Over thirty years ago I purchased and lost the book (
Cutting Up in the Kitchen, The Butchers Guide to Saving Money on Meat and Poultry by Merle Ellis). Mr. Ellis was a butcher by trade. The premise of his book was to teach the consumer how to identify and extract the different cuts of tender meat hidden in the sub primal cuts lying on the shelves of the local market. He has since passed on.
Packing Houses reduce a side of beef down to nine Primal Cuts, the Primal Cuts are further reduced to Sub Primal Cuts depending upon how their vendors place their orders.
Here is a condensed excerpt from his book:
Sirloin Tip- One the most versatile cuts of beef in your butchers meat case, one that offers real money saving potential for anyone willing to do a little “Cutting up in the kitchen” is the Sirloin Tip.
The tip is part of the beef Round. In various parts of the country it is known as the Knuckle, Veiny, the Round Tip and Triangle Tip and the Crescent.
When the butcher breaks a hind quarter of beef into its sub-primal cuts he first separates the loin with all its tender steaks (T-Bones, Sirloins, etc.) from the less tender Round. And that part of the Round which lies just the thickness of a
knife blade away from the tender Sirloin Steak is the Sirloin Tip.
Butchers do all kinds of magic with the Sirloin Tip. We make from it almost countless different cuts of meat to serve our meat buying public.
We slice it thin for Stroganoff. We cut steaks from it called London Broil, Essex Steaks and countless other names for marketing purposes.
But whatever else we do in the name of
merchandising the Tip, in most markets we also sell at least a portion of it as Roast.
Almost without exception the Sirloin Tip Roast will sell for considerably less than other cuts of the Tip that are
hiding under fancy names found in some other part of the meat counter. So when you are in the market for Beef Kabobs or Stroganoff, when you want a couple of good tender steaks without taking out a loan, look for a Sirloin Tip Roast.
The Tip is boneless, so you don’t have to be a master butcher to do your own magic. You can simply cut a steak or two off the large end. Or, you can dice it, cube it, slice it thick or thin and use it in any recipe that requires lean tender beef. It will be every bit as good as those the butcher cuts and the cost is apt to be considerably less.
This excerpt is just on the Sirloin Tip Roast. The book covers all sub-primal cuts of a Steer, Hog and Foul and the golden opportunities to be mined from each sub primal cut.
If "Cutting Up in the Kitchen" peaks your interest, I'm pleased to say that I picked up a "very good" copy this week from
Amazon.com used book vendors. Prices range from $3.50-250.00. I got mine for $15.00.
Ron
