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A customer told me I slice roasts wrong, and now I'm second guessing my whole method
Been cutting ribeyes and roasts for about 14 years now, mostly at a shop outside Boise. This past Saturday, this older guy watches me trim a chuck roast and says, 'You're cutting against the grain wrong, son.' I laughed it off, told him I've been doing it this way since my apprenticeship. He didn't back down, said his father ran a shop in Ohio and that you always start the slice from the bone side, not the fat cap side. I've never heard that before. I always go fat cap first because it gives me a cleaner grip. But he stood there and watched me do a whole roast, then pointed out the tear marks on two slices. I looked closer and sure enough, there was a slight shred on the second and fourth cut. Nobody else has ever mentioned it. Now I'm sitting here wondering if I've been fighting the muscle structure for over a decade without noticing. Tried his way on a small sirloin this morning and it did feel different, maybe smoother? But my hand wants to go back to the old habit. Has anyone else had an old timer correct their cutting direction and actually switched? Or is this just one of those things where every shop does it different and he was just being picky? I'm half tempted to call him and ask more, but I don't have his number. Just stuck in my head now.
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stella_taylor29d ago
My Uncle Ray used to swear by sharpening his knives at 3 in the morning because he said the steel was 'more settled' then. He was a retired rail worker who only carved turkeys twice a year, but he'd stand over my dad and yell about blade angles like it was rocket science. We finally let him do it his way one Thanksgiving and the bird came out fine, just took twice as long because he kept stopping to check the kitchen clock. Point is, old guys get locked into their habits just like we do, and sometimes their way works for them and your way works for you. But that tear mark thing would bug me too, I'd probably end up watching every cut I make for the next month obsessing over it.
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