Off the Hook

A butcher’s sweeping guide to meat cuts – and how to cook them

Appears in
Meat Manifesto
Meat Manifesto

By Andy Fenner

Published 2017

  • About
The skeletal structure of most four-legged animals is, as we’ve said, broadly the same. Let’s keep it that simple. There are four legs: two in the front, two at the back. Got it? Ok, let’s go:

Two shoulders sit above the front legs. Shoulders do most of the work on a four-legged animal and carry a lot of weight. Consider the weight of an ox’s head and you’ll understand why its shoulders are so muscled (and consequently require long, gentle cooking to break down the muscle fibres). Shoulders can be divided into the top and bottom shoulder (the section with the leg attached).