Boned a whole lamb shoulder yesterday and hit the wrong seam

I've been breaking down lamb for about 4 years now, but yesterday at the shop in Portland I got sloppy. I was working a whole shoulder and I went in too deep on the first cut, hit the blade bone instead of following the natural seam. Ended up shredding the clod meat into three unusable chunks instead of getting that nice clean square for steaks. Had to stop, step back, and re-trim everything into stew meat and grind. Lost maybe 2 pounds of saleable product that would have gone for $12 a pound. My coworker Dave watched the whole thing and just laughed. Has anyone else had a bone-in cut go completely sideways like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

derekward1mo ago

Oh man, I feel that. Last month down here in Austin I was breaking down a whole hog shoulder and got greedy trying to save time. Sliced right through the fat cap into the cushion meat, totally missed the seam. Ended up with a pile of scraps that turned into sausage and a lot of cussing. My buddy Miguel still brings it up every time we work a pig together, calls it "the day you lost your touch." Cost me maybe three pounds of nice pork steaks that day, and I'm still kicking myself every time I see him smile about it.

carr.brooke1mo ago

Dave’s laughing because you probably saved two hours of work for the same payout anyway.