Whole Lamb. The Breakdown.

First off, you'll need a lamb! This one is a grass fed, certified organic
lamb from Dixon Ranch in Decatur, Texas. 

Here's a Whole Lamb Carcass, completely cleaned. 

As with everything else, there are multiple ways to go at a Whole
Lamb - I decided to split the animal in half first. Many places will separate
the animal at the two places, between the Shoulder and the Rib and again
between the Loin and the Legs. 

Right past the Legs and into the Loin. 

Now into the Rib.

(Wipes sweat!) Now into the Shoulder and Neck. 

Almost done!

Excellent. It wasn't precisely in half, but pretty darn close. 

Now! Though it's hard to see, I'm going to split this side in half
between the Rib and the Loin. There are 13 ribs on every animal.
The Loin and the Rib are split between the 12th and 13th rib.

Make your cut all the way down to the spine.  

A quick buzz... 

And there you go!

This is the Hind Quarter of the animal. Cut the flap of meat between the 13th
rib and the top of the leg off. If this was beef, this section would house the Skirts, Sirloin Flap
and Flank Steak. With Lamb this meat is used for trim. Cutting this meat away will give your
hand a bit more room to work. 

This is the Aitch-Bone. Start working on this with the tip of your knife,
as always, try not to leave any meat on the bones. 

This picture is showing the curve of the Aitch-Bone. The muscle thats attached
to it is the Sirloin. exactly how you'd work a Pork Sirloin off the bone, follow
the curve until the meat comes free. 

Like so. 

Remove the Loin from the Sirloin Primal using the same method
as separating the Rib from the Loin. Find the end of the Aitch-bone and cut
straight down until you hit the spine. 

Now to remove the Rib from the Shoulder. Make an incision between
the 5th and 6th ribs and follow it down to the spine. 

Once the Rib is removed, buzz off the Spare Ribs (Riblets). 

Rib Primal. 

Whole Shoulder. 

Buzz off the neck to square off the primal. 

Then line up the Shoulder to cut through the Foreshank and Brisket. 

And there you have it! One whole side done. 

Repeat the process to leave you with two of each cut.
Starting at the top right and moving over in columns: Shoulder, Neck, Neck
Shoulder, Foreshank, Foreshank, Ribs, Spare Ribs (Riblets), Loins,
Legs, Aitch-bones for stock, Trim. 

Boneless Beef Tenderloin. The Breakdown.

Beef Tenderloin. 

Start by peeling off the Chain.

Once the Chain is removed, trim away remaining fat and silver skin. 

To take off the silver skin, start by running your knife underneath and towards the butt. 

If you go from the tip to the butt, the meat will stay smooth and the skin should
come off relatively effortlessly. 

Now the Tenderloin has been cleaned, tuck the tip under the roast.
Make sure the tip-end is square. If you're cutting the roast for steaks, you'll
want every steak to look its best.  

Whole Beef Tenderloin. 

Home Cured Bacon. Round II

Seasoned with Allspice and Brown Sugar, smoked over Pecan Wood. By far my best batch!

Grass Fed Bone In Tenderloin. The Breakdown.

Grass Fed Shortloin.

I always start by peeling out the thirteenth rib. 

Almost done. 

At this point, you can either pull the rib off,
or cut it out. 

Starting at the Loin-side of the primal, use the spine
as a fulcrum and separate the meat from the bone in
as straight of a line as you can. Remember, get as much
meat off the bone as possible. The goal is zero-waste. 

Halfway down. 

Once you've finished cutting the meat from the spine,
start peeling back the Striploin. 

After a couple of vertebrates you can see the
'buttons' from a different perspective. 

Now that you're working your way down, you can
start seeing you progress. Keep it up! Clean those bones
and be sure not to cut into the Striploin. 

Almost done!

Now that your Striploin is separated, either wrap it up or
put it in your case (if needed). 

Chine the spine away. The trick with Bone In Tenderloins
is that you don't use the saw to cut your steaks, you cut through
the vertebrates. 

Trim away the majority of bulk fat and firm up your Tenderloin. 

Buzz off the excess bones. 

Now that your Tenderloin is taking shape, trim off the remainder
of excess fat and silver skin. At $27.99 per pound, your guests
aren't paying for any excess except for labor and Tenderloin. 

Grass Fed Beef is notoriously 'floppy' so whenever I get a special order
for these, I'll tie the roast at each vertebrate to help hold the steak together. 

After wiping the sweat off your brow, take a look at your
handy-work and be proud. This is probably one of the hardest
cuts to master.