Not much, believe me... today's "meatcutters" at best know how to take a piece out of the box, remove the COV and process that piece, with no idea of what a whole carcass of beef or pork or lamb looks like, how to break it down, how the skeletal configuration is, what kind of conformity the carcass had, the grading processes and indicators, and so on. (Gawd I hate to say this, but it's true...) ... BACK IN MY DAY.... you had to know all that and more to become a Journeyman Meatcutter - it took 2 years of studying and testing through the old Amalgamated MeatCutters Union to earn that designation, including oral, written and hands-on testing, creating and developing your own manual of hundreds of market cutting tests, knowing how to lift, carry, hang and break down all carcass products (now it's all broken down for you into subprimals and COV'd), how to not only know how to cut and merchandise each cut but how to prepare the cut along with the sides 3 different ways for every single cut you did (back when there was fresh meat counters, you actually had to wait on each customer and not just dish out the product but SELL it by describing how to cook it along with sides to "..sell the sizzle, not the steak.." !).
Oh well, so much for progress! Turning a craft into stab'n'slabbers who don't know a knuckle joint from their knucklehead! lol!
Pops §§