BUTCHERSHOP (part I)

sanitation / refrigeration / safety / meat / beef / veal / lamb / pork

MISSION STATEMENT

The butchershop is where all the meats, poultry and seafood are centralized, processed, controlled, and portioned as requisitioned by the various outlets. During the four weeks of training here, the employees will be taught the basics of how a hotel butchershop operates and be expected to execute the basic techniques of meat and seafood butchering.

Sanitation/Food Handling

It is very important to keep the fish preparation area separated from the meat processing area to avoid cross contamination and to preserve the flavor integrity of each item.

Every effort must be given to make sure that all doors are kept shut and that all flying insects are prevented from entering.

Never work with large amounts of material outside of the refrigerator/ 4 hours processing time is the maximum recommended length of time

Work surfaces must be constantly cleaned up after each item is processed; this clean-up applies to your knives also!

Scraps accumulate quickly here, make sure that you dispose of them quickly either into the garbage can or return them to the refrigerator.

To preserve freshness and to help prevent contamination, all items that have been processed fully or partially should be wrapped in PLASTIC FILM FOR THE REFRIGERATOR and then with ALUMINUM FOIL FOR THE FREEZER if they are to be kept frozen longer than 30 days.

Although it is not recommended, sometimes frozen products must be quickly defrosted and that means placing in COOL RUNNING water. When defrosting, never use warm water and never mix different types of products in the same sink. Remember, It is best to defrost slowly in the refrigerator to prevent the build up of bacteria and to maintain higher quality products/defrosting in water will noticeably decrease the flavor and texture quality of your product.

Refrigeration

Meats
- The butchershop is divided into two areas, one for working with meat, and the other part for working with seafood. On the meat side is located the large meat cooler that has located inside of it the meat freezer. The butchershop requests it's material from the F&B storeroom and stores the meats or seafoods in the appropriate cooler or freezer. From there the material is processed and distributed. The meat box is for meats only, and the more delicate items that need a more constant temperature or that can be damaged by water vapor from condensation should be stored "deep" inside the walk-in. Make sure that the doors are always fully closed, especially that of the freezer. A common BAD practice is to pile up everything as close to the walk-in door as possible. Because this is the place that will experience the greatest temperature changes this is the worst place to be storing anything. The proper operating temperatures are marked on the doors; learn what they are and make it a habit to constantly monitor the readings to make sure the boxes are operating at their proper levels.
Seafood
- The seafood refrigeration is of a much smaller capacity, but has the same basic arrangement with the freezer being located inside of the refrigerator. Because of it's smaller capacity, it is even more important to make sure that the door is open the minimal amount of time in order not to allow the internal temperature to change.
- The proper operation and utilization of the refrigeration located in the butchershop is very critical to the wholesomeness of the products being processed there. Pay strict attention to the organization that exists here and respect your installation that exists here.

Equipment & Safety

Knives
- These must be kept sharp to be both cost efficient and safe to use. The sharp knife cuts more easily requires less force and therefore is less liable of going out of control. Remember to cut away from your body, and especially here in the butchershop, be careful not to bump into someone who is working because he probably has a knife in his hand.
Tablesaw
- This is the most dangerous piece of automatic equipment in the butchershop, you must be trained very thoroughly on this machine before you will be allowed to use it. When using this machine you must remember to have your feet solidly planted on a dry surface and to concentrate on what you are doing. DO NOT GET DISTRACTED! Do not force an item through the blade because a slight slip could easily run your hand into the saw-blade: but rather, let the blade slowly cut it's way through the item being processed. NOTE: DURING THE APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING PROGRAM, NO TRAINEE WILL BE ALLOWED TO USE ANY PIECE OF ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT BEFORE THE SUPERVISOR OF THE AREA HAS PROPERLY INSTRUCTED THEM IN THE USE OF THE PIECE OF EQUIPMENT AND THEN AUTHORIZES THE TRAINEE TO OPERATE IT. THIS APPLIES FOR THE WHOLE 16 WEEKS.
Food Chopper & Grinder (Buffalo Chopper)
- This machine is used to chop medium hard to soft items. It is not made to chop and cut items like bones or hard shells because the blades and driveshaft would be damaged. When using the grinder attachment make sure the blade is on the correct way/ that you have the right sized grid plate in and that you are using the proper type of "pusher". Wood and metal, if caught in the worm will splinter and send pieces into the food. Like all pieces of machinery, first learn how to assemble, use, dismantle and clean the item before you attempt to use it AND GET PERMISSION TO OPERATE IT FROM YOUR SUPERVISOR!
Portion Scale
- In order to control the costs and monitor or locate problems, the butchershop must utilize the concept of portion-control as much as possible. Portion-control means to control, to count the number of portions leaving the area, but for this control to succeed each portion must not only be of the specified size, but each portion must be of the same weight. Unless you have many, many years in the butchershop, the only way to accomplish this "uniformness-of-portion" is to use the portion scale: a portion too small cheats the customer, a portion too large cheats the company.
Slicer
- Another high accident machine, but if you follow the rules and use common sense you should not have an accident. Always use the hand guard plate for keeping hold of the item being sliced and never hold the item with your hand. Make sure machine is unplugged before you attempt to to dismantle or clean/clothing can snag on the switch and when you step back turn the motor on. If the food holding plate is not moving easily, turn off the machine and inform your supervisor, don't attempt to force it

MEAT

What is meat
- Definition
  The term is usually applied to the flesh (muscle) of beef, lamb, pork, and veal. Muscle is usually composed of 70% water depending on the amount of fat present in the flesh; of the remaining 30% which represents the solids, 80% is protein and about 20% is fat(fat itself is about 15% water).
Tenderness
- This characteristic is related to what muscle is being utilized in the cooking process. The nature of the muscle's tenderness is itself based on the thickness of it's muscle fibers and the amount of the connective tissue which holds the bunches of muscle fibers together. In the butchershop tenderness can be increased in a variety of ways:

Product Identification "Beef"
- General:
  The beef we eat comes mainly from steers(castrated males), heifers(females that have never had a calf), cows(mature cows that have born calves). The best quality comes from the steer and then the heifer. High grade beef comes from animals that weigh from 900 to 1300 pounds and range in age from one to three years.

Quality Check
When checking a piece of beef for quality look for: A firm covering of creamy white fat on the exterior of the meat. If the fat is yellow make sure that the bone and lean qualities are there. The lean should have a fine, velvety texture with a color range from pale red to deep red, but should be bright and uniform in color. If you encounter any type of abnormality advise the head butcher at once because this could indicate a diseased animal. Very fresh cut beef will be almost purple in color but on exposure to the air it will turn red.

Marbling
Marbling of the meat-the little veins of fat- will vary with the cut, but should be noticeable and adequate especially in the loin cuts(sirloin, tenderloin, prime rib,top sirloin). The bones should appear rather porous and red, and have a nice round shape and not seem to be squashed.

Anatomy
The following chart will give you the breakdown of the animal in picture form. As you will see, there is a logic and sequence here that comes from experience and the desire to be as efficient as possible in utilizing all of the animal.

Beef Cuts
- General:
  Because of the nature of the hotel business, we do not deal in all of the cuts because many are for retail use. For our purposes, the following list indicates the primal cuts you will be most interested in and be the ones you will be most often seeing being used in the kitchens.
- Hindquarter This part of the carcass yields cuts that can be tasty, tough, and tender depending on where it comes from. Although there are many retail cuts involved here, we will deal with the cuts that are most used in the hotel butchershop.
- Steamship Round or "Chicago"Round This is the whole leg cut from the hipbone on down and must include the shank. What we receive at **** is called the Primal Round and is that portion remaining after the loin has been removed. Usually this leg must be trimmed down by using the table saw. From this leg we get the Top Round for roasting.
- Full Beef Loin Untrimmed: This cut provides the choicest cuts of beef. It is from this full loin that the whole tenderloin is removed. Then working from the leg end, we first have the sirloin This sirloin (posterior portion of the full loin) provides the top sirloin roast which we use for roasting.This comes from the area just behind the flank, which is cut from the belly portion of the sirloin. As we move forward in the full loin we have the short loin which provides the sirloin strip from which we cut the New York sirloin strip steaks; the forward most portion provides the porterhouse and T-Bone steaks cuts.
- Forequarter: This is the forward part of the animal and provides a variety of cuts of beef, that range from tender and lean to tough a gristly.
- Ground Beef: Here is where the good butcher who throws nothing of use away can make some profit. During the trimming process, all lean pieces should be save and then combined with the round,flanks, chuck, plate and heel to produce the ground beef. The ratio of lean to fat varies, but in general we want an 80%-20% minimum and a 85%-15% maximum. The meat should be very cold when ground, and your cutter blade must be very sharp when you cut the meat or the fat will not sit and mix properly. The meat must be cut or chopped as it is processed and not be "squeezed" through the grinder as is often the case when this happens the product looks and tastes more like liver then chopped beef.
- Short Ribs: These are cut from the top of the short plate and the bottom of the rib cage / a tough but very tasty cut of beef
- Brisket: This contains the lower portions of ribs 5 through 1 and part of meat from the breastbone. Because this cut is composed of of layers of lean and fat, it is very tasty and lends itself to boiling or simmering. The boned brisket is what is normally used to make "corned beef", which is an old method of curing meat. The term comes from the old days when in Europe, salt was sold in large pellets that resembled kernels of grain and the word corn was used back then to refer to any type of grain. In the process the brisket is held in a brine (high salt content solution) that has certain spices added to improve the flavor.
- Forshank: Like the hind shank, has lots of bone, little fat and a lot of connective tissue. These are usually cut perpendicular to the bone to provide osso buccofor braising or bones for making stocks and soups.
- Variety Meats: A rather vague term that includes the organs, and glands of the animal. The ones you will most often see here will be the:

VEAL

What is Veal:
- Definition:
  The best veal comes from milk fed calves of six to ten weeks of age, of either sex and weighing about 150 pounds. The young of beef cattle are divided into two groups:vealers, which are usually not more than three months old and weigh 110 to 180 pounds and calves, which are from three to nine months old and weigh up to 300 pounds.
Quality check:
- To tell the difference between veal and calf product, you should look to the color of the lean (or muscle) to give you a clue. Other factors such as texture and firmness and the ratio of meat to bone on the leg. In high quality veal, the color of the lean is greyish-pink. The more the veal has been fed on food other than milk, the more red it will be. The lean should have a firm texture that is silky to the touch, clear, firm and white fat should cover the lean, and the bones soft and porous with a reddish tinge.
Anatomy:
The wholesale veal cuts resemble the corresponding beef cuts but are about one-third to one-half their size. As with beef, there is a logic and sequence that has been established over the years.

Hindquarter:
This usually comes as a hindsaddle and then the legs are split into singles-this will include everything from the hocks on up through the hipbone/ the shank, the round, and the rump with the bone and muscle structure very similar to those of beef.

shank-- cut crosswise, this provides the best and authentic "osso bucco"
leg--this contains a number of useful muscles and the head of then developing tenderloin. Much of the scallopine is cut from here. The leg is comprised of seven distinct muscles and you will learn how to remove each one of them.
loin--runs from the hipbone to the start of the rib rack and can contain the kidneys wrapped in their fat in the flaps( these flaps eventually develop into the flank steak of the beef. It is from the loin that the most tender of the meat comes from and also the Veal T-Bone chops. Often the loin and tenderloin are removed from the bone and dispatched as a Veal Loin Set. From this meat the medallions are usually prepared.

Forequarter:
This usually comes as a hindsaddle and then the legs are split into singles-this will include everything from the hocks on up through the hipbone/ the shank, the round, and the rump with the bone and muscle structure very similar to those of beef.

hotel rack-- from a cut between the 4 and 5th. ribs running back to the 11th. rib. It is from here that the best veal chops are cut (these correspond to the beef rib chop). The veal rack corresponds to the Prime rib in the beef animal.
breast--from the plate, this cut is usually made boneless cut with a pocket for stuffing and braising.

Variety Meats:
the varietals of the veal are on the average much choicer than any of the other animal's/ smaller, more tender and flavorfull.

sweetbreads-- a two lobed gland located near the heart and throat, it is also called the thymus gland. The thymus is present only in young animals.
tounge-- smaller than the beef tounge, is prepared for use in the same manner.
kidney-- a choice organ for eating, the valuable fat "capsule" must first be removed, and then the white "starburst" core must be removed. Then the kidneys are rinsed well and sliced for cooking.
liver--the most tender and flavorful of all the livers due to it's milk content.

LAMB

What is Lamb:
- Definition:
  Called "Chivo" in the Dominican Republic lamb is a young sheep of either sex that has not reached maturity. The processing weight can range from 35 to 70 pounds, depending on how the animal was raised.
Quality check:
- As the animal gets larger and older the color of the lean gets darker. The average market lamb will have a pinkish-red color. The exterior fat is covered with a thin parchment like tissus call the "fell" which helps keep the meat moist and fresh. It is best to remove this fell if you receive a piece of lamb with it still attached. Lamb bones are porous and red.
Anatomy:
- Unlike beef, but like veal, lamb is seldom split into sides, but is often divided in half crosswise producing a hindsaddle and a foresaddle. Another option is dividing a lamb into legs, loin and hotel racks (rib), and stew (breast and flank).

PORK

What is Pork:

Definition:
There are two general types of hogs that produce pork meat: butcher and bacon. The butcher animal has short legs and rounder torsos, the bacon animal has longer legs and a narrower and much leaner body. It can be fresh, cured,smoked and salted, and usually derives from animals between five and seven months of age weighing between 200 to 225 pounds. The trend today is to pork meat of a leaner variety. Pork being very perishable must be kept well refrigerated until it is ready to be processed: between 330-380 F. is a good range.

Quality check:

fresh pork -- Firm and white fat covering with the lean being a light grayish-pink color/the darker the colorer the older the animal. The flesh and fat are firm and the bones soft and slightly pink.
cured pork -- The lean has a good pink shade with good marbling and outside fat layer. The muscle grain should be tight and firm and will sometimes shine iridescently when the tiny meat fibers break up the light as the light hits the fibers' fat coating layer.

Anatomy:
Unlike the other meats, fresh pork most often leaves the packing plant in small cuts ready for the consumer or small butcher.

Hindsaddle:Does not really exist as such as a common cut in the pork family.

fresh ham-- Is usually the fresh leg, which is very good roasted.This ham needs to be surronded by a layer of fat under the rind. Ham is often preserved and cured by smoking. However, since most hams today are only mildly cured, they too need to be refrigerated. Often the pork leg needs to be broken down into smaller portions, and when this is done you should respect the form of the leg as you cut it up.

whole loin--This is what remains of a side after the shoulder, ham, belly and fat back have been removed, and corresponds to the beef cuts of sirloin, short loin and rib of beef. The pork tenderloin is comparable to the tenderloin of beef muscle but is much smaller, weighing only 1 lb. maximum, but is extremely tender and without waste. We generally utilize this cut for boneless pork loin to fabricate pork medallions or brochetes, but mostly for the fabrication pork chops and smoked pork loin. Just like in beef, the choice chops are from the short loin end where you can get the "T" shaped or "T"-bone chops which include both the eye of the loin and the tenderloin. Often we will trim off the butt end to save for other purposes, and cut what remains into pork chops. The butt chops are not really of the same quality.

spare ribs--These are prepared from the belly area, and contains the lower portion of the ribs and breastbone. What remains is often called the "side" from which bacon and salt pork are processed.

back ribs-- These are what are left after the production of the boneless pork loin.

Foresaddle:

picnic ham--Is the cut below the area where the chuck and shoulder meet, and includes the foreleg but not he foot. Often this is bone and rolled to produce the common boiled picnic ham. Many of the rectangular processed hams are of the picnic variety.

Stew Meat--like meat for grinding, this may come from any part of the carcass which can provide the specified meat.

[Go to the top of this page]