Friday, December 6, 2013

What is in a quarter?

For anyone new to ordering meat in bulk it can be intimidating and confusing!  I am going to lay out for you what you can expect to find in your quarter of beef.

When ordering a quarter or side you have the power to choose! You are limited by the cuts and quantities that exist on the animal, but you can choose what cuts you want as steaks, roasts, ground beef or other cuts and how large you would like those cuts.  For example you can get your round as roasts, steaks, stew meat or ground into 1, 1 1/2, or 2# packages.  You can have your T-bone and Porterhouse steaks cut to your desired thickness (but you cant have the whole quarter in T-bones...sorry)!

For a list of the questions you can expect from the butcher when placing your cutting order click here. We also have a chart to show you where the different cuts come from on the animal.
Here are some beef cuts you might find in your quarter or sampler box

We recently ordered a quarter that had a 215# hanging weight the contents of the quarter were:

  • 40# of Hamburger
  • 3# of Ground Beef Patties
  • 4 Sirloin Steaks
  • 6 Chuck Roasts
  • 4 Porterhouse Steaks
  • 6 T-bone Steaks
  • 9 Ribeye Steaks
  • 4 Sirloin Tip Steaks
  • 1 Round Roast
  • 1 Arm Roast
  • 1 Rolled Rump Roast
  • 1 package of Beef Short Ribs
  • 2 packages of Stew Meat
  • 2 packages of All Beef Skinless Wieners
  • soup bones & liver
The size of your quarter will vary based on the size of the animal.  This is a relatively large quarter. 

I hope this helps take the mystery out of ordering beef for your family!  

Have a great day! 

Jen