Always thought dry aging your own primals was just for show, but after trying a 45 day ribeye from a buddy's setup... the flavor depth is legit. The crust he got after searing was something else. Any of you guys build your own dry aging fridge or just buy the bags?
Ran into a retired butcher at the farmers market last Saturday who told me he hangs primal cuts in his basement fridge for 21 days. He said most people rush the process and lose all the depth of flavor. Has anyone here tried dry aging in a regular fridge without a special setup?
So I'm still pretty new to the trade, been at it about 8 months at a shop in Nashville. Last week a customer wanted 30 lbs of boneless shoulder for grinding. I figured I'd be fine, watched a bunch of videos. First shoulder took me 45 minutes and I left so much meat on the bone the owner walked over and said 'you gonna feed the trash can or the customers?' lol. Ended up having to weigh it all out and add extra trimmings just to hit the weight. How do you guys get those shoulder blades out clean and fast without losing half the meat?
I always thought the USDA marbling charts were just some desk job paperwork thing. But last week I was breaking down a prime steer at my shop in Cleveland and decided to actually lay a ribeye next to the printed chart from the wall. I always figured marbling score was just about how much fat you could see, but the chart shows specific reference points for each grade. Turns out there's a huge difference between a small amount of streaky fat and the fine, consistent flecking that makes a Prime actually Prime. I found this old USDA handbook from 2017 online that explains the ribeye muscle scoring in way more detail than the poster shows. Now I'm second guessing every grading I've done by eye for the last 3 years. Has anyone else ever actually studied one of those charts or do you just go by feel?
I tried dry aging a ribeye for 21 days against a wet aged one from a vacuum pack last month, and the flavor difference was huge. Wet aging just gives you tender meat that tastes like nothing, so why do so many guys here swear by it?
This older guy named Dave comes in every Saturday for a chuck roast. Last week he told me I'm the reason he stopped buying pre-trimmed ribeyes from the grocery store. Said I showed him how to cut his own from a primal and save like $4 a pound. Felt pretty good honestly. Anyone else get feedback like that from customers?
I was a huge skeptic when my buddy Mike at the shop kept pushing me to try dry aging my own primals at home. I figured it was just another gadget trend like those sous vide circulators everyone bought and never used. Then I actually did a 45 day dry age on a whole ribeye primal in my dedicated fridge setup. The crust loss was brutal, like 30% trim waste, and the flavor difference was not worth $8 a pound for what I paid. I think most home guys are better off just buying a well aged prime from a real butcher and focusing on their cutting technique instead. The mold risk alone if your humidity wavers makes me nervous. Has anyone else here tried it and just gone back to wet aged stuff?
I was working at a small shop in Portland back in 2014, just a year into it. One of the retired butchers would come in every Friday for his chuck roast and he watched me sharpen my boning knife on one of those V-shaped pull-through gadgets. He just shook his head and said "You're grinding away good steel for no reason." Then he spent 20 minutes showing me how to use a whetstone. I didn't want to believe him because the pull-through took 30 seconds. But I tried his way on an old cheap knife. After about 3 tries I could feel the difference on the first cut through a pork shoulder. Now I spend maybe 5 minutes per knife every couple weeks with a 1000/6000 grit stone. Still use that same knife today. Anybody else get schooled by an older guy in the trade?
Overheard a guy at a supply house in Denver swear anything under 60 days is a waste, but after trying a 45 day ribeye side by side with a 28 day one, the difference was tiny for the extra time and trim loss, so has anyone else found a sweet spot that actually matters for flavor?
Saw a guy there using a $30 probe thermometer instead of feeling the meat like my grandpa taught me, anyone else trust touch more than gadgets?
I was at the Iowa State Fair maybe 5 years ago and this old timer named Hank was doing a demo with a half carcass. He was using a 10 inch breaking knife that looked like it was older than me, and he just flowed through the primals without even stopping to wipe his board. I remember he said 'you're not cutting the meat, you're just finding the seams that are already there.' That stuck with me because back then I was fighting every cut, forcing the knife through and wasting a lot of good trim. After watching him I went home and started paying way more attention to the natural separations between muscles. It slowed me down at first but after about 2 weeks my yield went up maybe 15 percent. Has anyone else had a moment where watching someone else work completely changed your technique?
I tried my buddy's $40 grinder vs a real Hobart for breaking down a 180 lb hog last Saturday. The cheap one clogged 3 times and overheated halfway through. You're better off just hand-cutting for a day than dealing with that headache.
Guy stops by my station at the shop, watches me break down a forequarter. Says 'you're leaving too much meat on the blade bone, you're cutting at a 20 degree angle when you should be at 15.' Spent the next 3 shifts unlearning muscle memory. Has anyone else had some old timer call out a basic thing you thought you had down?
I was out at a Niman Ranch facility in California about 2 years back for a workshop thing. They got this guy from some high-end steakhouse showing off their dry-aging program, 45 days, all that. Then the plant manager just walks over and hands us a fresh-off-the-kill ribeye, like 3 hours old. He threw it on a flattop with nothing but salt and pepper. I swear that thing was more tender and beefy than any dry-aged steak I've ever had. It made me wonder if we're all just chasing this expensive storage process when the real trick is just getting better beef and cooking it right after. Has anyone else noticed a huge difference with super fresh meat versus aged stuff?
I used to just wet age everything in the bag because it's easier, but last month I tried dry aging a chuck roll for 21 days in my little setup in the basement. The flavor difference was huge - the dry aged one had this deep nutty taste that the wet aged one just didn't have at all. It took more work and I lost some weight to trimming, but my customers at the shop in Columbus kept asking for more of the dry aged stuff. Has anyone else tried both on a cheaper cut and seen a big jump in quality?
I tried dry-aging a ribeye in my fridge for 6 weeks and compared it to a wet-aged cut from the same steer. The dry-aged one lost so much weight I ended up with less than half the meat, but that concentrated flavor was totally worth it for special occasions. Has anyone else tried both methods and landed on one they prefer?
I've been butchering for about 6 years now and I always just trimmed the fat cap flat on my pork shoulders before sending them out. Last Saturday I was prepping a batch of 8 shoulders for a local BBQ joint here in Grand Rapids and decided to try something different. I scored the fat cap about a quarter inch deep in a crosshatch pattern, rows about an inch apart. What I noticed was the fat rendered way more evenly during the smoke and the bark set up deeper into the meat. Nobody told me to try this, I just saw a picture from an old timer on a forum and figured why not. The BBQ guy called me back and said the shoulders pulled apart cleaner than usual and he wants all of them done that way from now on. Has anyone else messed around with scoring patterns on different cuts?
Was looking at some USDA breakdowns from 2023 and saw that a whole lamb only gives you about 45% of its weight as saleable meat. That really surprised me because beef typically gives around 62% depending on the cut. Got me thinking about how I price my lamb shoulders and racks. Has anyone else here done the math on their own trim loss percentages?
I was at a BBQ last Saturday and my buddy swore up and down you can just dry-age a prime rib on a wire rack in your home fridge for two weeks. Told me he saw it on Instagram and it was safe because the fridge is cold. I had to gently explain that home fridges don't have the humidity control or airflow a real aging setup does, and you're just asking for spoilage or mold you can't see. Has anyone else dealt with customers coming in asking for cheap cuts to try this at home?
He swore the old compressor keeps a more stable temp than anything modern he's tried, and after tasting his dry-aged ribeye I'm seriously thinking of hunting down a beat up Frigidaire myself - has anyone else found that old appliances actually work better for aging?
I had to choose between buying a whole hog from a local farm for $4.50 a pound or getting boxed primals from Sysco for $3.80 a pound. Picked the boxed stuff to save money on a big order for a catering event last Saturday. BIG mistake - the primal cuts were inconsistent, had way more silver skin than usual, and I lost about 15% yield just trimming it up. Has anyone else had this problem with boxed primals on a tight deadline?
I always went bone-in for flavor but switched to boneless to save time for a big order. Ended up selling out an hour quicker, but a customer said the meat was a little drier. Has anyone else dealt with that tradeoff?
I picked up a used Hobart grinder back in 2009 for $200 from a retiring butcher in Mobile. Guy said it had been sitting in his barn for a few years, but I cleaned it up and replaced the blades and plates for another $80. That thing has gone through hundreds of pounds of pork shoulder and beef chuck without a single hiccup. Meanwhile, I saw a coworker drop $600 on a brand new electric grinder from a big box store, and it burned out after 18 months. Makes me wonder how many of those shiny new machines are really built to last like the old stuff. Anyone else sticking with older equipment and getting better results?
I been using the same old Victorinox for years and finally caved and bought this hyped up $60 boning knife online. It felt nice in the hand but the blade chipped on the third deer I broke down. Swapped back to my $25 Victorinox and it handled fine. Anyone else waste money on a knife that just couldn't hold up to real work?