One of our neighbors warned us that sometimes you don't get your own cow back, he sent a heifer out once and got back a tough old cow. He had warned us which slaughter house to avoid..
So, I asked the butcher to see our cow in the freezer, there were several hanging for aging. also a deer. I asked him what he could tell me from the hanging cow. He gave us the right breed, age and sex...He then showed us the others hanging and pointed out an old milk cow, they are bony with not a lot of meat and he also had a Holstein. He said he knew it was Angus by the short leg compared to the others hanging it was plain for even me to see. Could tell the age and told us we butchered her about 8 months too late. Each breed matures at a different age. Angus mature to the right age for eating months earlier than other meat breeds. It was very informative...He knew his meat....LOL
I learned that if you want filet minion /sp. You couldn't get T bone as the filet was that part of the T bone that is on the one side of the cut. (it was either the T bone or porter house, that was over 20 years ago) but I am almost sure it was T bone....he asked how thick we wanted steaks and how many pounds per roast etc...
Thats when I told him I didn't want the tail, but would take the tongue for a friend...didn't want the hoofs either...:O) He also wanted to know how much fat we wanted in the hamburger....His shop was in the little town of Richmond in Michigan...he knew his business...
Sounds like a wonderful place.
I don’t yet know this butcher, but he has become the “new best friend” of our best friends. So I am going to explore that route. I think I will go down to his business after Thanksgiving and become a customer, first.
The porterhouse and the t-bone are both cut with strip loin on one side and filet (tenderloin) on the other. The porterhouse is simply from further back along the spine and contains larger (ie: wider) portions of both. Notice they both cost about the same per pound.