Meat Jargon

WHAT are you saying?

Every profession has it. That befuddling gobbledygook lingo that leaves you feeling like you've stepped into an alternate universe where no one speaks a word of English. Never fear my dears. Here's a glossary of commonly used terms in my slaughterhouse that'll have you talking like a true American Meat Head in no time. 

In no particular order, obviously. I just list them as they come to me. I'll update it as we go along. 

Feel free to add yours in the comments.

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Livestock - Animals raised for food

Fats - Refers to finished cattle ready for slaughter. Also called Fat Cattle

Market Hog - Refers to meat hogs used for cuts (ie. chops, steaks, roasts). Usually around 220 - 300 lb live weight.

Market Ready - Livestock at prime age and condition for meat.

Bull - A mature intact male for breeding

Bullock - Young intact male bovine

Steer - Castrated male bovine

Cow - A mature female bovine that has had a calf

Heifer - A young female bovine that hasn't calved yet

Boner - Thin carcass normally used for boning to make ground beef or sausages.

Breaker - Cow carcass with good enough quality to process for cuts (steaks, roasts, etc...)

Holding Pen - Pens used to hold livestock awaiting slaughter.

Knock Box - Narrow chute used to restrain livestock for stunning (aka knocking)

Kill Floor - Room in the plant where all slaughter and dressing takes place.

Stunner - Captive Bolt Stun Gun used to knock livestock

Slaughter - Killing of livestock for food

Shackle - Wrap a chain around the hind leg to hoist the knocked livestock up on the rail

Stick - To insert a very sharp knife, severing the carotid and jugular, for bleeding out quickly. Also known as exsanguination. 

Ante-Mortem - Inspecting livestock while alive; before death

Postmortem - Inspecting carcass, after death

Carcass - Slaughtered, eviscerated, trimmed and washed body of livestock

Dress or Evisceration - Removing the innards

Dump Truck - Mobile container "truck" used to catch the innards at evisceration.

Intervention - Extra precautions used to control pathogens

Hot Box - Small cooler where freshly slaughtered hot carcasses enter from the kill floor to chill for 24 hours before being moved to the hanging cooler.

Hanging Cooler - Large refrigerated cooler where carcasses are hung. Also called our Aging Cooler.

LW - Live Weight; Weight of livestock while alive.

HCW - Hot Carcass Weight; weight of the carcass just after slaughter, dress, trim & wash.

Dress Percentage - Difference between the carcass weight and the live weight. Carcass weight divided by the live weight times 100 = Dress Percentage.
660 lb carcass / 1100 lb live weight steer = 60% Dress Percentage.

Rail Weight - Referred to as a chilled carcass weight just before processing.

On The Rail - Referring to a dressed carcass hanging on the rail. You'll sometimes here me say this if I'm buying your livestock. I might buy "on the rail" or "on the hoof" (live).

Fat Cover - Refers to the amount of fat covering the outside of the carcass.

Ribbing - Splitting a beef carcass at the 12th and 13th rib for quality grading.

Aging - Process of holding beef to make it more tender and altering its flavor profile. May be Wet Aged or Dry Aged.

Wet Aged - Process of putting beef in an airtight environment (vacuum package) and storing it for X amount of days under refrigeration.

Dry Aged - Process of aging beef in open air allowing the water content to evaporate or "dry", thus concentrating the flavor while becoming more tender. This can be done in sub-primals (short loin; ribeye; etc..) or my preferred method, on the carcass. This method is also shown to be a food safety measure and is one of our "interventions" at the slaughterhouse for pathogen reduction.

Ripe - Used to refer to a dry aged beef carcass in its prime optimal stage ready to be sold or processed.

Processing - Cutting the carcass

Break or Block - Cutting (or breaking) the carcass into main primals (or blocks). 

Further Processing - Smoking, curing, etc... Value added steps in processing. 

Green Weight - Refers to the raw weight of the meat before curing. Example: The weight of a pork belly before brining, curing, and smoking for bacon.

Offal - Edible organs and by-products; heart, liver, tongue, kidneys, etc... Also called variety meats.

Meat By-Products - Refers to any part of the carcass other than meat suitable for human food. Includes offal, brains, lungs (lights), sweetbread, spleen, etc..

BRT - Short for Boneless, Rolled, and Tied. Example would be a boned lamb leg, rolled & tied would be referred to as a BRT leg.

BNLS - Short for boneless

RTE - Short for "Ready To Eat". This means it can be eaten as is without you doing anything to it.

No Roll - Refers to beef that has not been officially quality graded.

KPH - Refers to the fat around the Kidney, Pelvic, and Heart.

Additive - ANYTHING that is added to meat other than meat.

Pickle - Curing solution

Catfish - Old timer slang for the pork tenderloin cut

Cut Order - Instructions the farmer gives me on how they want their meat cut up. 

Chub - ground meat (ground beef, sausage, etc...) stuffed into a poly bag casing.

Portion Control - Value added processing step refers to cutting meat into to specific sizes or "portions". Example: cutting all steaks in 8oz portion sizes.

Seaming - "Seam it up!" Refers to skillfully separating muscles through hand knifework at the natural seams.

Potable Water - Suitable for drinking.

Leaker - Refers to a vacuum sealed package of meat that has lost its seal.

Fresh - Not cured, smoked, or cooked.

Side - Full side of a carcass; Half of the carcass

Sampling - Taking samples for pathogen testing 

White Hat - What I call the FSIS inspection staff. They wear white hats. Duh! Also referred to as "My Shadow".

Clout Suits - What I call those farther up the chain of command at FSIS.

FSIS - Food Safety Inspection Service arm of the USDA

CFR - Code of Federal Regulations; Our meat inspection regs are contained in Title 9, Parts 300-590. 

Official Establishment - A meat or poultry plant operating under USDA inspection. 

Official Mark - Our official inspection legend. AKA "Mark of Inspection" 

IPP - Inspection Program Personnel 

Boss Lady - How I refer to the EIAO (Enforcement Investigations & Analysis Officer). She says jump. You say how high ma'am. 

FLS - USDA FSIS Front Line Supervisor; Inspectors boss. Can be a real PITA if you know what I mean. :) 

IIC - Inspector In Charge; Ranking inspector in the chain of command 

DO - District Office of FSIS USDA 

NR - Noncompliance Report; Kinda like getting sent to the principal's office. We all get them. If you haven't, you haven't been in business very long. Your day is coming.

MOI - Memorandum of Interview; These totally get my goat. This is basically an "official" one sided opinion of pretty much anything the inspector feels at any given time. They document it on this MOI and you can't do much about it except huff and stomp in the other direction. I despise these and they are pretty much worthless except to intimidate the plant and beat them into submission...  I can't tell you how many times I've been "present" in an MOI when I was nowhere near. Whatever. 

FSA - Food Safety Assessment..or just painful. These are always brutal.

Custom Exempt - Meat from livestock slaughtered for personal consumption; uninspected. Also known as "NOT FOR SALE". This meat is for personal consumption of the owners, their family, and non-paying guests.

Inspected - Meat from livestock slaughtered under USDA FSIS regulation. This meat can be sold to the public at large.

HRI - Refers to foodservice industry of Hotel, Restaurants, and Institutions

Harvest - the act or process of gathering in a crop « Ok. Yeah. Totally just threw that one in there to poke the bear. :)