Butchers Wish You'd Stop Doing These 3 Things When Shopping For Meat

Ever wonder what butchers would love for you to stop doing every time you pop up asking for more meat? Tasting Table consulted with two pro butchers: Eddy Shin, proprietor of A Cut Above Butcher Shop in Santa Monica, California, and Brad Baych, author of "Primal Cuts: A Butcher's Guide to Selecting, Preparing, and Perfecting Beef," to find out what you shouldn't make your butcher do to your meat. 

When asked by the interviewer what sort of meat-shopping mistakes customers commonly make, Shin's main complaint involved a desire to sacrifice flavor for a leaner cut of meat. "Having all of the fat cut off. The fat helps generate flavor. The rendered fat also melts into the meat, providing extra moisture and tenderness. As professional butchers, we cut off the unnecessary fat and leave some fat intact. Trust your butcher," he said.

Meanwhile, when asked what sort of unnecessary or detrimental customizations shoppers make to their cuts of meat, Baych said that cooks should embrace spontaneity instead of going by the book. "Butchers ultimately want you to have a great dining experience. They know that the right kind of meat is essential to do so. It is important to be flexible with your recipe. Just because your online recipe says use an expensive filet mignon to make chili, that may not be the butcher's recommendation [sic]," he said.

Eddy Shin also noted that meat connoisseurs make another fatal customization mistake when preparing their steaks. "Pounding out or flattening high-end meat cuts that are naturally tender, i.e., filet, ribeye, striploin. These steaks are naturally tender and breaking down the muscle fibers can actually make the steak drier. A lot of moisture escapes from the damaged muscle fibers," he told Tasting Table. 

A wise tip, as both butchers definitely know what they're talking about after decades of carving up meat and teaching hundreds of customers how to get the best out of their beef. Naturally, you should also observe several other important practices, such as observing a proper rest period before serving and cutting the steak, and setting your meat out at room temperature for a half-hour to two hours, depending on the thickness of the steak. And naturally, there are several types of steak you should be tenderizing before you grill them, including top round and flat iron steaks.

Whether you're a newbie heading to the butcher shop for the first time or still looking for a truly great butcher shop, these tips from Shin and Brad Baych will keep you from making any embarrassing mistakes — or ending up with a hunk of burned, dried-up beef that would sadden the most hard-hearted of butchers.