Just realized my old mentor was right about hand deboning vs machines

I was talking to this guy at the local butcher supply shop in Portland last week, and he said something that really stuck with me. He's been running his own shop for 30 years and goes by Sal. He was watching me pick out a new bandsaw blade and just casually said, 'You know, I still hand debone every pork shoulder. Machines leave too much meat on the bone for my liking.' I laughed it off at first because I use a saw for big cuts all the time. But then I went back to my shop, tried hand deboning a whole shoulder instead of using the saw, and I pulled an extra 8 ounces of meat off compared to what I usually get. That's almost a pound per four shoulders. For a small shop like mine, that adds up fast. Has anyone else found that hand cutting gives you better yield on certain cuts than a bandsaw?

3 comments

3 Comments

lee_reed23d ago

Sal at the butcher shop sounds like my old dental school instructor who swore manual scaling was better than electric - I was skeptical til I tried it and found he was right, now I’m just sore and covered in pork fat.

kevin_west23d ago

Manual scaling being better than electric" - that's the same kind of thing with meat. People think power tools speed things up but you lose all the feel. Once you've done it by hand a few times you can feel when the fat is rendered right or when the bone will crack. I've seen guys with electric knives just mangle a whole brisket because they're going too fast and not paying attention. The soreness just means you're doing it right, same as when you're learning a new skill in the chair.

jordanblack23d ago

Yeah I read somewhere that hand deboning can give you up to 15% more meat depending on the cut. That 8 ounces you got is no joke.