to a round handle instead of an oval one and my portioning got way more consistent. Has anyone else noticed a big difference just from changing the handle shape?

TIL the old master butchers used to sharpen their knives with a wet stone and a prayer, not these fancy electric sharpeners

Last month I watched a 30 year veteran take a dull boning knife to razor sharp in under 5 minutes using just a flat stone and water at the shop in Portland, and it made me realize how much I've been overcomplicating my own setup with all these gadgets. Has anyone else gone back to basics after seeing old school technique in action?

Finally got my beef trimming time down from 45 minutes to 22 per carcass half

I used to really struggle with breaking down a side of beef, took me almost an hour easy. Then about 3 months ago I watched an old timer at a shop in Denver show me how to follow the natural seams better. He said stop fighting the muscle groups and just let the knife do the work. Now I trim a half in 22 minutes flat and I'm not even winded. Has anyone else had a specific trick that cut their time in half like that?

Had a chat with an old timer about knife sharpening and it finally clicked

My grandpa's buddy Ralph told me I was overthinking angles and just need to feel the burr form. Now I'm getting edges that actually hold up through a whole side of beef, what's your go-to trick for knowing when a knife is truly sharp?

The whole "bone-in gives more flavor" thing is way overblown.

I keep seeing guys at my shop in Phoenix insisting on bone-in cuts for everything, even for stuff like braising short ribs where it just makes portioning a pain. Did a test last month with 20 pounds of chuck from a local ranch, half bone-in half boneless, same cook temp and time. Honestly couldn't tell a difference in taste, and the boneless gave way cleaner servings. Anyone else think the bone-in hype is mostly marketing? Is there a specific cut where it actually matters?

Hot take: I think most butchers over-trim their steaks

Last Friday I was working a rush at the shop on Main Street in Nashville and trimmed a whole ribeye down to almost nothing because I was trying to make it look perfect for a picky customer. Right after I bagged it, the lady next to her grabbed the scraps off the cutting board and said "I'll take these for stew, they got more flavor anyway." That stuck with me. Now I leave a good quarter inch of fat on the cap and sell the trimmed bits separate. It actually made more money per cow and nobody complained. Has anyone else tried leaving more fat on their cuts or is it just me going against the grain?

That cheap boning knife cost me $60 in ruined meat

I bought a $12 boning knife off Amazon last month just to see if it could handle light work. First week it felt okay but by the third week the edge was chipping bad. I ruined a whole pork shoulder trying to trim it clean and had to toss about 4 pounds of meat. Anyone else have bad luck with those bargain-bin knives?

Rant: That $50 boning knife I thought was a steal from a flea market

I picked up this boning knife at a flea market in Portland last month for $50. Thought I was getting a great deal because the handle looked solid and the blade seemed sharp. Got it home and tried breaking down a pork shoulder with it. The blade started chipping after just two cuts. I mean, it was so bad I had to stop and use my old trusty Victorinox instead. I probably could have bought a decent new one for that price. Anyone else ever get burned by a used knife that looked good but turned out to be junk?

Old band saw finally gave up the ghost on me yesterday

That 1950s Hobart I inherited from my uncle just seized up mid-cut on a pork shoulder. Had to hand-saw the rest of the order and it took me an extra hour. Anyone else running vintage gear that's hanging on by a thread?

That time a whole lamb leg slipped out of my hand and into the bone bin

I was breaking down a lamb leg at 6 AM on a Saturday, still half asleep. Went to flip it over and my wet gloves just let go. Leg landed right in the 5 gallon bucket of scrap bones we keep for stock. Had to fish it out, rinse it off, and trim away anything that touched the bottom. Has anyone else had a cut of meat take a dive into something nasty and just had to roll with it?

Debating the right way to handle a stuck bone saw blade

I had a blade jam up on a beef femur yesterday and spent a solid hour trying to free it. One side says you should force it through, the other says you need to back it out completely. What's your go-to fix for this?

The way I break down a pork shoulder completely changed after a trip to Kansas City

For years I just hacked through the seam with a cleaver, which left a lot of good meat on the bone and made a mess. Then I watched a guy at a packing plant there use just his hands and a boning knife, feeling for the joint and popping it apart clean. I tried it back at my shop and now I can get a shoulder apart in under three minutes with way less waste. Anyone have a different method for getting those clean separations?

Had to choose between a band saw and a new set of knives for the shop, went with the knives.

The old band saw was slow but still worked. My boss wanted to replace it with a $2,500 model. I argued we should put that money into a full set of Japanese steel knives from a supplier in Portland instead. We got six new blades, and sharpening is a dream now. The cuts are so much cleaner on everything from pork shoulders to brisket. The band saw can wait. Anyone else think investing in the hand tools first makes more sense?

Spent three hours trying to get a clean cut on a grass-fed beef round yesterday

The grain was all over the place, way different than the corn-fed stuff I usually work with. I had to keep switching knives and angles, and it still felt like I was fighting the meat. What's your go-to method for dealing with tricky grain on grass-fed cuts?

Rant: The whole walk-in cooler went down on the hottest day of the year

It was 98 degrees here in Austin and the compressor just quit at 10 AM. We had to move about 500 pounds of fresh cuts into the backup unit in the back, which was already half full. The repair guy took four hours to show up, and we lost a whole side of beef. Has anyone else had a cooler fail and found a good way to save the product?

TIL the old school way of hanging beef might be better for some cuts

Last week at the shop in Tacoma, we got a full side that was hung for 4 weeks, not the 2-3 everyone pushes now. The flavor was deeper, but the texture on the loin was a bit off for quick grilling. Three years ago I would have said longer aging is always worse, but now I'm not so sure for roasts. Has anyone else had a similar experience with longer hangs on specific primals?

Tbh, my wife said my shop's beef prices are too high and it's making her friends shop at the chain store. She's not wrong, but my costs are up 30% from last year. Do we raise prices and risk losing locals, or cut our margin to keep them?

Spent 45 minutes yesterday trying to get a clean break on a pork shoulder blade bone with my old band saw.

Turned out the blade was just a quarter turn too loose on the tensioner, a fix that took under a minute once I figured it out.