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Meat Cutting Guide for Farm-Raised Beef

We want to provide premium, healthy beef at a reasonable price. Our goal is to help you cut this beef in a manner that will work in with your lifestyle and cooking habits. Although it is enticing to try new and different cuts of beef, we don’t want you to end up with unused cuts or too much of one type of cut that is little used.
Meat ProcessorWe use Mohawk Valley Meats in Marcola for processing and packing. Presently they charge $.70 per pound hanging weight that includes custom cutting, double wrapping cuts, packaging the ground beef into 1, 1.5, or 2 pound plastic bags and quick freezing.
  • Which cuts of meat do you typically buy, eat and like? Do you use roasts or prefer mostly steaks? Do you use a lot of ground beef? The more lean cuts put into ground beef, the leaner and better the ground beef. If you put only trimmings into ground beef, it may be fatter than you like. We prefer 10% fat. Do you like to quick cook meat and serve it medium to medium rare (steaks, burger, meatloaf) or do you prefer well-done meat (pot roasts and stews). Do you like to prepare and cook ribs, soups or stews? Do you prefer boneless or bone in steaks and roasts?
  • Cuts of beef range from succulent tender cuts like tenderloin to the tougher chuck and bottom round. Butchers may not trim the fat from lower cuts in making stew meat. This makes trimming stew meat tedious. If you want stew meat, request chuck roasts or bottom round or sirloin tip in 3 to 4 pound packages. These can be thawed, trimmed and cut into appropriate size pieces. There are some parts that you need to request or you may not get them. (If you do not want them, we can use all but the bones for our dogs.) Liver Heart Oxtail – great braised or for oxtail soup Tongue – great for hash and some folks like to use in sandwiches or tacos.Hanging tender – if not requested will usually be put into burger.
  • Soup bones – if you want bones for dogs, use only the joint bones (spongy); trim completely of all fat and cook to remove the marrow fat before giving them to dogs. Shank and steak bones are very hard and will break dog’s teeth. The fat can make them ill. (Sorry, I can’t help it. I’m a vet.) Steaks Do you like all steaks or do you prefer only the most tender, juicy steaks? The less tender cuts can be Swissed to increase tenderness. Fewer steaks mean more ground beef of a higher quality.

  • Once you have decided what you want, you will need to give cutting instructions to the butcher. Some of the questions they will ask are:
  • Roasts - how big? For 4 or 8 people? Small roasts are about 3 to 4 pounds while large roasts are about 7 to 8 pounds. Steaks – package for 2 or more people? They will usually put 2 steaks in each package. If you want only one steak per package, it will cost extra and take more room in your freezer. Specify the amount of fat to be left on each steak. e.g.: 1/4" Do you want the bone in or boneless? Bones take more room in the freezer. Bones provide more protection for the meat and require less handling of the meat before you eat it.

  • Rear Quarter • Rump roast: 1 large or 2 small roasts. We like boneless. • Sirloin: best for steaks • Loin:
  • Bone In: Porterhouse and T-Bone
  • Boneless: New York + tenderloin • Sirloin tip: - no relationship to sirloin, tends to be tougher and lean – burger or jerky Round • Top: tougher steaks than loin or sirloinValue Cuts – Sirloin Tip Center steaks and Round Tip Side SteaksRemainder - burger or jerky • Bottom: tougher steaks than loin or sirloinValue Cuts – (from the outside round or flat) Western Griller SteaksRemainder – jerky, ground beef • Eye of the Round: = 2 small roasts – very lean, a bit tough but good for sandwiches.
  • Flank – Unless requested this will go into ground beef – can be used as steak, or for stroganoff or Chinese meals.
  • Front Quarter Rib: You can have either roast or steaks or some of both. If you want both, the best steaks come from the small end. If you use the small end for steaks, you will not have a prime rib roast. You can have a rib roast but it will be from the big end and have a different appearance. Most people prefer the bone in or it can be deboned. Steaks come from the small end of the rib. Bone-In are called Rib steaks Boneless are called Delmonico steaks Roast: Number of people and number of ribs per roast Small end = Prime Rib
  • Short Ribs Rib bones: If you want to prepare beef ribs you will need to decide how many per package. Chuck: provides a large amount of beef. • Shoulder Shoulder Center Steaks; Top Blade – Flat Iron Steaks; Shoulder Tender - Petite Roast • You can request to have it boned and trimmed of most of the fat and put it into burger. • You can have chuck roasts that are best for pot-roasting or stew meat.
  • Brisket – great for smoking and for corned beef. Ground beef or hamburger: - the burger will be very lean = 10 - 15% fat.

  • Take your time with your cutting order. Ask for clarification if you don’t understand. Be sure you have covered all the cuts that are important to you.