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Unpopular opinion: a grumpy old butcher telling me my cuts were too clean stuck with me for 20 years
Back when I was coming up in the trade, I worked under a guy named Sal at a shop in South Philly, and he watched me break down a whole lamb one Tuesday and just shook his head. He told me my cuts were too pretty, that I was leaving money on the bone because I was worried more about how it looked than how much meat came off. I argued with him for a bit, but he handed me a boning knife and made me do the same primal over again while he counted the trim pile out loud. Second time through I got almost 2 pounds more usable meat off that same lamb, and I felt like a fool. Since then I score and follow the seams by feel instead of chasing a straight line, and my yield numbers have stayed up ever since. It bugs me how many younger guys get taught to make it look tidy on the block first. Sal was rough around the edges but he was right. Any of you had an old timer call out something that stuck with you for years after?
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robinc6611d ago
Watched a buddy of mine go through the same thing at a shop in Jersey, this older guy kept telling him his chicken breakdown was too neat and he was tossing good meat in the scrap bucket. My friend didn't believe him until the old man weighed the trim at the end of the shift, something like 4 pounds of stuff that should've been sellable. He still texts me about it years later whenever he catches himself making a cut look pretty instead of right. Guess it's one of those lessons you only really get when someone makes you count it yourself.
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