Had a week from heaven in the cooler last November

I remember this one week back in November where everything just clicked at the shop. We got in six whole beef carcasses early Monday morning, and for some reason every single one of them was practically perfect. The fat cover was even, the connective tissue was clean, and I hardly had to trim anything off the ribeyes. Normally I waste a good 5 to 8 percent on fat and silver skin, but that week I was under 2 percent. My wrist barely hurt from all the boning knife work, and the band saw didn't even choke on the T-bones. By Friday I had all my primals broken down and wrapped by 2 PM, which never happens. Has anyone else ever gotten a run of beef that just seemed to fall apart perfectly under the knife?

3 comments

3 Comments

nancygrant2d ago

Maybe it's just me but I wonder if weather that week had something to do with it. I've heard cold snaps can slow down the aging process in the walk-in and keep everything more consistent. Like maybe the humidity was just right and the fat didn't get that tacky surface that makes trimming harder. We had a weird warm spell last February and my yield went way downhill, everything felt soft and sloppy under the knife. Could be total coincidence but it stuck in my head.

annas872d ago

That thing about the tacky surface on the fat really hits home, @nancygrant. I had a buddy who worked at a custom butcher shop in Wisconsin and he swore by those cold snaps for the same reason. He told me about one November where they got a load of steers from a local farm, and he said the fat practically peeled off the ribeyes like warm butter. Clean lines, no ragged edges, and his trimming waste went way down to the point the owner was doing happy dances. He said it was the only time he ever finished breaking down a side of beef before lunch on a Saturday. The next load they got a month later was a total mess, soft and sticky, and he blamed the weird warm spell we had.

irismartinez13h ago

Cold weather helps but good hanging temp matters more than the weather that week.