Hot take: A guy at a farmer's market taught me more about beef than any class

I was at the St. Paul farmers market two Saturdays ago getting some chuck for grinding. This older guy running the booth stopped me and showed me how he separates the chuck into its subprimals first. He pointed out the blade meat and the flat iron, said most butchers just chunk it all together and lose money on the good parts. I started doing it his way at my shop and my chuck turn a solid 15% more profit. Any of you ever break down your chuck differently or just toss it all in the grinder?

3 comments

3 Comments

nina_johnson8621d ago

Yo straight up that old dude knew his stuff. Started breaking down chuck the same way after a random convo with a rancher at a meat conference. Now I pull the flat iron and blade meat for steaks, grind the rest. Profit went up like 20% easy, plus customers love a good blade steak. It's crazy how much small cuts change the bottom line.

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drew69020d ago

Ha, @nina_johnson86 I feel like a dummy for not asking that old rancher sooner!

benc5321d ago

Yeah pulling blade steaks changed my whole outlook too. But heres the thing nobody talks about - the tenderness difference is actually less than people think if you cook it right, the real profit margin bump comes from having a unique cut nobody else in your area is pushing.