Took me 5 years to realize I was trimming beef tenderloin all wrong

I been cutting beef tenderloin for my shop since 2019. Always cut off the chain and silverskin the way my first boss showed me. Last month a customer who used to work at a high end steakhouse in Chicago comes in and watches me trim one. He asks why I'm wasting so much meat on the tail end. I told him that's just how you clean it up. He showed me how to butterfly the thick end and fold it over so the whole roast is even thickness. I was throwing away like 2 servings worth of meat every single time. It's been driving me nuts that I never thought to check if there was a better way. Has anyone else had a customer or vendor show them a simple trick that made you feel like an idiot?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_wesley2d ago

Read about this exact thing in a food science book a couple years back. They said most butchers waste like 15% of the tenderloin because they're following the same old routine without ever questioning it. Kinda wild how we just stick with what we were taught until someone calls us out on it lol.

tara70020h ago

Oh man that reminds me of the time I spent like 3 years microwaving my rice wrong. My roommate finally showed me you gotta rinse it first and I felt so dumb lmao. It's crazy how long we'll do something a crappy way just because nobody ever tells us different.

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