A butchers tale....

[HillBill]

Bit of a round about story.....

A couple of years ago, i asked my dad a couple of questions... He's a butcher, has been from leaving school, to retirement. He wanted to be a carpenter, but the opportunity didn't present itself at the time. So he became a butchers apprentice, and stuck with it his entire life. (respect)

I'm a big fan of a lamb shoulder joint. I love the fatty, tender meat, smothered in mint sauce... nom nom.

So i asked him... "Dad, whats the equivalent cut of Beef?" The slow cooked fatty bit of beef from the same area the lamb shoulder comes from? Cue the best Santa impression you've ever heard.... Ho ho ho...(almost) "That's a fore quarter of beef" he says....

Naturally confused, and imagining the entire front side quarter of a cow, I posed the question... 'Say what?, I just want the same shoulder cut as you get from Lamb'

Turns out, It's a chuck roast... anyone ever seen a chuck roast in the shops? I haven't. We buy it as braising steak. Which i love. Eat it most weeks. No worries... American name apparently,,,

2nd question, which my Dad completely understood, but no butcher round here does.... Morrisons started selling Beef Short Rib several years ago....Bought some, needs 6 hours slow braise to cook properly. Took some to him... said, Dad, whats this? Told him it was called Short Rib... He looks at it, wrinkled his nose and says... "that's Jacobs ladder that is" (never heard of it) "We used to take that for the dogs to eat".

Hmm. But theyre selling it in Morrisons for £6 a kilo. (Dad worked there as head butcher for 30 years of his 50 year career) I swear i've never seen him turn as purple as that day, even his big ginger tash darkened, still dont think it's recovered..

So, i went to the local farm shop, safe in the knowledge a proper butcher would be aware of such a travesty. They were and they weren't. They sold short rib, much cheaper than Morrisons. But they were also much larger.... So i bought some. Took it home, slow braised it for hours... was horrible. Tough, chewy, went to the dog. Told Dad, went and bought another, took it to him... Was livid.... " Thats not Jacobs Ladder for gods sake" So i goes back to farm shop, asked them if their short rib was Jacobs ladder... blank looks... poor guys had never heard of it. They'd missed the cut by over a foot of rib cage..

What went wrong? A loss of old school knowledge, Americanisms creeping in? Anyone heard of a jacobs ladder? (i hadn't)



A proper short rib is a lovely cut of meat. Up there with the best

 

[Keith_Beef]

I've never heard of Jacob's Ladder cut before, either. Plenty of info on teh intarwebs suggests that it's an American term.

But then it could also be an English term that's fallen out of widespread usage and only retained in certain regions.

I've found a fairly precise definition.

The Beef Jacobs Ladders are the meaty ribs between the Chuck & Brisket, Not the ribs cut from the plate flank. The 6 bone Jacobs Ladders are from Ribs 2-7 on the rib cage. They are cut from Grass Fed Irish Beef & have the distinctive fat marbling through the meat. The Jacobs Ladders are meant for low & slow cooking.

So I'll see if I can find an equivalent cut in French butchery.

 

[HillBill]

I've never heard of Jacob's Ladder cut before, either. Plenty of info on teh intarwebs suggests that it's an American term.

But then it could also be an English term that's fallen out of widespread usage and only retained in certain regions.

I've found a fairly precise definition.



So I'll see if I can find an equivalent cut in French butchery.

My dad is an old school (started at 14, he's 72 now) butcher. He'd never heard of a short rib lol. But yeah, he knows it as a part of the Jacobs ladder.

I'd be very interested if you could find the equivalent French term. Huge fan of French food and cooking techniques.

 

[matarius777]

Interesting! I’ll have a look in my old copy of Mrs Beeton tonight, it’s an edition printed just after WW2, has colour plates showing all the different cuts of meat for beef, lamb etc.

 

[Keith_Beef]

My dad is an old school (started at 14, he's 72 now) butcher. He'd never heard of a short rib lol. But yeah, he knows it as a part of the Jacobs ladder.

I'd be very interested if you could find the equivalent French term. Huge fan of French food and cooking techniques.

I lost a quote long and detailed answer and can't be arsed to type it all again.

Suffice it to say that I've downloaded two manuals on bovine butchery, respectively 32 and 300-odd pages long... Even skipping over the health and safety and the other quarters of the carcass, it might take me some time to find an equivalent.

Edit to add, my books about cooking rarely go into anatomical details about where different cuts of meat come from on the carcass, and usually just refer to the name of the cut and what kind of cooking it is suited to. And my reprints of very early cooking (such as The Vivendier of around 1450 and Le Ménagier de Paris of around 1393) are really aimed at expert cooks who don't need precise instructions, neither for quantities nor temperatures not length of time.