If your business is involved in the preparation and/or serving of meat, the quality of the cuts you choose can be a reflection of your professionalism. Or to put it another way, if you’re happy to serve mediocre or substandard meat, you can’t expect anything other than a substandard reputation.

Of course, with such an enormous catalogue of cuts and meat products to choose from, going through each of them takes time. You could even burn through a few hours simply researching the various different steaks available, along with their primary identifying characteristics, appropriate quality checks to carry out and so on.

So in this instance, we thought we’d share with you a more general guide on selecting the best cuts of beef. Make your selections in accordance with the following general guidelines and you can be sure that every product that makes it to your meat cutting board will be a positive reflection of how you do business.

• First and foremost, never fall into the trap of thinking that the brightest pink-looking cuts of meat are the cuts you should be going for. Across the board as far as beef is concerned, any kind of bright-pink and somewhat artificial appearance is typically a sign that the meat isn’t fresh.
• The beefiest cuts of all tend to be those that come from the parts of the cow that have been most heavily worked. That being, the muscles that are most active during the life of the cow. Along with being stronger in flavour, they have a much darker red colour and require longer cooking to tenderise.
• Don’t get too carried away with your meat cutting equipment and end up removing an unnecessary amount of fat. Quite simply, fat is your friend – fat means flavour. Working with the best cuts of beef means knowing how to identify when and where the ideal amount of fat is present in all the right places.
• Always ensure that the meat cutting supplies you use are of the highest quality standards and kept as well maintained as possible. The last thing you want is for your dulled and warped professional meat cutting knives to wreck what could have been a fantastic piece of meat.
• All the most prestigious and expensive steaks come from the short loin – Fillet Steak, T-bone and Sirloin alike. So if handling this part of a beef carcass, handle with care!
• Last but not least, the beef you buy will only ever be as high in quality as the butcher or slaughterhouse you buy it from. So it’s occasionally worth questioning how sure you are of their production and handling processes, in case there’s a better supplier available.

Once again, the precise ‘rules’ on how to buy the best cuts of beef will always vary from one specific cut to the next. Nevertheless, keep the above-mentioned pointers in mind and you should end up with cuts of quality.

For more information on the very best professional meat cutting equipment on the market, give the Row & Sons customer service team a call today.