How to fill out a beef cut sheet

The cut sheet is where a carcass becomes your beef. It is also the part that intimidates every first-time buyer, because it asks you to make a dozen decisions about words you have never used. Here is every one of them, in order.

1. Steak thickness

Usually offered from half an inch to two inches. Three quarters to one inch suits most families. Thicker steaks are better over fire and harder to cook properly in a skillet; thinner steaks cook fast and overcook faster. If you grill, go an inch or more on ribeyes and strips.

2. Steaks per package

Two per pack is the default and it is the right default for a couple or a small family. Choose one per pack if you often cook for yourself; four if you feed a crowd. You cannot re-freeze thawed beef well, so pack for the meal you actually cook.

3. T-bone and porterhouse, or strip and tenderloin?

This is the one genuine either/or on the sheet. The short loin can be cut across the bone into T-bones and porterhouses, or boned out into New York strips and a whole tenderloin. You cannot have both from the same animal. T-bones are the better grilling steak and the better story; strips and tenderloin are easier to cook and easier to portion.

4. Roast size

Two to three pounds suits most households. Four to five pounds if you cook for a crowd or you like leftovers. Remember that a roast you never cook is a roast that sits in the freezer for two years — be honest about how you actually eat.

5. How much to grind

Everything that is not a steak or a roast becomes ground beef, and you can also convert roasts to ground. Most people underestimate how much ground beef they will use and overestimate how many roasts they will cook. If you are unsure, grind more.

You will also be asked about the fat ratio. 80/20 is the standard and it is standard for a reason — it browns properly and it tastes like beef. 90/10 is leaner and drier.

6. Ground beef package size

One pound packs are the most flexible. Two pound packs mean fewer packages to seal and are better if you cook big batches. A mix of both is a reasonable answer.

7. Brisket: whole or ground?

In Texas this is close to a moral question. If you smoke, take the brisket whole — it is one of the best cuts on the animal and buying it separately is expensive. If nobody in your house has ever run a smoker for twelve hours, grind it and enjoy excellent hamburger.

8. Ribs

Short ribs and back ribs are worth taking if you braise or smoke. If not, that meat goes into the grind. Dino ribs — long bone-in short ribs — are becoming the fashionable ask; say so if you want them.

9. Stew meat and cube steak

Both come out of cuts that would otherwise be roasts or grind. Take a few packs of stew meat if you make chili and soup. Cube steak is tenderized round — take it if chicken fried steak is on your table, skip it if it is not.

10. Bones, fat and organs

• Soup and marrow bones — take them if you make stock. They are heavy and bulky, so take some, not all.
• Suet and fat — take it if you render tallow. Otherwise skip.
• Liver, heart, tongue, oxtail — genuinely good if you eat them. Freezer space if you don't.

Three rules that save people from themselves

1. Cut for the way you cook now, not the way you intend to cook after you own a freezer full of beef.
2. When in doubt, grind it. Nobody has ever regretted extra ground beef.
3. Write down what you chose. Next time you will want to change one or two things, and you will not remember which.

Our beef is processed at American Butchery in Mineral Wells. When you reserve an animal we will get you their sheet and walk you through it.