The moment I realized I'd been cutting chuck rolls all wrong for 10 years

I had this big order for chuck steaks last week and my wrist was killing me after just a few cuts. My buddy Jake, who's been at this longer than me, watched for a second and said 'you're fighting the grain, man, not following it.' He showed me how to angle the blade with the muscle fibers instead of across them, and the knife just glided through like butter. Made me wonder how much time I've wasted muscling through cuts the wrong way. Anybody else have a moment where a simple tweak to your technique made a huge difference?

3 comments

3 Comments

emma964d ago

Practice makes permanent, not perfect, right? Jake's tip sounds like one of those game changers that makes you kick yourself for all the years of forcing it instead of working smarter.

sarahpark4d ago

Yeah, 'working smarter' is the real takeaway there. It's wild how much time we waste grinding the wrong way just because that's how we were taught.

miles_robinson204d ago

Man, I feel that so hard. The phrase "practice makes permanent, not perfect" hits different when you realize you've been cementing bad habits for years. @emma96 nailed it with that one. It's like you think you're being efficient but really your body is just paying the price for your stubbornness. I had a similar moment with sharpening stones about five years back where I realized I was dragging the blade at the wrong angle the whole time and just wearing my knives down unevenly. Makes you wonder how many other little things we do on autopilot that are just secretly making life harder.