Holy Cow!

Once again, not for the faint-hearted. On Thursday our chef lecturer in the butchery ordered in an entire hind quarter of beef. The cow is split in half lengthways after slaughter and normally broken down into forequarter and hind quarter. If you imagine how much a cow weighs, you will know that a quarter of the animal is a very large and expensive piece of meat.

The actual price, for those who are wondering, was around £500. This may seem expensive, but as chefs we are able to break down the section into its different primal cuts, including some very expensive ones, and each cut can generate many portions. We also minimise wastage by processing the meat trimmings, bones and fat to make mince, stock and dripping. As a result we are able to make a good profit margin on what at first seems to be a high cost. With the beef weighing in at just over 108kg, it took myself, three other men and quite a struggle to bring it upstairs and into the butchery.

The following video clip showing the initial part of the process - removal of the shin, the separation (by saw) of the flank from the "round" and extraction of the fillet from the sirloin.

To identify each primal cut of the animal, hold your cursor over the picture.





The achilles tendon on the shin of a cow is as thick as rope and totally indigestible. The fillet is the most expensive part of the animal because of its tenderness and trendy status. Sirloin steaks are cut from the cross section of the loin. Click here to read an interesting urban myth about the "Sir" loin.

The round of beef is where we get the topside, silverside and rump from. The silverside gets its name from the silver membrane that covers it and the topside simply because is sits on top. The rump is one of the tastiest parts of the animal because it does a lot of physical work while the cow walks around the fields grazing.

The Jews' fillet is part of the silverside and got its derogatory name because it was often disguised and sold as real fillet for a much higher price. Finally, the bone shown bottom right is quite enormous. Its marrow was commonly used in sauces, although this is less the case these days.