Where each cut sits, what it does on the animal, and how it wants to be cooked. Pick a primal and the board updates.
The rib sits high on the animal where almost no load is carried, so the muscle stays fine and the fat lays down inside it rather than around it. This is where ribeye and tomahawk come from, and why forty five days of ageing pays off here more than anywhere else.
Behind the rib the muscle tightens slightly and the grain runs straighter. Strip steaks cut from here are leaner than ribeye and take a hard sear without the fat cap flaring. Thirty two days is usually the sweet spot.
The sirloin cap, picanha, carries a thick lid of fat that bastes the meat as it turns. It rewards a rotisserie or a slow turn over coals more than a flat pan.
The chest carries the animal, so it is dense with collagen. Given hours at low heat that collagen turns to gelatin and the cut becomes the most forgiving thing in the kitchen.
Lamb shoulder is the braising cut of the animal. Tied and cooked at 150C for four hours it pulls apart with a spoon and holds spice better than the leg.
The rack is the lamb equivalent of the rib primal. Frenched and seared hard, then rested, it goes from raw to served in under twenty minutes.
Air chilled birds lose water rather than absorb it, so the skin crisps instead of steaming. Spatchcock it and the whole bird cooks in thirty five minutes.
For rib and loin cuts. Dry the surface, salt it, sear the fat cap first, finish in the oven and rest ten minutes on a warm plate.
For shoulder, brisket and short rib. Collagen needs hours, not heat. Cover for the first two thirds, then open to build a crust.
For picanha and whole birds. Keep the fat cap up so it renders down through the meat, and turn every eight minutes rather than flipping once.
We break whole animals, so most requests are a knife decision rather than a supply one. Tell us the cut and the thickness and we will price it for the next allocation.
Everything ships vacuum sealed at 2C in an insulated box with two gel packs. Keep refrigerated between 0 and 4C on arrival.
Your cuts are on the board. A. Nazari is breaking down lot 0442 this morning and we will text you when the van leaves Third Street.