amy974•1mo ago

Rant: That time I ruined a whole primal because of my knife angle

Honestly, last month at the shop I was breaking down a whole beef chuck and I kept leaving these jagged shreds on the cap. My coworker Mike finally pointed out my knife angle was way too steep, like 45 degrees off. He showed me to drop it to 15 degrees and follow the muscle lines smoother. Took me like 3 tries but now my yield went up maybe 8 percent. Has anyone else had a senior butcher fix a basic move you thought you had down?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylorellis1mo ago

Drop that angle down and you'll feel when the knife starts sliding instead of tearing. I had the same issue with breaking down pork shoulders - my tip was catching on the silver skin because I was coming in too sharp. Once you get that 15 degree feel, you can almost hear the difference in the cut, it's way cleaner. Your coworker saved you a lot of wasted meat down the line.

mila_murphy211mo ago

Man that sound advice really hits home, wish I had someone tell me that years ago.

the_diana1mo ago

That tip about hearing the difference is spot on, but I think you mean more like 10-12 degrees for most pork - 15 can still catch on the silver skin if you're not dead center on the angle.