# Do-it-yourself meat question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803 "2020-05-14T20:37:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/21 "2020-05-15T00:53:42Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Still impractical if you don’t have freezer space. Even if you did have the space it’s still impractical to buy a steer if you can’t butcher it yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/22 "2020-05-15T01:24:19Z")
Or you could go down the [Alex Jones route](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRSg6MS5xqA). Not sure about whether you should dry age or wet age “long pig”, but I’d definitely go heavy on the seasoning. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/23 "2020-05-15T01:25:14Z")
I’ve helped Mr.Wrekker field dress many deer. It’s not hard. Messy and stinky. There are videos online on how to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/24 "2020-05-15T01:39:04Z")
We purchase a side of beef (half a steer) every couple of years. I think we paid around $800 to the rancher (who had it delivered to the butcher for us), and another couple of hundred to the butcher for butchering it and packaging it. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/25 "2020-05-15T01:47:56Z")
People around here often go shares in a side of beef. There are still small abattoirs here which will cut and package to your specifications. My neighbors raised a hundred broilers last year and had a 'butchering party" – invited friends, rented a plucker, set up an assembly line under the trees, and got them all processed in an afternoon. People who helped got dressed chickens in return. Rabbits take up very little space and there’s a lot of meat on a rabbit. Easier to skin a rabbit than pluck a chicken in my experience anyway. The concept of a centralized industrial meat supply system for an entire nation is not the only one that works. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/26 "2020-05-15T01:52:59Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Or you could go down the [Alex Jones route](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRSg6MS5xqA). > > Not sure about whether you should dry age or wet age “long pig”, but I’d definitely go heavy on the seasoning. Goodness, no. It’s best on the bone, only a touch of salt, fresh and bloody red rare. “The closer to the bone, the sweeter the meat!” Take my word for it. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/27 "2020-05-15T02:07:23Z")
> [@Kedikat](#): > > Is there a bargain price for just grinding the whole thing to hamburger? > > Terrible waste of tasty steaks and such. Probably best to keep ribs as separate cuts. But would you get a much cheaper butchering cost if you said, just grind it all up? ( meat, not bones ) Around here, at least, the cut-wrap-and-freeze charge is per pound; nothing to do with what cuts you order. I suspect it would be at least as much work for the butcher to remove all the meat from the bones and grind it all as it would be to cut the animal more normally. Probably more work. – The price is going to vary by area, by the particular farm you purchase from, and by the size of the steer; at least around here, you pay by pound, usually for hanging weight. (Hanging weight, live weight, and dressed weight are three different things. Don’t freak out if you got charged by hanging weight when what you actually bring home weighs less.) Some farms will sell by the quarter, which will be easier to fit in the freezer, though you’ll still need a chunk of freezer space. And, unless they’ll sell a mixed quarter (some places will), you’ll have to decide whether you want forequarter or hindquarter, which supply different cuts. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/28 "2020-05-15T02:33:03Z")
This is a pretty cool video showing what you get from a side of beef and how it’s all cut. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/WrOzwoMKzH4/maxresdefault.jpg "How To Butcher An Entire Cow: Every Cut Of Meat Explained | Bon Appetit") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrOzwoMKzH4) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/29 "2020-05-15T02:52:56Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > If you buy a live steer and trailer it to a butcher, once the butcher starts butchering the steer is gonna resist. A joke, of course, but it does bring up a point worth remembering. Many butchers will not do their own slaughtering. If you’re buying a live animal, you need to figure in the slaughter as a separate step in your costs and transportation plans. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/30 "2020-05-15T03:02:26Z")
[quote=“Telemark, post:28, topic:853803”] This is a pretty cool video showing what you get from a side of beef and how it’s all cut. [/QUOTE] Nice vid-I hadn't heard the term "oyster steak" in years. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/31 "2020-05-15T03:20:47Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Local butchers of that sort already exist but I think in many areas, they’re aimed at kosher or halal buyers. Mostly the system is currently set up for large slaughterhouses which then distribute packaged meat to food distributors and supermarkets. I don’t see that changing. If this all drags on long enough, we’ll see more shift into local production and distribution, which is all to the good I think. I’m not close enough to any of you to go in on a steer, I don’t think. If anyone in the Bay Area is interested, please reach out. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/32 "2020-05-15T03:32:26Z")
I think it’s more likely the large slaughterhouses will space out their employees so they can’t infect each other. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/33 "2020-05-15T03:40:29Z")
I thought this would be about how you could brew up your own impossible burger using only ingredients found around the house/pantry. I’m waiting on Impossible Pepperoni myself. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/34 "2020-05-15T03:52:21Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > I thought this would be about how you could brew up your own impossible burger using only ingredients found around the house/pantry. > > I’m waiting on Impossible Pepperoni myself. Eric Trump is looking around nervously like a character in a survival horror movie. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/35 "2020-05-15T11:58:37Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > A joke, of course, but it does bring up a point worth remembering. Many butchers will not do their own slaughtering. If you’re buying a live animal, you need to figure in the slaughter as a separate step in your costs and transportation plans. Yep, my point exactly. Butchers usually only butcher. A very good friend of mine has some sheep. When it’s time to slaughter lambs, I give him a hand. He actually has a hard time killing the cute little lambs. Some people want a lamb ready to put on a spit. Those we kill, gut, skin, rinse, then hang in the cooler. A research scientist at the University of Pittsburgh buys lamb hearts, with specific parameters involving the length of vessels left on the organ. The meat is waste, but I end up eating it. We turn the carcass into legs, chops, and lots of roasts. A sharp knife and a bandsaw make the work easier. A few years back I saved the scraps and bones, then brought them home. We had three big stock pots going on the stove. It took two days to cook and de-fat the broth, which we then cooled and put into heavy duty zip lock bags that we laid flat in the freezer. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2020, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/36 "2020-05-16T14:02:46Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Butchers usually only butcher. Maybe that depends on where you are; or maybe the issue is that most butchers aren’t also slaughterhouses, which is true. However, at least around here, small scale slaughterhouses are also butchers; and, if you buy a live animal or a share in one from a farmer, that’s the kind of slaughterhouse the farmer is going to be using. So no, you don’t have to move the carcass from one facility to another in order to get it cut. While the slaughterhouse will let you take the side(s) or quarter home to cut up yourself if you want, you can instead choose to have them cut and wrap it for you, and most will also freeze it – most home freezers aren’t able to freeze that much meat at once without taking a long time at it, which can reduce quality. Generally the slaughterhouse bill will show a separate slaughter free (per animal) and a cut-wrap-and-freeze fee (per pound.) The farmer will probably be paid separately, usually by pound, figured usually as hanging weight (cut weight will be less, live weight is more.) ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2020, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/37 "2020-05-16T17:43:47Z")
[quote=“Telemark, post:28, topic:853803”] This is a pretty cool video showing what you get from a side of beef and how it’s all cut. [/QUOTE] That is a very good video. It's very satisfying to see and hear someone passionate about what they do. That he's very good at it is even better. I could sure go for some beef ribs right now. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2020, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/38 "2020-05-16T19:00:22Z")
We went in on part of a cow once- we knew somebody who knew somebody, so we gave it a try. A couple things I remember-we got a lot of wierd cuts of meat I had never heard of, like “blade roast”. And a LOT of hamburger. The cow ain’t all t-bones and ribeyes. Also it was not as cheap as we had thought- we were quoted a price for “X” lbs. of meat but when we actually weighed the packaged up meat it weighted a good bit less than what we were told. Maybe the poundage quoted was before butchering and cleaning. I have to say though, flavor-wise it was the tastiest beef we ever ate. I guess naturally raised, grass-fed beef really makes a difference. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2020, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/39 "2020-05-16T19:31:22Z")
I’ve bought or gone in on 4 or 5 steer either as a whole, a half or a quarter. Unless you have the land/grass/water to raise them or a cheap source of hay it just never seems worth it. You’re better off buying the bulk packages of vacuum sealed meat from a restaurant supply “Cash and Carry” place. I recommend starting with a top round and cutting it into London broils. It’s the easiest, without a lot of odd cuts or scrap. Then learn how to break down a sirloin, it’s harder as there is a variety of steaks, roasts, and stew meat/burger/scrap. Both top rounds and sirloins can be had in the big packages for cheaper than your local grocery store sells 80/20 burger and you’re not stuck with a bunch or heart, liver, tongue, 24 bone roasts, soup bones and missing a few rib steaks. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2020, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803/40 "2020-05-16T22:06:17Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > That is a very good video. It’s very satisfying to see and hear someone passionate about what they do. That he’s very good at it is even better. I could sure go for some beef ribs right now. I enjoyed the video but goodness, there’s a lot of work that goes into taking apart a cow! This is why I’m very happy to pay someone else to do all that work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-it-yourself-meat-question/853803.md?page=3)