We all know that we are living and cutting in an age of boneless sub-primal cuts. As a matter of fact many meat cutters today (no criticism here) would not know how to properly cut a full beef loin on a band saw. Why should they? Well I believe that "post-primal band-saw meat cutters" need to understand why a proper cutting angle is so important and the impact it has on the short-loin.
First of all (and I have seen it happen in a video that was posted here on the site) when a cutter doesn't pre-set the angle of the loin on the movable carriage tray. The cuts that are make will be showing less meat and more bone especially in the sirloin steak area. If your angle isn't correct and you hit the aitch-bone instead of having a nice slab of sirloin-steak you will have a gun-stock cut. LOL> More bone than meat. Any old time cutter out there knows exactly what I'm talking about.
Now here is where I really get aggravated. God love those men and women in the packing house business. They work very hard and their lives are controlled by a moving chain. So if you think it is so bad behind the cutting table, walk a mile in their shoes. Never the less, and again I say God love them but they haven't a clue when it comes to angling the beef loin correctly for retail. First of all they use hydraulic scissors to separate loin from round, sirloin hip from short loin.
Supermarkets like to put short loins on sale (T-bones & Porterhouse) so the next time you get ready to cut a short loin just take a long look at the porterhouse end after that turn it around and look at the T-bone or rib end. The Porterhouse end will look like a lumber-jack cut it with a "chain-saw" and the T-Bone end angle is non-existent. What does this mean? It means miss-cuts, and more "expensive trimming" for the supermarkets.
Now lets get back to the retail cutter. What choice does he/she have. They simply push the Porterhouse end up against the guide and begin cutting and hope and pray they don't have a door-stop-cut when they get to the rib-end. Now, if you want to see how bad the angle is off the next time you cut a short loin. Put your short loin down on the moveable carriage with the chine-bone facing the lip on the carriage. Take your boning knife and run it along the 13th rib and remove the tissue until the rib is visable. Take your thumb and index finger and place it over the 13th rib and pull it towards the end of the outside edge of the moving carriage so the entire rib is parallel to the outer edge of the moving carriage.
Now look at the Porterhouse end. You will be "shocked" at how far off the correct angle is. You see the packer done their job and got the desired yield from the loin hip. Unfortunately retail is left to correct the angle to the best of their ability. Now I'm not saying this is right or wrong; I am only saying; IT IS FOOD FOR THOUGHT!
i learned from and old timer to cheat the tail or chime side 1/16" to 1/8" from the start till the angle is back to square .
I have watched a lot of 20 year "meat cutters" bone out 2 to 3 inch door stops over the years.
We all know that we are living and cutting in an age of boneless sub-primal cuts. As a matter of fact many meat cutters today (no criticism here) would not know how to properly cut a full beef loin on a band saw. Why should they? Well I believe that "post-primal band-saw meat cutters" need to understand why a proper cutting angle is so important and the impact it has on the short-loin.
First of all (and I have seen it happen in a video that was posted here on the site) when a cutter doesn't pre-set the angle of the loin on the movable carriage tray............................................
I don't know if I've ever separated a short loin from a head loin on the band saw. Of the hundreds I've done, I always knifed it with a steak knife and then finished the bone with a hand saw. I like to cut short loin so that the porterhouse side is at a right angle (90 degrees) to the backbone. Is that the way you like it Coalcracker? Now every head loin I separate is to be boned out, so bone size would be no issue. The loin pictured is non graded grass fed
I don't remember now how we did the entire loin when we knifed the bone in sirloins 1978-1981. I think maybe we knifed the head loin while it was attached to the short loin. Then with a hand saw, we separated the two. Then we finished the bone portion of the knifed steaks on the band saw.
We all know that we are living and cutting in an age of boneless sub-primal cuts. As a matter of fact many meat cutters today (no criticism here) would not know how to properly cut a full beef loin on a band saw. Why should they? Well I believe that "post-primal band-saw meat cutters" need to understand why a proper cutting angle is so important and the impact it has on the short-loin.
First of all (and I have seen it happen in a video that was posted here on the site) when a cutter doesn't pre-set the angle of the loin on the movable carriage tray............................................
I don't know if I've ever separated a short loin from a head loin on the band saw. Of the hundreds I've done, I always knifed it with a steak knife and then finished the bone with a hand saw. I like to cut short loin so that the porterhouse side is at a right angle (90 degrees) to the backbone. Is that the way you like it Coalcracker? Now every head loin I separate is to be boned out, so bone size would be no issue. The loin pictured is non graded grass fed
I don't remember now how we did the entire loin when we knifed the bone in sirloins 1978-1981. I think maybe we knifed the head loin while it was attached to the short loin. Then with a hand saw, we separated the two. Then we finished the bone portion of the knifed steaks on the band saw.
Hey Burgermeister, hope you're doing well. I guess what I am looking at are two short loins that you cut from rail-beef hind quarter and they are not from boxed beef right? If they are from hind quarters they look to me like they are yield grade 4's. Just for the heck of it, and if they are choice hinds check the grade shield and see if the number 4 is between the grade stamps.
As far as your break is concerned both look perfect however remember I am looking at a photograph straight-on so I can't see the angle. But they sure look good. One thing Burgermeister, just remember the folks at the packing plant are making their breaks while the line is running near 250 head per hour or more. Therefore, their break won't be as accurate as yours.
Burgermeister, as you say the loin hip is not that important because you are going to bone it out. What you say has more meaning than you think! Because sub-primal cuts are the very-reason why butchers and meat cutters are now called "clerks". Yes there are a few guys/gals that do what the packers are doing at store-level, but very few. The only reason we still have short loins in boxed beef is because of consumer demand but the packers are closing in fast on the short loin. There are not many restaurants that make a big-deal out of Porterhouse or T-Bone steak on the menu's. The big-holdup is at retail. Before long band-saws will not be needed in any supermarkets however, right now there are companies like Walmart that don't have band saws, I'm sure there are more of them.
A good band saw cost near $10,000 dollars so as you can see it would be a huge equipment cost savings for the supermarket industry. Thus, I believe we are at the threshold of "total portion control". Call it what you like; Map, Cryovac cuts, what ever. But in reality it is "portion control".
Sorry Buergermeister I get long-winded about stuff like this that I am passionate about, I just can't help it. Do I think that the Packers are our enemies? No I don't, they have to make money for their stockholders like any U.S. company; Remember the scene in The Godfather and Michael Corleone’s line “It’s nothing personal, Sonny—it’s strictly business.” -
Hey Burgermeister, hope you're doing well. I guess what I am looking at are two short loins that you cut from rail-beef hind quarter and they are not from boxed beef right? If they are from hind quarters they look to me like they are yield grade 4's. Just for the heck of it, and if they are choice hinds check the grade shield and see if the number 4 is between the grade stamps.
As far as your break is concerned both look perfect however remember I am looking at a photograph straight-on so I can't see the angle. But they sure look good. One thing Burgermeister, just remember the folks at the packing plant are making their breaks while the line is running near 250 head per hour or more. Therefore, their break won't be as accurate as yours.
Burgermeister, as you say the loin hip is not that important because you are going to bone it out. What you say has more meaning than you think! Because sub-primal cuts are the very-reason why butchers and meat cutters are now called "clerks". Yes there are a few guys/gals that do what the packers are doing at store-level, but very few. The only reason we still have short loins in boxed beef is because of consumer demand but the packers are closing in fast on the short loin. There are not many restaurants that make a big-deal out of Porterhouse or T-Bone steak on the menu's. The big-holdup is at retail. Before long band-saws will not be needed in any supermarkets however, right now there are companies like Walmart that don't have band saws, I'm sure there are more of them.
A good band saw cost near $10,000 dollars so as you can see it would be a huge equipment cost savings for the supermarket industry. Thus, I believe we are at the threshold of "total portion control". Call it what you like; Map, Cryovac cuts, what ever. But in reality it is "portion control".
Sorry Buergermeister I get long-winded about stuff like this that I am passionate about, I just can't help it. Do I think that the Packers are our enemies? No I don't, they have to make money for their stockholders like any U.S. company; Remember the scene in The Godfather and Michael Corleone’s line “It’s nothing personal, Sonny—it’s strictly business.” -
Hey Coalcracker,
You made some points in that reply that make me really glad I am not in the trade anymore. Because if I was, the need for me would be rapidly decreasing. I am not quite sure where you stand on that issue though. It almost sounds like you are in favor for removing band saws from the meat depts in supermarkets as it will save them $10,000 in equipment costs. I am curious of where your views are on these issues. Many stores I worked for had two band saws, but only one was ever used. The second one would be collecting dust as there was just no need for two band saws anymore, like there once was. At the end of my meat cutting career the only products I used the band saw for was Short loin, bone-in pork loin and Pork shoulder butts (for pork steak) everything else was knife cut.
Hey Burgermeister, hope you're doing well. I guess what I am looking at are two short loins that you cut from rail-beef hind quarter and they are not from boxed beef right?.....................................
Look closer Coalcracker. If you do, I'm sure you'll see that it's just one beef loin cut in two. The left side piece is the head loin and the right side is the short loin. See how they match up perfectly? Both bones would match up perfectly if put back together. So does the outer fat, see? The tail, the oval shaped thing that's at the top of every first Porterhouse everything matches if you were too put the two back together. On the left side piece, the tri-tip is still attached. You can see most of it but part of it is out of the frame.
Yes, it was from a hanging hindquarter, but it was not graded, so there was no choice/prime whatever and no yield number. Only a inspection stamp.
Thanks for reminding us of the fact that they break hundreds per hour a that's why their breaks aren't close to perfect. I'm aware of that, but I thought some people would like to see what, in my opinion, it should look like. After all, this thread about "using the proper angle"
-- Edited by Burgermeister on Saturday 12th of September 2015 10:03:13 AM
I was taught to break the head loin off of the short loin at exactly this point, see that tiny piece of bone that's circled? That's right where I want it. There's about 1/4 inch area you should try for. I don't have a picture, but if you look at the backbone side, you'll see that all the exposed short loin bones are straight and then the sirloin bones go at a 45 degree (approx) angle from there. I like to cut right in the middle of the last straight (level) short loin bone. So that's my two cutting points. The middle of the last level bone to the very end of the sirloin bone pictured in the circle.
That's a head loin in the picture and for those who've never seen one, the circled bone is quite large.
-- Edited by Burgermeister on Saturday 12th of September 2015 10:19:22 AM
Hey Burgermeister, hope you're doing well. I guess what I am looking at are two short loins that you cut from rail-beef hind quarter and they are not from boxed beef right?.....................................
Look closer Coalcracker. If you do, I'm sure you'll see that it's just one beef loin cut in two. The left side piece is the head loin and the right side is the short loin. See how they match up perfectly? Both bones would match up perfectly if put back together. So does the outer fat, see? The tail, the oval shaped thing that's at the top of every first Porterhouse everything matches if you were too put the two back together. On the left side piece, the tri-tip is still attached. You can see most of it but part of it is out of the frame.
Yes, it was from a hanging hindquarter, but it was not graded, so there was no choice/prime whatever and no yield number. Only a inspection stamp.
Thanks for reminding us of the fact that they break hundreds per hour a that's why their breaks aren't close to perfect. I'm aware of that, but I thought some people would like to see what, in my opinion, it should look like. After all, this thread about "using the proper angle"
-- Edited by Burgermeister on Saturday 12th of September 2015 10:03:13 AM
I see what you mean now. I had two loins on my mind but as I said the break looks good to me sitting 3000 miles away. But unless I was there with you to cut either end I would not know if the angles would be correct. So tell me in the hundreds of loins you have broken in this manner have you ever had any miss cuts?
I see what you mean now. I had two loins on my mind but as I said the break looks good to me sitting 3000 miles away. But unless I was there with you to cut either end I would not know if the angles would be correct. So tell me in the hundreds of loins you have broken in this manner have you ever had any miss cuts?
I've made hundreds of mistakes while cutting. Probably over 1000. But on this particular item, no. Never. I'm especially careful while doing that one specific thing. And since it's so easy, how could you mess it up?
Hey Burgermeister, hope you're doing well. I guess what I am looking at are two short loins that you cut from rail-beef hind quarter and they are not from boxed beef right? If they are from hind quarters they look to me like they are yield grade 4's. Just for the heck of it, and if they are choice hinds check the grade shield and see if the number 4 is between the grade stamps.
As far as your break is concerned both look perfect however remember I am looking at a photograph straight-on so I can't see the angle. But they sure look good. One thing Burgermeister, just remember the folks at the packing plant are making their breaks while the line is running near 250 head per hour or more. Therefore, their break won't be as accurate as yours.
Burgermeister, as you say the loin hip is not that important because you are going to bone it out. What you say has more meaning than you think! Because sub-primal cuts are the very-reason why butchers and meat cutters are now called "clerks". Yes there are a few guys/gals that do what the packers are doing at store-level, but very few. The only reason we still have short loins in boxed beef is because of consumer demand but the packers are closing in fast on the short loin. There are not many restaurants that make a big-deal out of Porterhouse or T-Bone steak on the menu's. The big-holdup is at retail. Before long band-saws will not be needed in any supermarkets however, right now there are companies like Walmart that don't have band saws, I'm sure there are more of them.
A good band saw cost near $10,000 dollars so as you can see it would be a huge equipment cost savings for the supermarket industry. Thus, I believe we are at the threshold of "total portion control". Call it what you like; Map, Cryovac cuts, what ever. But in reality it is "portion control".
Sorry Buergermeister I get long-winded about stuff like this that I am passionate about, I just can't help it. Do I think that the Packers are our enemies? No I don't, they have to make money for their stockholders like any U.S. company; Remember the scene in The Godfather and Michael Corleone’s line “It’s nothing personal, Sonny—it’s strictly business.” -
Hey Coalcracker,
You made some points in that reply that make me really glad I am not in the trade anymore. Because if I was, the need for me would be rapidly decreasing. I am not quite sure where you stand on that issue though. It almost sounds like you are in favor for removing band saws from the meat depts in supermarkets as it will save them $10,000 in equipment costs. I am curious of where your views are on these issues. Many stores I worked for had two band saws, but only one was ever used. The second one would be collecting dust as there was just no need for two band saws anymore, like there once was. At the end of my meat cutting career the only products I used the band saw for was Short loin, bone-in pork loin and Pork shoulder butts (for pork steak) everything else was knife cut.
Fdarn, I guess you are asking me if I am in favor of removing band saws from meat departments. No I'm not however, that being said I am a realist and as you said about the one collecting dust. Right now as I also said it is consumer demand and print advertising that keeps the porterhouse and T-bone steaks in supermarkets. You may not be aware of this but with new supermarket construction meat department square footage is beginning to shrink along with equipment. Supermarket CEO's and CFO's know where to save money on new store construction.
Now I only worked for a few years part time at Food Lion just to get my hands back into the meat after I retired. But while I was there the only thing that was cut on the band saw was short loins and pork butts. That is two items; And the sad part about this is when both of these items were not on sale you can go days without using the b. saw.
Just look at the bone-in cuts that came into the store already cut. Lamb chops, shoulder and loin; Legs of lamb; Veal chops, shoulder and loin; whole or half fresh picnics; fresh bone in pork chops; fresh whole pork butts; Smoked pork loin chops, Smoked bone in ham; Smoked picnics; Bone in chicken and chicken parts; turkeys and turkey parts; Every thing else was boneless sub primal's.
Now I am using Food Lion as an example per our conversation because they have their market problems too. I am sure other meat people reading this article know other companies that fall into this same category and of course the largest one is Walmart.
I see what you mean now. I had two loins on my mind but as I said the break looks good to me sitting 3000 miles away. But unless I was there with you to cut either end I would not know if the angles would be correct. So tell me in the hundreds of loins you have broken in this manner have you ever had any miss cuts?
I've made hundreds of mistakes while cutting. Probably over 1000. But on this particular item, no. Never. I'm especially careful while doing that one specific thing. And since it's so easy, how could you mess it up?
Well let me tell you many cutters that are on rail beef mess it up sometimes. You happen to know what you are doing. But I would like to go back to that hind quarter for a minute. You say there is no roll on it so there for (and in industry terms) it is call a no-roll. So what that means is that it couldn't qualify for the choice grade or the select grade. Either it was two old to grade, or the marbling was off, or the rib eye area was too small or something of that nature. Or, now here is where it gets tricky. Lets take a top packer you can name one. They will not fabricate yield grade 4 or 5 cattle into boxed beef. It is just to costly for them primarily in yields and standards. And all packers will have no-rolls. Here is the twist, if the demand price for no-roll is better than the discount price packers use to sell the yield grade 4's Then the yield grade 4 is not graded.
What does that mean? Well it may not mean anything to you as a cutter but to the company that is buying the beef or a store owner, it means allot. Lets say it is a yield grade 4 the discount price yesterday on yield grade 4 vs. yield grade 3 was around .17 cents per pound including shipping cost to get it to your store if you were buying direct from the packer. If they buy through a distributor then you have to add their mark up. I am sure the company you work for buys as much full carcasses as they can and supplements with hinds or fronts or primals. On a weight range of lets say 700 lbs. pound carcass X .17 cents would amount to $119 or $60 per side. That would mean that before you put a knife into the meat you are loosing money against someone buying yield grade 3 carcasses. Now then that doesn't count the additional loss in yield.
Coalcracker, I've rethought the question about mistakes on this job. I can't say that 100% of the time it was always perfect. My angle and cut location was always right on, but I remember messing up the filet a little a few times. Somehow, at the bottom of the cut I left too much on the head loin side and that made the first porterhouse have a little less filet than it should. So that little mistake becomes a huge mistake.
We don't get this beef (like in the picture) anymore. No carcass at all right now. We get carcass lamb and veal, but no beef. The picture is a few years old. We were getting one side per week and it was grass fed. For our tiny grass fed section. Except for that one side per week, all our beef was boxed and choice or higher.
Now it's all boxed. Choice or higher. We did get one choice carcass beef early this year. It was yield 2 or 3. I'm sure we'll get another one someday, but not real soon.
The one in the picture, and all the grass fed carcass beef we had during the few years we carried it, was actually pretty lean. It may appear fatty in the picture, but it was super lean. If graded, I'm sure it would never be choice and would be yield 2 or less. I thought it all tasted terrible. Too grassy or gamy (sp?). The few times I tried it, it was never tough, but for some reason when we ground it, you could hear a difference. Like the machine was struggling. You always knew if it was grass fed that we were grinding. Although I didn't care for it, we had a lot of customers who loved it.
Coalcracker, I've rethought the question about mistakes on this job. I can't say that 100% of the time it was always perfect. My angle and cut location was always right on, but I remember messing up the filet a little a few times. Somehow, at the bottom of the cut I left too much on the head loin side and that made the first porterhouse have a little less filet than it should. So that little mistake becomes a huge mistake.
We don't get this beef (like in the picture) anymore. No carcass at all right now. We get carcass lamb and veal, but no beef. The picture is a few years old. We were getting one side per week and it was grass fed. For our tiny grass fed section. Except for that one side per week, all our beef was boxed and choice or higher.
Now it's all boxed. Choice or higher. We did get one choice carcass beef early this year. It was yield 2 or 3. I'm sure we'll get another one someday, but not real soon.
The one in the picture, and all the grass fed carcass beef we had during the few years we carried it, was actually pretty lean. It may appear fatty in the picture, but it was super lean. If graded, I'm sure it would never be choice and would be yield 2 or less. I thought it all tasted terrible. Too grassy or gamy (sp?). The few times I tried it, it was never tough, but for some reason when we ground it, you could hear a difference. Like the machine was struggling. You always knew if it was grass fed that we were grinding. Although I didn't care for it, we had a lot of customers who loved it.
I was in Kroger yesterday and I couldn't believe the prices they want for Lura Lean. Vacuum packed steaks as high as $15.00 a pound. They had reduced a few strips down to $9.00 per lb. My wife and I had a quiet dinner as our children were out of town and she didn't have to cook for them "again". So my wife wanted a fillet out of their service meat case Choice angus $19.00 per lb. and I wanted a fresh tuna steak at $12 per lb. So her steak came to $7.50 and my tuna came to about $6.00. So for $13.50 we had a nice meal with a salad, broccoli/cheese and white rice with butter. As we get older our portions get smaller. At one time I could have eaten a pound of tenderloin with the tuna on the side and forget the broccoli and rice. LOL>LOL>LOL> However, I'm still packing about 235 pounds.
So for $13.50 we had a nice meal with a salad, broccoli/cheese and white rice with butter. As we get older our portions get smaller. At one time I could have eaten a pound of tenderloin with the tuna on the side and forget the broccoli and rice. LOL>LOL>LOL> However, I'm still packing about 235 pounds.
What is salad? What is broccoli? I never heard of those things :)
We got another whole beef (4 quarters) today. I didn't break it, but took this picture. The line shows approximately where I like to separate the short loin from the head loin.
We got another whole beef (4 quarters) today. I didn't break it, but took this picture. The line shows approximately where I like to separate the short loin from the head loin.
When you go to saw the head what do you use for your angle guide?
We got another whole beef (4 quarters) today. I didn't break it, but took this picture. The line shows approximately where I like to separate the short loin from the head loin.
When you go to saw the head what do you use for your angle guide?
I answered that in a post above. I think it's the 7th post of this thread. Some forums have the messages numbered, but I don't see it here. It's the message where a tiny piece of exposed bone is circled in black. I go straight from one point to the other point.
We got another whole beef (4 quarters) today. I didn't break it, but took this picture. The line shows approximately where I like to separate the short loin from the head loin.
When you go to saw the head what do you use for your angle guide?
I answered that in a post above. I think it's the 7th post of this thread. Some forums have the messages numbered, but I don't see it here. It's the message where a tiny piece of exposed bone is circled in black. I go straight from one point to the other point.
Alright then. So you are happy with that angle I assume! So therefore if you slice the head into bone-in sirloin steaks do you end up with any weird looking sirloin steaks ?
We got another whole beef (4 quarters) today. I didn't break it, but took this picture. The line shows approximately where I like to separate the short loin from the head loin.
When you go to saw the head what do you use for your angle guide?
I answered that in a post above. I think it's the 7th post of this thread. Some forums have the messages numbered, but I don't see it here. It's the message where a tiny piece of exposed bone is circled in black. I go straight from one point to the other point.
Alright then. So you are happy with that angle I assume! So therefore if you slice the head into bone-in sirloin steaks do you end up with any weird looking sirloin steaks ?
If we cut it for bone in, we probably would get one or two "weird looking" steaks per head loin. Not sure. I wrote in a previous post that we always bone out the head loin, so it doesn't matter what the bone would look like.
I also mentioned, I think, that we did cut bone in sirloins at the little market where I worked 1978-1981. It was freezer order only and not for display. You bought a hind 1/4, or a side, or brought in your own home raised steer. No customers complained. And yes, some had huge bones and as you say "looked weird". I'd like to see full cut bone in sirloins where you use it all and none of them have large bones. If you adjust the angle to accomplish this, what will happen to the short loin?
If you have an opportunity to visit, or work at for a day, a shop where they still cut this, your way, I'd love to see what you're talking about. Some pictures would be nice.
Coalcracker, maybe this is what you're talking about. I looked this up in my Toledo School Of Meat Cutting books. The hind quarter has two books, so if you see duplicate page numbers, it's from different books.
Toledo's method leaves some of the sirloin tip on the head loin, consequently, also in the bone in sirloin steaks.
I've never seen this done except here in these pictures
sorry the pics are so big. I thought I downsized them enough.
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-- Edited by Burgermeister on Thursday 24th of September 2015 01:23:31 AM
Great books Burgemeister. Very easy to understand simple yet very technical. Love them. Wish I had a set. You know so many things have changed since I left the trade. I like talking to you about these type issues because I call you a "meat-cutter-throw-back". You work in the modern world but yet you demonstrate the old school superior traits. Your like the rest of us sideliners except you can still work the magic of your skills. And you never stop searching until you totally understand the outcome of a challenge.
I wish I did have a band-saw in my office here to demonstrate for you however, you have the visual answer right in front of you in one of your photos. I want you to take a look at the full carcass photo. The one where they show where to slice. Start at the first rib-bon in the chuck and count the ribs going up the carcass until you reach the 13th rib. I believe that is number 8. If you compare the angle at the 13th rib against the angle of the head loin they are almost identical. So when you separate the head from the short loin all one has to do is follow that angle and the weird sirloin steaks disappear.
However, there is very important step that has to be taken before you make that cut. You have to skin the 13th rib with your knife so you can see the in-side of the 13th rib. The edge facing the head the outside is facing the 12th rib. The true angle is using the inside not the out-side of the 13th rib. Remember that the 13th has sort of a curve in the bone where it angles out towards the flank.
Now go back and look at the cutter making the loin-head round separation cut. It looks to me he is almost on the money. I say almost because the knuckle bone head is cut back just a wee-to much.
The reason I say that he was almost on the money is go back and look at the hind quarter beef chart. Just because somebody created a chart doesn't mean it is perfect. Look at the 13th rib you can plainly see that the chart shows it clearly at the bottom of the forequarter-hindquarter break. So it looks like the cutter is using the angle of the hindquarter-forequarter break to separate the head-loin from the round and not the inside of the 13th rib to do so. If he used the inside angle of the 13th rib he would have been right on the money.
Remember this point. Packers and wholesales typically make the first breaks on beef carcasses, and 99% of them never worked retail.
-- Edited by Coalcracker on Thursday 24th of September 2015 08:43:40 PM
