TIL a 70 year old butcher told me why my steaks were tough last Saturday

I was at a farmer's market and this old timer saw me buying a chuck roast and just shook his head. He said I was cutting against the grain wrong and showed me on his own cutting block how the muscle fibers run. Has anyone else gotten a random unsolicited lesson from an old pro that actually changed how you work?

2 comments

2 Comments

benflores24d agoMost Upvoted

That old timer probably knew more in his pinky than most chefs learn in a lifetime.

parker_jones5024d ago

I read somewhere that cutting with the grain basically makes the meat fight back the whole time you're chewing. @benflores is right that old timers like that have forgotten more than most of us will ever know about cooking. That one tip about following the muscle fibers really stuck with me and my steaks have been way better since.