The last three years have made me think hard about where our food comes from. The easiest way to know for sure is to buy it from the source. In this vain, a couple years ago I looked into buying a Steer. It seems like a win-win situation; support local ranchers and butchers and get high quality beef. The problem is a full Steer is about 600 pounds of meat and I was discouraged by the challenge of dealing with this much beef. Luckily my  friend Bryan [1], undaunted by this challenge, recently organized a group of us to collectively buy a Steer. And so the Beef Syndicate was formed.

When you buy a Steer, you actually, well, buy a Steer. Not the meat from the Steer, but the living, breathing Steer. This is called buying “pounds on the hoof.” Our Steer was 1,300 pounds on the hoof. Luckily I didn’t have time to meet the Steer and name him or we would have ended up with a Steer in our backyard as a (most undesirable and expensive) pet. Once you buy your Steer, you pay somebody to slaughter it, another person to prepare it, and a butcher to…errr…butcher it. Our butcher took input from Bry on how it should be prepared [2] and last week shipped us 550 lbs of beef. Here is a breakdown of the results:

The classic part of this entire process, was not actually buying the Steer. It was the process Bryan put together to divide the cuts amongst the Syndicate. Here is an exert from one of the emails Bryan sent to the group:

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You will get a proportion of ground, neck and stew in proportion with the entire steer — so 28.45% of your weight will be ground, 18.70% will be neck, and 9.59% will be stew. For the remaining 79 cuts, we will run a draft. (Or, more accurately, we will write software that will run a draft.) Your draft picks will consist of an ordered list of cuts, and each round of the draft will work this way:

• We will iterate through the draft in the predefined draft order (the draft order is the order in which the Syndicate was formed; see below).
• When it is your turn, we will go down your list from top to bottom; if a cut on your list is available, you will be allotted the heaviest available of that cut that doesn’t put you over your weight limit.
• If all available of that cut would put you over your weight limit, or if there is none of that cut available, it will be removed from your list of picks.
• When a cut is allotted to you, that pick will be removed from your list of picks.
• If your list is empty, you will be allotted the heaviest available of all cuts that doesn’t put you over your weight limit (which is your desired weight times the ratio of non-ground/non-stew/non-neck).

A given cut may appear on your list as many times as you’d like; this allows you to potentially obtain more than one of a particular cut.

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Yes, that is right, we held a beef cut draft. Still unclear on how it will work? No worries, the email also contained a very thorough FAQ:

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Q: What is the minimum weight that I must purchase?
A: Fifteen pounds. But because this would include nearly nine pounds of
ground, stew, and neck, you would get only a very small number of cuts
if you were to buy just fifteen pounds. We recommend purchasing at
least thirty pounds to assure a number of good cuts.

Q: What is the maximum weight that I can purchase?
A: There is no maximum amount per se. The weight you provide is only a
maximum, not a guarantee, and you might not get your full weight.
(That said, unless you’re looking for a several hundred pounds,
you probably will get your full weight.)

Q: So how much meat _am_ I guaranteed?
A: You are guaranteed at least 35 pounds, should you desire it.

Q: And how much do I pay for?
A: Only the meat that you are allotted.

Q: What if the animal is oversubscribed?
A: If it’s oversubscribed, we will resolve the oversubscription in
an equitable way (that is, we’ll resolve that once the animal is
indeed oversubscribed).

Q: So what weight should I put down if I want as much beef as I can
lay my carnivorous paws on?
A: That would be the full weight of the steer, 558 pounds.

Q: Am I obligated to purchase anything? Can I still opt out?
A: No, you are not obligated, and yes, you can opt out. And we promise
not to tell you how unbelievable good grass-fed, grain-finished,
dry-aged beef is. ;)

Q: I’m hungry _right_ _now_, and all of this talk is just making me
hungrier. Can I get my hands on any of this glorious grass-fed
before Saturday?
A: Yes. If you know you’re in, you can take some of your stew, neck,
or ground before we run the draft on Sunday. Just let us know.

Q: How long can I store my beef with you?
A: As long as you’d like. Because freezer space was an issue for many
of us (and because several of us have somehow ended up in long-term
relationships with vegetarians who bridle at the notion of a freezer
filled with beef), we decided to buy enough freezer for everyone.

Q: Where are you, anyway?
A: We’re located at 1st and Mission in the City.

Q: Like, at the bus terminal?
A: No, we’re in the Examiner building. And the freezer is located
in our air conditioned lab. Don’t worry; your beef is safe.

Q: In what increments must I purchase weight?
A: You can purchase however much weight you want, provided it’s greater
than or equal to fifteen pounds.

Q: I don’t care what I get. Can I just do nothing?
A: You must respond with the weight to purchase. If you do nothing else,
in each of your rounds of the draft you will be assigned the heaviest
of all available cuts. As a practical matter, this means that you
will end up with a ton of chuck roast. This isn’t a bad thing, but
unless you _really_ don’t care what you get, you should name your cuts.

Q: I really want variety; what should my draft picks be?
A: If you want variety, you should name each cut at least once. This
will essentially assure that you will not get two of any one cut.

Q: What do you mean “essentially”?
A: It means that it’s mathematically possible, but not likely, that
you’ll end up with two of one cut.

Q: I really love [name of cut], and I want as many of these as possible;
what should my draft picks be?
A: Just load up your picks with that cut.

Q: How many draft picks can I have?
A: As many as you’d like — and we recommend that your list has about
8-10 cuts on it to assure that you only get cuts that you drafted.
The more weight you’re buying, the deeper you’ll go into the draft –
and therefore the more picks you should have.

Q: A buddy of mine wants to join the Syndicate. Can he/she?
A: If, after midnight on Saturday night, there remains unsold weight,
the Syndicate will be opened to all comers on a first-come, first-serve
basis. As soon as all weight is sold, the draft will automatically
begin.

Q: WTF is [name of cut]?!
A: Google it; many of the cuts have multiple names. Pretty soon, you’ll
find that you can name all the beef primals — a finding that you will
likely greet with some combination of both pride and shame.

Q: Okay, I google’d it, but I still don’t understand what “London Broil”
actually is.
A: Nor do we. Probably top round, but perhaps flank (and perhaps both).
The term “London Broil” is infamously vague, and it technically isn’t
even a cut anyway (it’s a very basic way of preparing flank). We’ll
let you know if/when we find out what our London Broil actually is…

Q: Where the hell is [name of favorite missing steak or cut]?
A: It’s in another cut. For example, our T-bone has been divided between
filet steak and strip loin, and our rib-eye is in the standing rib
roast. In some cases (the plate, much of the brisket and flank),
it’s in the ground.

Q: What do I do with neck bones?
A: The neck bones are quite meaty, and it appears that they will
stew/braise nicely.

Q: And is there a simpler way of doing all this?
A: Perhaps, but haven’t you always wanted to draft your favorite cuts
of beef? ;)

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The Steer Freezer

Bry loads up our first pick-up (with Tobin’s help)

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[1] Bryan was recently promoted to a Distinguished Engineer at Sun. This is a huge honor. He is being rather modest about the whole thing, so the next time you see him be sure to congratulate him loudly and buy him a few drinks.

[2] Those of you who don’t know Bryan will ask “how did he know how it should be cut?” Those of you who know Bryan will not be surprised he did.