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nealrm
03-04-2014, 01:16 PM
We went in with a few friends and purchased a quarter of cow. Now I need to tell them how I want it butchered and packed. Any suggestions?

Freelancier
03-04-2014, 01:53 PM
Do you know which quarter? or is it just a quarter by weight with all the pieces being distributed amongst the friends?

nealrm
03-04-2014, 02:29 PM
equal distribution by weight.

Harold Mansfield
03-04-2014, 02:55 PM
I don't know anything about how it gets from the cow to the refrigerated section of the super market, but I have to beleive 1/4 cow is a crap load of steaks and hamburger.


376

nealrm
03-04-2014, 03:12 PM
We'll end up with between 300 and 400 lb of meat that will remain good for a year. The price will be around $2/lb. So even if we eat only half, we are way ahead.

billbenson
03-04-2014, 04:16 PM
I buy a beef tenderloin a couple of times a year. I get about 12 steaks out of the tenderloin and a lot of scrap. I like a rare steak so I cut them pretty thick. Easy dinner. Let it thaw, make a sauce, cook it in a cast iron skillet and make a baked potato and I'm happy.

A couple of other things I do to have good food with little prep time. I buy duck backs and necks online - the last time I bought 25 lbs and had it shipped to me. Kind of expensive but I get a lot of use out of it. If anyone is interested I'll post my recipe. Duck stock makes for a far richer and flavorful stock than chicken stock. And the chicken stock in a box that you get at the supermarket tastes horrible relatively speaking. I make it into cubes for flavor in a sauce for or a quick soup.

I also make a blond roux and freeze it in cubes for thickening sauces.

The last thing I do is saute up some mushrooms on the weekend for use during the week. I usually do some onions as well. Whatever you like.

The point of all of this is on a week day I can cook a fillet, grab some sauted shroms and some duck stock and make a 4 star meal in 20 minutes. Pre prepping for the week or in the case of the steaks and the duck stock for the year.

As far as the scrap I had in the beginning of this post:

I couldn't sleep last night. I woke up at 4am. There was an infomercial for the ninja blender. I have one, not the same one as in on the infomercial. But similar. They show on the infomercial making a chicken burger out of chicken. I had been pondering buying a meat grinder for the trimmings from the beef tenderloin. If the commercial is accurate, I may be able to make shopped meat with the blender. If it works for that as advertised that would be cool.

Fulcrum
03-04-2014, 04:37 PM
This topic brings back memories - grew up working in a butcher shop.

There are 3 ways to easily split a beef into 1/4's. Front quarter, hind quarter, and half of a half. Sounds like you're getting the third option. Try to coordinate with the person getting the quarter from your half as this will make splitting the final product easier.

You will need to decide what types of cuts that you want.
Roasts - oven roasts (mostly from the hip) and/or slow cooker roasts (found in the front quarter and my own personal preference) as well as the size (1/2 lb fresh weight per person is a safe estimate).
Steaks - premium (t-bone, porterhouse, rib/prime rib, strip loin, rib eye, sirloin), fast fry (taken from the outside round, top round and sirloin tip roasts), slow cook (blade, chuck taken from the blade or short rib roast). If you opt for the strip loin and rib eye, you will not be able to get the t-bone and/or rib steak as they come from the same piece of beef. The same holds true if you get the tenderloin than there is a good chance you will not be able to get the porterhouse.
Burger - loose in 1lb packs approx or made into frozen patties.

That should cover most of the basics.

Edit - I should've also asked, is the price quoted for live weight or rail weight? This will make a difference in the size of freezer you need to buy.

nealrm
03-04-2014, 05:15 PM
We were quoted a total price for the 1/4 and estimated the price per pound based on the expected amount of meat. It is a rough estimate, but even if it doubled I would be happy with the price.

We already have a full freezer. So no additional cost there.

Harold Mansfield
03-04-2014, 05:26 PM
We went in with a few friends and purchased a quarter of cow.

Why, when you were getting the milk for free? (Couldn't resist).

Freelancier
03-04-2014, 05:41 PM
You'll need to get one of those vacuum-sealing systems to make sure it stays good for a year... stuff I toss in in a typical zip-lock bag has freezer burn in about 2 months usually.

As for cuts, aim for some of each and just split it up based on who wants to eat what. I'd want the rib eye, roast, and loin parts, others may want the cheaper cuts for grinding into burgers. It's all in what you want to get.

Fulcrum
03-04-2014, 07:33 PM
We were quoted a total price for the 1/4 and estimated the price per pound based on the expected amount of meat. It is a rough estimate, but even if it doubled I would be happy with the price.

The main reason I asked was that in order for you to take home 300lbs of meat, the rail weight will be close to 1000lbs per half (assuming a 60% yield). In the 22 years I've spent around abattoirs I've never seen a beef that big - although I'd love to see one that size.

You're doing the right thing though. Buying meat the way you are is always cheaper, and generally better quality, than buying individual cuts from the supermarket. Also, if the size of the animal is what I think it is, try and ask for 2-3 weeks of aging before cutting.

nealrm
03-04-2014, 10:48 PM
It's likely that my estimate on the quantity of meat are off. I'm told the cows hanging weight is 1200lb approx. I assumed that would give me 300lb of meat.

I do have a vacuum sealer. So most of the meat I will vacuum seal, and some will stay in the butcher paper.

They stated the ageing would be 1 to 2 weeks. I will see if I can get it longer.

FYI the cow is an angus cross, grass fed.

have some better pricing now. $2.25/lb for the beef, $0.55/lb processing, plus $12.50 per side.

Brian Altenhofel
03-04-2014, 11:13 PM
You'll need to get one of those vacuum-sealing systems to make sure it stays good for a year...

A good meat shop will vacuum seal. I only know of one or two around here that still just use butcher paper.

That pricing sounds about right. I pay just over $3/lb meat weight for grown-just-down-the-road grass-fed, no hormone, no antibiotic Black Angus custom cut.

As for what you'll get, it depends on how you like it cut. I like my steaks thick... my preferred butcher asked me if I was sure when I said "two inches". Typically steaks are cut 1 inch thick.

If you don't want a lot of ground beef, you'll need to be willing to accept a lot of roast. I've had to learn to love roast and brisket since I started buying beef in bulk. I've also learned to give a lot of ground beef away.

Hanging weight includes bones and organs. The cow's meat weight will likely be around 650lbs, which means a quarter will be 160ish. You'll probably get 70-75% of that in cuts and 25-30% in ground beef. In my case, I'm the only meat eater in the house (my wife is vegan - but my 7ft freezer has a cow and deer in it), so I end up offering a lot of ground beef to relatives, hosting cookouts, telling people that invite me to cookouts not to worry about burgers, learning 30 different chili recipes to keep things interesting, etc.

Buying beef in bulk is probably the best food investment you can make. Sure, you might spend $400 all at once on a quarter, but that quarter will likely last you most of the year. $3/lb for steaks and roasts cut the way you want is far less expensive than the stockyard ground beef at the supermarket ($6/lb here) or the grass fed beef at Whole Paycheck ($18/lb the only time I was in there).