Assistance required! Why are our briskets/ribs so small!?

[infernooo]

Hi Folks,

I have a small favour to ask... as you may or may not know, barbecuing (in the low and slow sense) is almost completely unheard of here in OZ land (Australia). As such, many of the cuts you guys use either have completely different names or those cuts are used for other products (e.g. pet mince) or are simply not available as different parts of the cut are attached to other cuts (e.g. part of the brisket may be used in rib roasts, part may be used in flank steak etc), thus proving extremely difficult to find even after 3 years of searching.

I am most concerned with brisket and pork ribs.

Let me say firstly that I have found a source for full size briskets (15-20lb), BUT they are wholesale, export grade wagyu and cost US$20/kg = US$10 / lb, so a 20lb packer costs me USS200 !

The closest non-export non-wagyu I have found is a whole packer kosher brisket, but unfortunately these weigh about 3kg TOTAL (6lb) and is even more expensive - US$20/lb ! So for a measly 6lb, I am paying $120. OBviously I go with the wagyus when I simply have to have brisket as the kosher ones are too small and prohibitively expensive.

I have found packers elsewhere, but they are TINY, most around the 2kg (5lb) mark.

As for pork, our spare ribs are tiny (think of the imported danish ribs that give you guys nightmares) and we don't break them into the different types either (e.g. baby back and spare ribs) because they are so small - 450g (1lb) if we are LUCKY for a "large" rack.

So from what I can tell, we must be slaughtering our animals at a much younger age or not raising them to be as heavy or using different breeds.

So here is my small favour that I am asking... so that I Can work more closely with some butchers and have more information to give them, could I please ask the following?

The next time you are purchasing a big (15-20lb) whole packer brisket, please try and find out:
1.) The approximate size of the cows that the briskets come off - i.e. the steers weight
2.) The approximate age of the cows that the briskets come off

Also, the next time you are purchasing some pork ribs (be they baby backs or spare ribs), could you please ask:
1.) The approximate size of the pigs that the briskets come off - i.e. the steers weight
2.) The approximate age of the pigs that the briskets come off
3.) If they are male or female

If as many people could find out (so I can get a good average from different areas/suppliers), I would REALLY appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

[pops6927]

Most steers in the US are slaughtered at 2 yrs after pen-fattening. The ave. weight of the steer after slaughter is 650-800 lbs., live weight is around 1000-1200 lbs, depends on the breed, can go higher. Quarter weights are around 180-200lbs. per forequarter and 120-150 lbs. per hindquarter. (picked up thousands of them off the truck floor, carried across the back room and hung on rail hooks - my back can attest to those quarter weights, believe me!).

Hog ages are around 10-12 months average, weight at slaughter is about 250-275 lbs. or so, dressed weight after slaughter is 200-230 lbs., half-hogs 100-120 lbs.

 

[thomasyoung]

Hello Infernooo,
Even in the US you will find that in different parts of the US they have completely different names or those cuts that are used. Sometimes a grocery chain will want to call their product by a different way.

In your question about the full size briskets (15-20lb) and finding them to be around the weighs around 3kg TOTAL (6lb). I don't know without seeing them. However I believe what you are getting is the brisket that has the Point and part of the bottom layer taken off. Leaving you with what is called (At least what we called them here) the "Flat" Beef Brisket.

Your question "The approximate age of the cows that the briskets come off". Cattle that are full grown are processed as Beef. Babies less then a year old are considered and called Veal.

Your question about pork ribs I believe all comes down as to how they are trimmed.
The pigs are brought to the processing plants and are full grown. Like I said I belive it’s how they the places where you buy your ribs are trimmed and sold. I made a image of a Whole rack of ribs being made into Baby back ribs.

As far as the pork being male or female that’s a different story and one that you are not asking now.


Hope that this helps you!

Good Luck,
Thomas

 

[infernooo]

Hi Thomas,

Thank you for the reply, I am quite familiar with the US terminology, and the 6lb briskets I am talking about are not just flats, they do have the point intact - as I said, they are just very small :-(.

As for the pork, I know about the various cuts, and even when I have asked for a FULL rack (everything from the backbone to the sternum, i.e. what should weigh more than your spare ribs and baby backs combined), it has weighed about the same as a US sized slab of spare ribs. Once again this is why I am thinking it may just be a smaller beast that they have come from.

 

[pops6927]

Forgot to add that hogs for commercial slaughter are normally sows; because of a much stronger flavor, boars are used for processed products (aka testosterone). I've cut up many boars and they all have had a lot stronger odor and flavor, to the point of being repugnant, esp. in the kidney/loin internal fat.

Pops §§

 

[shooterrick]

Ok I will try and make some sense of this for you.
Beef: We raised our own. They were brought into a feed lot at about 800 lbs on the hoof and fed out to about 1300 lbs on the hoof and if Angus about 1100 lbs and if Holstein about 1500 lbs. The last 90-120 days fed grain and mollasses only. These are all young animals not free ranged beef and as far as the buzz about grass fed beef, all beef is grass fed some just not artificial additives and such. It is the last 90-120 days that makes the difference.

Hogs: 50 lbsers bought and fed out on clean vegetable table scraps and grain. Butchered at about 225-250 lbs. Young animals also. Sows only!

Hope this helps.

 

[pops6927]

ShooterRick,
I've seen your beef and WOW is it good lookin', I'm sure it tastes as good too - if only we had 'smellavision' and tasteavision' thru the internet! How's the Smokin' Butts business going? Hope you're having a busy summer!

Pops §§

 

[infernooo]

Thank you very much for that pops!

shooterrick: Appreciate the information, thanks buddy! :-)

I spoke to a butcher today (a couple in fact), and I can only shake my head...

They said that the carcasses they are getting are around 180kg (400lb), and he showed me the brisket he had cut from it for me... it was a pathetic mini version of the usual US packer I see you guys cooking. I showed him some photos of the 15 pounders that you guys regularly smoke and he said if I wanted something that big, it would have to come off a 400kg (880 lb carcass) animal, and I should "go out west to a crappy butcher" to find that "Crappy quality" meat as the larger cows are "much worse quality" (the western suburbs in my state/country are considered "less affluent", hence the cheap shots at their meat quality from the butcher).

 

[shooterrick]

Dead weight 400 lbs a baby! It the size is put on correctly you will have wonderfull tender and flavorfull beef at 700 lbs. LMAO. YOur butcher is a comedian.

 

[pops6927]

That's a heiferette!

 

[jspryor]

Well, low and slow cannot be too foreign of a concept for Aussie's. Some Aussie team (Aussom Aussie Australian BBQ Co) came to the Mid-America Ribfest this weekend and took home the crown.

http://www.omaha.com/article/2009071...MENT/707169856

 

[infernooo]

jspryor: Actually they are a USA based team: http://www.aussomaussie.com/