Yield – are you giving your meat and your budget a roasting?

By understanding yield, profits and the number of satisfied customers will soar

Yield – namely the amount of cooked product produced (and ‘used’) from the uncooked product – can primarily be affected by two things, loss of weight during cooking and wastage in carving and serving. Traditionally, there is a standard formula for cooking meat based on minutes per kilogramme or alternatively wait patiently, thermometer in hand. Both ways will cook your meat but also eat into potential profitability. The reason for this is that not all meat is the same.

Quality Meat Scotland recommends this recipe, that ensures very moist, flavour-rich meat. But here are the facts:

  • 30–50% weight can be lost at the traditional 200°C or above that has always been deemed standard
  • the lower roasting temperature of 130°C offers a weight loss of just 14–25%

The reason meat loses so much moisture at 200°C or above is simple. Meat can violently contract at high temperatures due to the denaturisation of the fibres. This action squeezes the meat and causes moisture to be lost.

By cooking meat more gently, such violent reactions do not occur and so more moisture is maintained in the meat and more ‘weight’ remains.

Cook lower and longer for larger yield!

The following examples will demonstrate the differences:

The effects of cooking temperature

Roasting Beef Topside to 57°C

Different joints will have a different yield depending on cooking method and temperature

Roasting Sirloin of Beef to 57°C

The graph shows a slight increase in the yield of roasted sirloin which is cooked in a traditional oven rather than steam roasting

Source: Meat and Livestock Commission

Work out your profits

Are your specifications providing the yield you need?

Roasting Scotch Beef and Scotch Lamb joints at lower temperatures ensures succulence and flavour. This can also save you money, thanks to significant improvement in yield.

Correct management and preparation of your meat delivers excellent food for your customers, while also keeping you within budget.

The following example uses a sample price. Substitute your own actual figures to calculate the savings you can achieve.

 

Sirloin example

A 5kg piece of raw sirloin is £18.00* per kg, making our joint £90.00. If this is prepared using the traditional cooking method i.e. 200°C, we can expect a loss of between 30% and 50% to the yield, i.e. we lose approximately 2kg so our cooked joint comes in at 3kg!!

If we serve our customers with a portion size of 150g, we can expect to get 20 portions from our 3kg of cooked sirloin.

Using the recommended low cooking method, the yield loss is only 21.5%, so we lose approximately 1kg during cooking and so our finished joint weighs approximately 4kg. So, if we have 150g portions, we can expect to serve nearly 27 customers from our 4kg cooked sirloin. That’s 7 more portions!!

Let’s say we make a £2.00 gross profit per portion on the sirloin meal. In this case, the extra 7 portions give you £14.00 extra to your bottom line

Try it yourself using our Yield Calculator

NOTE: The values for moisture loss are approximate and will differ with cut, oven type and ‘doneness’

*Prices are purely for this exercise

How much do I need to order?

This does depend on a number of things – cut, ‘doneness’ – but the following calculation for 250 covers of sirloin will get you off to a good start:

250 covers, 150g cooked meat each

 

37.5kg

Add 22%* to get the yield for cooked meat

+

8.25kg

Add 5% for error/end slices

+

1.875kg

Uncooked weight

=

47.625kg

* 22% for rare, 26% for medium, 33% for well done

Or use the formula:

(a x b x 1.27) ÷ 1000 = uncooked weight needed (kg)

where a = number of covers; b = portion size in grams

eg. (250 x 150 x 1.27) ÷ 1000 = 47.625kg

Carving out profit

Great yield As well as providing unsurpassed flavour, Scotch Beef and Scotch Lamb deliver great yields and profits

Yield is a great way to instantly improve and sustain a good cash Gross Profit (GP) on your carvery. In addition, correct carving techniques will not only look professional, but also reduce carvery waiting time and most importantly, minimise wastage. Quality Meat Scotland suggests you ensure that:

  • The meat that is to be used on a carvery is specified correctly
  • An even layer of fat over the meat’s surface is present to help heat transference and flavouring during cooking
  • Trim levels are good – no bone (if you choose this), cartilage or gristle
  • The joint is ‘regular’, i.e. the same approximate dimensions throughout to facilitate even cooking
  • The joint is about 20cm in length (approximately 8”)
  • You use an appropriate sized tray to cook the meat – an overly cramped environment will affect cooking times
  • The correct tools are to hand – butchers’ twine or roasting bands; a thermometer probe; a heavy board to carve on
  • Your knife is sharp (and stays sharp)
  • The meat is positioned for carving so it can be cut across the grain of fibres

A note on queue management

It’s Sunday lunchtime, the restaurant is filling up nicely with customers, it’s going to be a profitable day. With good planning, your meat will be cooked to perfection, be it rare or well done. Medium and medium rare are easier to carve but either way, let your meat rest for 10-15 minutes prior to carving. Meat juices offer an excellent indication of the ‘doneness’:

  • Rare – juices are red (30°C-51°C)
  • Medium rare – juices are light red (57°C-63°C)
  • Medium – juices are pink (63°C-68°C)
  • Well done – no released juices (77°C or above)

These diagrams give a more illustrative step-by-step account of carving both Scotch Beef and Scotch Lamb.

Back to top