And we'll add that to our meat puzzle

September 10, 2023 6:16 AM

There's something satisfying about watching a skilled person practice their craft. When you combine that with education, that's even better. A Visual Guide to the Cuts of Beef: Learn Where Every Cut Comes From! [1h16m] has The Bearded Butchers beginning with a full side of beef, disassembling it piece by piece and explaining how the cuts are released, and then reassembling the side of beef with all the cuts so you can see exactly where they come from.

Jump to 31m14s to skip the butchering of the front quarter and see that half of the puzzle be assembled.

Jump to 1h1m46s to skip the butchering of the hind quarter and see the puzzle be completed and an overview.

posted by hippybear (13 comments total)

I had no idea hair nets for beards were a thing, but of course they are, and that's both necessary and pretty funny.
posted by mhoye at 6:26 AM on September 10, 2023

If you like this, you'd probably also like The Butcher, a competitive butchery show that ran on History for one season (...so far?).
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 6:34 AM on September 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

Upvoted for the 'UnnamedCow' tag.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 10:10 AM on September 10, 2023

Wasn't a cow but when at catering college our chef tutor butchered a whole pig for demonstration and like this, to explain what came from where and what for. Imagine the opening titles to Quincy. That. Didn't pass out myself but was very queasy.
posted by Webbster at 10:33 AM on September 10, 2023

A video dissecting a carcass and then playing LEGO with the pieces of tissue?

Oh, and then they're gonna feed it to people.
posted by tigrrrlily at 11:41 AM on September 10, 2023

Not normally one for videos, but this was a great one for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

A lot of thought went into planning on how to process the side of beef efficiently.
posted by porpoise at 12:17 PM on September 10, 2023 [2 favorites]

Know Your Cuts of Meat. (Personally, I liked the variant of this feature Know Your Monkey Astronauts. Because I know my monkey astronauts.)
posted by neuron at 1:07 PM on September 10, 2023

I know someone who grew up in Oklahoma. As a child, in her 4-H club, she took part in competitive meat identification. That is, at the county fair (or wherever one may do such things), a bunch of meat would be arrayed on a table and the 4-H kids would, well, compete to identify it. She claims to have been pretty good at it.
posted by scratch at 3:06 PM on September 10, 2023 [4 favorites]

I had no idea hair nets for beards were a thing

Not just a thing; a thing with a name: snood
posted by not just everyday big moggies at 3:57 PM on September 10, 2023

Ah yes, reminds me of back when supermarket butchers were actually knowledgeable in breaking down whole sides of beef. Now, they are meat cutters, since the parts are broken down in big parts (whole chucks, whole top rounds, whole bottom rounds). Still so fascinating to watch it fall apart like puzzle pieces.

More people who eat meat should watch this. Lots of confusion about what different parts are good for.
posted by annieb at 5:33 PM on September 10, 2023

Wow. I watched the whole thing. That was pretty awesome.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 7:58 PM on September 10, 2023

nothing but beef
posted by lokta at 10:00 AM on September 11, 2023

Part of what fascinated me about this is how many of the cuts of meat are dependent on the invention of the band saw. T-bones? short ribs? Those both spring instantly to mind. Obviously this method of butchering was developed to generate as little waste as possible while proving maximum amount of edible human food. But, like, I'm still unclear on exactly what bone is being sliced when they are cutting T-bones. Also, the flatiron steak came from a part of the animal ENTIRELY DIFFERENT from where I thought it came from.

I know there are other schools of butchering out there. In different countries they yield very different results from the same kind of animal insofar as the various cuts.

I'd be curious to know what cow butchering was like before the bandsaw. Obviously it was a different procedure. What different cuts did they end up with, cuts that we might have to order a specially butchered animal to yield?

This video remains fascinating to me after having watched it twice before posting. I'm quite glad it begins with the hung side of beef and not in the slaughterhouse, because that's a part of meat processing I've seen enough of not to want to see it more. This kind of meat processing I could honestly see myself doing.

Also... OMG that is SO MUCH suet! I didn't realize it was a packet of kidney fat the size of an 18 month old!
posted by hippybear at 3:21 PM on September 11, 2023