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Greetings from this Retired Butcher!

meatshop101
meatshop101 Posts: 33
edited September 2012 in EggHead Forum
Hey All,

I am a retired butcher from the south, and it's been hard for me to say goodbye to the trade.  Virtually every butcher with whom I ever worked testified that meat cutting is a trade that "gets in your blood."  This was true for me as well.

Anyway, I have a website that I launched a while back, but then circumstances took me away from it for a time.  I'm getting back to it now, and it is proving to be the next best thing to being back on the butcher block for me.  Also the prospect of giving meat consumers some truly useful tips from a true 'insider' is very appealing to me and gives me the feeling that I still have all those customer relationships going that I made over the years.

When I first launched, I was fortunate enough to be picked up by Beef Magazine, who ran an article about the site and my bio.  If interested you can see it here.

And of course, the most valuable thing of all for me and the future of Meatshop101 is input, so please feel free to visit and let me know what you think!

All the Best,
E. Turner
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Comments

  • BOWHUNR
    BOWHUNR Posts: 1,487
    Great site Eric and welcome to the forum!!

    Mike

    I'm ashamed what I did for a Klondike Bar!!

    Omaha, NE
  • Thanks very much, very exciting to get in on the action with a site so active.  I really love a quality message board that shows activity each time I refresh the page!

    Eric
  • Tjcoley
    Tjcoley Posts: 3,551
    Welcome. Looking forward to your input. It will be nice having another expert helping out with questions. Great web site.
    __________________________________________
    It's not a science, it's an art. And it's flawed.
    - Camp Hill, PA
  • Thanks so much, looking forward to it also!
  • Logger
    Logger Posts: 309
    Another expert always enhances the forum. 

    Welcome aboard Sir!
    OKC area  XL - Medium Eggs
  • Thanks so much again, I was never more proud to take on the moniker "egghead"!
  • boatbum
    boatbum Posts: 1,273

    Welcome aboard, your knowledge and experience will be appreciated.

    Have a friend that was a butcher from the old school - best tip he gave me -- wondering if you have ever heard it.

    if you cut your finger with a knife, put salt on it.  yeah it burns for a couple of minutes - but you will not have soreness.

     

    Cookin in Texas
  • boatbum said:

    if you cut your finger with a knife, put salt on it.  yeah it burns for a couple of minutes - but you will not have soreness.

     

    I let the dog lick it.
    My actuary says I'm dead.
  • Welcome to the forum, please continue to add your expertise to any and all posts. If you are anything like me, retired for almost 10 years, I have no idea how I had time to work, the days seem to fly by!
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
  • boatbum said:

    if you cut your finger with a knife, put salt on it.  yeah it burns for a couple of minutes - but you will not have soreness.

     

    I let the dog lick it.
    Don't do it Bayside.  I've never heard of letting a dog lick your wound, but my wife practiced it when we were first married.  I was grossed out!  My sister's a veterinarian so we asked her and she said that it is NOT A GOOD IDEA.  My observation of Fido is he eats his own poo and licks his butt and perhaps his buddy's too.  No thank you.
    Flint, Michigan
  • Welcome aboard.  
    Large, small and mini now Egging in Rowlett Tx
  • I can't say I'm familiar with the salt method as a deliberate practice, but as any meat cutter will tell you, it's pretty much automatic that you get a lot of stinging stuff in your finger cuts & such.  With the mesh gloves most retail places require nowadays, you really don't get a lot in the way of cuts, but the worst is always the little paper cuts & then handling salt cured & smoked meats, major ouch!
  • Griffin
    Griffin Posts: 8,200
    Welcome aboard. Cool site, BTW.

    Rowlett, Texas

    Griffin's Grub or you can find me on Facebook

    The Supreme Potentate, Sovereign Commander and Sultan of Wings

     

  • Thanks, Griffin, I really appreciate it.  Like I said it just kind of sat there for a while, but now I'm trying to get back into it.  It's not super flashy, but I've tried to keep it fun. 

    Eric
  • Griffin
    Griffin Posts: 8,200
    Question for you Eric...I've always heard that the reason its hard to find tri-tips outside of California is that butchers grind it up for ground beef. Is that true?

    Rowlett, Texas

    Griffin's Grub or you can find me on Facebook

    The Supreme Potentate, Sovereign Commander and Sultan of Wings

     

  • Well I can't speak for other parts of the country, but in the south they're practically unheard of.  Most of the retail outfits I was associated with didn't even have them available to order..there's simply no demand for them.  Occasionally a distribution center would surprise us with a box of bottom sirloin sections (where the tri-tip comes from) that we didn't order, so we'd just kind of play with it and merchandise it into some different cuts to try and sell it.  It was always amazing to me how demographic some of these meat items can be, so popular in one part of the country and totally obscure in another.  I don't remember ever seeing anyone grind up tri-tips for burger, that would be a real shame, they are such a versatile and naturally flavorful cut.

    If you're interested, I did write an article on the tri-tip for the site, you can check it out http://www.meatshop101.com/sirloin-cuts.

    Take Care!
    Eric
  • Love it!  The local butcher is becoming a dying breed.  I'm looking forward to all of your input.

    Thanks, and welcome!!!

    Brighton, IL (North East of St. Louis, MO)
  • Thanks so much, I'm also very excited!
    Eric Turner
  • billyray
    billyray Posts: 1,275
    Welcome Eric. I was a meat cutter back in the late 60's and I know how it stays in your blood. I still use my knives that are almost 50 years old. Enjoyed your site.
    Felton, Ca. 2-LBGE, 1-Small, PBC, PK360, Genesis Summit, Camp Chef Flattop, Smokefire 24, Traeger Pro Series 22 Pellet with a Smoke Daddy insert, Gateway 55 Gal. drum, SNS Kettle w/acc.
  • Thanks Bill, glad you enjoyed it.  Were those wood-handled knives?
  • Thank you MeatShop for the resource and welcome aboard. I look forward to your advice. On you selection meats (demographically). I know here I can only get a 7 bone Roast at IGA. Everywhere else i go and ask for it they look at me like i am green. Even the local butcher doesn't carry them... 
  • Yep, I have also noticed - in the days of quick & easy family meals - the 7-Bone Chuck Roast seems to have faded somewhat.  Still I'm really surprised that any seasoned (or maybe a little older) butcher or cutter wouldn't be familiar with them.  What happens too often nowadays is that many retail chains are moving more and more to pre-cut and pre-packaged meats, Wal Mart is a big-time example, so even butchering itself is sadly a dying trade.  Seems more often than not, the personnel in your typical grocery store meat department are kids they've pulled off the front end of the store to help out, and maybe they've learned to grind hamburger and cut 1 or 2 types of steaks, but their knowledge doesn't run much deeper than that.

    If you want to request your store order one, it might be helpful to tell them it's known as bone-in or "square" chuck..that's the whole piece it's cut from, and of course it's the exact same meat as the boneless chuck roast, just before it's trimmed up with the feather bone and 'gum' removed.  Of course that bone does impart some awesome flavor.  My mom used to have a huge pressure cooker when I was little that she'd cook that kind of chuck roast in, but I don't think many moms are still cooking like that nowadays.  Also they're usually too big even for a crock pot, so it's a good idea if you get one to ask the butcher to jump on the saw and split it once thru the bone.

    Thanks!
    Eric Turner
  • Irrivirsible
    Irrivirsible Posts: 14
    edited September 2012
    The link to La Cense Beef on your website comes up as an invalid link. That is in the rib cuts section under beef. 
  • I noticed you recommend grilling the chuck steak, I noticed on other "red meat" sites braising is the preferred cook method.  Do you have some tips on how to grill a chuck steak especially if you can get the "ribeye flavor"?  Thanks

  • billyray
    billyray Posts: 1,275
    Thanks Bill, glad you enjoyed it.  Were those wood-handled knives?
    Wood handle Forschners
    Felton, Ca. 2-LBGE, 1-Small, PBC, PK360, Genesis Summit, Camp Chef Flattop, Smokefire 24, Traeger Pro Series 22 Pellet with a Smoke Daddy insert, Gateway 55 Gal. drum, SNS Kettle w/acc.
  • Ya I love doing the 7 bone on the egg. 


    and 


    Thanks for the "bone-in or "square" chuck" tip What do those typically weight (or size). I wouldn't mind doing a whole one on the egg, But I would have to prepare to spend the money on it as beef prices have skyrocket in the last few years. 
  • Irrivirsible, thanks for mention on the link.  Initially I was doing some affiliate stuff, but I'm going to be dropping that, so you may encounter other dead links as well until I get those removed.

    thunderkwb, I had to go and check to make sure I wasn't goin' crazy, but if you scroll a bit on the chuck cuts page, I think you'll see that the boneless chuck steak is actually listed as a braising stk, as it should be, but the boneless chuck 'eye' stk is the one listed as a grilling steak.

    miscjames, honestly those full square chucks can vary quite a lot, depending on whether they've been streamlined any (trimmed up).  Ideally the streamlined / trimmed piece is much more handleable, but they also run more on the pound.  To be honest, the full, untrimmed bone-in piece is a monster and can weigh up to the 50 pound range and even beyond occasionally.  Most consumers wouldn't be interested in taking it on as a project, not to mention there's a fair bit of waste.  You can however get a pretty good price on them when a store is running 7-Bone or Regular Bone-In Chuck/English roasts.  Your best bet may be to ask the butcher to portion you off a certain-sized piece when he's breaking down a square chuck.  Then you can not only get the right size, but you know it's freshly cut.  If a store runs a blowout special on bone-in chuck roasts for say $2.49/lb, it wouldn't be unheard of to get the whole piece for a dollar less than that.
  • piney
    piney Posts: 1,478
    Welcome Eric, I am looking foward to your input. I have checked out your website it is wonderful. I can see I will learn a lot from ypu. Thanks, Gary 
    Lenoir, N.C.
  • Gary, that's about the nicest thing you could say.  Thanks for checking out the site!  Please forgive the work in progress, I've got a long way to go, but this great interaction with many of you here will help tremendously!

    Take Care, look forward to seeing you around the forums!
    Eric Turner