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Beef Carcass Break Down: Beef Cuts

August 23, 2020

Beef Carcass Break Down: Beef Cuts

The amount of beef that comes from a beef animal is amazing. I'd predict about 425 pounds of actual, consumable beef comes from each animal.
  • If a person eats 1/4 pound of beef for a meal, that one animal could feed them 1,700 meals.
  • If you eat 2 meals of beef a day, that one animal could feed a person for 850 days.
  • This is about 2.3 years worth of meat.
All of that comes from one animal. Wow! Thank you cattle for providing us with so much high quality protein!
Enough with the math though, we are going to go into more detail about the cuts of beef and where they come from.
Let's start with the easy ones:
  • Brisket comes from the brisket on the animal. This is about the only cut that comes from that area. It is a muscle that cattle use a lot, which makes it a tough cut. It is important cooks prepare this cut with a "low and slow" mentality to get it to be tender and full of flavor. Cook it for a long time on a low temperature!
  • Chuck is another easy one. This produces Chuck Roasts and Chuck Steaks.
  • The Rib produces ribeyes and beef short ribs. Ribeyes are one of our favorite cuts. They are very flavorful due to the intense marbling and tender cut.
  • The short loin produces New York Strip Steaks, T-Bone Steaks, Filet Mignons. This is very tender too!
  • There are many parts of the Sirloin: Sirloin, Top Sirloin and Bottom Sirloin. The Sirloin Steaks that we sell are Top Sirloin Steaks. Tip Roasts also come from the Sirloin.
  • The Round produces roasts and round steaks. This portion is known to be a bit more tough, but we still love round steak! We use it as a cost-efficient meat choice for salads.
  • Flanks produce the Flank Steak. This is great for fajitas!
  • The Plate is usually ground of hamburger, but the Skirt Steak also comes from this! Skirt Steak is a great addition in Mexican Dishes.
  • Shank is made into Beef Shank. We typically do not sell this cut!
  • Ground Beef is made from meat from the whole animal! Meat that is cut and not made into steaks or roasts is ground into ground beef/hamburger. We love ground beef!

See all of what Oak Barn Beef has to offer by clicking here!

A lot comes from a whole animal, and we love pretty much all of it! What's your favorite cut?




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