First Steer Went to Freezer Camp

[arlen]

He just left yesterday. The butcher didn't have a scale to weigh him live, but he is hanging at 457 lbs, so we figured he was right around 800 lbs. I looked at him today, the fat cover was good, and was snow white.
He was almost 18 months old. The butcher said what ever I'm feeding, to keep doing it!
Now I just have to decide how to cut him up within the next couple of weeks.
I'm leaning toward boning the loins and tenderloins as opposed to t-bones. or maybe I will do 1/2 t-bones and half new yorks and fillets.
What advice do you have for the rest of the animal, like the flank, briskit etc.?

[copperhead]

I think t-bones are way over rated, I get a sirloin, and new york steak and have the filet mignons packaged. you definitly want your rib eye steaks and get the round tenderized for chicken fried steaks. If you like fajitias have them package the flank or hanger steak. The brisket is pretty small, I usually have it ground. Don't forget about stew meat and soup bones.

[arlen]

Thanks, I do like the tenderized round steaks allot. I want to avoid roasts. I alway end up with a bunch of roast left in my freezer. I generally prefer a pork roast over a beef roast, with the exception of a nice "solid muscle" beef roast cooked medium rare.
What do you usually do with the front shoulders? Chuck roasts are my least favorite... Do you ever make tenderized chuck steaks, or do you just grind most of the shoulders?

[arlen]

I'm sure that he would grind it separate... Good idea.

[cddexter]

I just roasted an X-rib roast, which should be a pot roast, but... it was very tender and delicious. Rare to medrare for me. Gene likes his well done, so this might not have worked for him
I find roasts good for sandwich meat, but agree I end up with a lot more low-end roasts in the freezer toward the end. I also agree with T-bone being overrated. In my area, it's mainly manual and blue collar people, so i've taken to having all the steaks cut about 2" thick. I get fewer, but they don't overcook that way, and buyers are blown away by the size--something that can be a Dexter negative to those who like a 16 oz steak. cheers, c.

[arlen]

All Good Advice. Heres what I think so far:
1) As far as the back, I'm leaning toward NY strips and Fillet instead of T-Bone, Ribeyes of course. All steaks cut between 1.5 and 2" Fat trimmed to 1/8 to 1/4 inch with a 1" tail on the NY's and Ribeyes.

2)Top butt sliced to 1.5 inches, and cut to around 12 oz portions.
Ball tips the same way.

3)Anything on the rounds that would make good cutlets, cut at 1/2", and mechanically tenderize. Grind the rest of the round. Maybe save a couple of good roasts out of the butt.

4)Save the Flank for London Broil, grind the brisket.

5)Unsure of chuck... Probably a combination of cutlets and grind.

What am I missing?

[Cascade Meadows Farm - Kirk]

Nov 22, 2012 12:42:53 GMT -5 arlen said:

Thanks, I do like the tenderized round steaks allot. I want to avoid roasts. I alway end up with a bunch of roast left in my freezer. I generally prefer a pork roast over a beef roast, with the exception of a nice "solid muscle" beef roast cooked medium rare.
What do you usually do with the front shoulders? Chuck roasts are my least favorite... Do you ever make tenderized chuck steaks, or do you just grind most of the shoulders?

[kansasdexters]

For our beef customers that don't want chuck roasts, we recommend having the chuck into flat iron steaks, mock tenderloin steaks, and ranch steaks.

The top round and eye of round make great roasts. The bottom round can be cut into minute steaks (these make wonderful country-fried steak).

Flank steak can be prepared as London Broil or as Fajita meat. Skirt steak also makes good Fajita meat.

We usually limit the number of packages of stew meat on the cut order to 8 - 1 lb packages per carcass, otherwise it just seems like too much stew meat and we'd rather have it as ground beef.

We ask for the neck and shanks to be cut into meaty soup bones, 2 lb per package. We also ask for the ox tail to be cut into 6-inch lengths for use in soup making.

We ask for the brisket to be "whole", not halved. That way, we get a nice 3 to 4 lb size brisket. A "whole" brisket from a side of beef is actually a half of the chest.


Patti

[Cascade Meadows Farm - Kirk]

Nov 22, 2012 12:42:53 GMT -5 arlen said:

Chuck roasts are my least favorite...

Chuck roasts are one of my absolute favorites if cooked a certain way in a PRESSURE COOKER

Step 1 - Brown (very well) both sides of the roast in the pressure cooker WITH NO LID, on rather high heat (but don't burn it)... You may or may not need a little oil to keep it from sticking.

Step 2- After browning, add a little water to the browned beef in the hot pressure cooker. Typically just enough to barely cover the meat.

Step 3 - Put the lid on the pressure cooker and pressure it up. Stand by to reduce the heat once the pressure cooker is up to full pressure. Reduce the heat to maintain high pressure, but not overpressure.

Step 4 - Pressure cook the roast for about 60-90 minutes on high pressure, but keep the heat low enough that you don't overpressure the pan or run out of liquid. Pay attention to smell.... (should be ZERO BURNING SMELL).

Step 5 - After 60-90 minutes, turn heat off and wait for the pressure to release, then open lid carefully.

Step 6 - If there's a good amount of liquid remaining, turn the heat back on with the lid off and with the roast in place, and reduce the liquid until it is thicker and brown and nearly gravy-like. Doing this assures that ALL of the flavors of the meat, remain with the meat).

Step 7 - The meat will be INCREDIBLY tender to the point of completely falling apart. You can take servings out of the cooker and put them directly on a WARM plate and spoon a little of the sauce over it.


I use NO spice nor salt. You'll find it to be intensely flavorful with plenty of saltiness (because you condensed all the juices down into the meat and sauce).

This isn't as complex as it sounds, and it's yummy.


PS. Follow all the safety instructions that come with your pressure cooker. Never open a pressurized cooker. Never let a cooker run out of liquid. Never over-pressure. They are VERY easy to use if you follow instructions.