Noticed younger guys skipping the hand-cut steaks

I was working a busy Saturday shift last month at the shop in Portland, and we had a kid fresh out of culinary school shadowing me. He watched me break down a whole ribeye primal and started asking why I don't use the band saw for portioning. Told him the saw heats up the meat and leaves metal dust, you lose juice and texture. He seemed confused, said his school taught them to use machines for consistency. Three years ago, I had an old timer show me the same thing and I get it now. These new guys don't learn the feel of a good knife cut through a rib cap or a tenderloin. Any of you seeing the same thing in your shops, where the hand work is fading out?

2 comments

2 Comments

elliot_grant381mo ago

Thirty years at a shop in Chicago and I've seen exactly one guy who could hand cut steaks consistently within a quarter ounce every time. The rest of the time you get a 10 ounce strip on Monday and a 14 ounce one on Tuesday for the same price. For a busy kitchen that's a nightmare for food cost and plate presentation. My band saw runs at low speed with a clean blade and I've never seen metal dust or heat damage - that sounds like an old wives tale passed down to scare apprentices. The kids coming up now learn HACCP and portion control which is what keeps restaurants profitable and customers happy. You can't build a business on "feel" when the margins are this thin and nobody's paying extra for a hand cut that's uneven. I'll take a consistent product every time over some romantic idea of craftsmanship that doesn't pay the bills.

alices161mo ago

My buddy runs a barbecue joint in Austin and swears by hand cutting brisket because he says the saw blade "dries it out" (I think he just likes the theater of it, honestly). Meanwhile his food costs are all over the place and he's constantly comping plates because one end of the slab is way thinner than the other. I love the guy but watching him weigh every single portion and throw scraps into the curry pot is painful when a $300 bandsaw would fix it in a week.