The Art of Beef Cutting: A Meat Professional’s Guide to Butchering and Merchandising 

by Kari Underly

Published by Wiley, The Art of Beef Cutting is the perfect book not only for the chef in your group, but I found this to be the most perfect book for me, a professional baker with no training in butchering. Sure, I love meats, but I don’t think I’d take a butchering course. You’ll most likely see me browsing the pages of this book, purchasing whole cuts of meat and literally “butchering” the poor pieces of meat.

The basics of beef cutting (chuck, rib, loin, sirloin, round, brisket, shank, plate and flank), as well as a chapter on ground beef and a few cooking tips. Most importantly, lots of focus on safe handling. I’ve always been afraid, thinking about how butchers deal with cold meat and sharp knives, so if they cut themselves, they might not notice cuts as quickly. Ah! Thus, this book features great safety tips and injury prevention strategies.  What else will you find in this book? Here’s a short list from Wiley:

• This is the only book on the market to include step-by-step cutting techniques and beef fundamentals along with information on all the beef cuts from each primal
• Includes charts of NAMP/IMPS numbers, URMIS UPC codes, and main muscles for each beef cut; Latin American cut  names and cooking methods; and cooking tips for each cut for easy reference
• The author is an expert meat cutter who has developed some of the newest meat cuts for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and created their current retail beef cut charts