Beyond the Ribeye: Why Whole Animal Utilization Starts With Us

Every time I sit down with a chef, a producer, or a home cook who's genuinely excited about food, the conversation eventually lands on the same handful of cuts. Ribeye. Filet. Tenderloin, or Brisket. They're delicious, they're familiar, and they sell themselves. But here's the question I keep coming back to: an animal only yields two beef tenderloins and two briskets (as we all know in Texas BBQ). So where does the rest of it go?

That question is bigger than it sounds. It sits at the heart of what we do at Global Culinary Project.

The Math Doesn't Lie

A single animal produces hundreds of pounds of meat. Only a small fraction of that is the handful of cuts everyone asks for by name. If chefs, home cooks, and food influencers only ever reach for the same four or five cuts, a producer is left with two choices: grind the rest into ground meat and sell it at a fraction of its value, or struggle to move product that never gets the spotlight it deserves.

Neither of those options is sustainable. Not for the rancher who raised the animal with care. Not for the land it grazed on. And honestly, not for the eater who's missing out on some of the most flavorful, most interesting cuts on the entire carcass.

When demand concentrates on two or three cuts, everything else quietly loses value — even when it shouldn't. A well-cooked bavette, a properly braised short rib, or a zabuton seared hot and fast can rival anything a ribeye can do. The only thing standing between those cuts and a menu is awareness.

Stagnation Is the Real Risk

I'd argue the bigger danger to our industry isn't a slow season or a tough sourcing year — it's stagnation. When chefs stop experimenting, when home cooks stop asking "what else can I do with this animal," when influencers keep pointing their audiences at the same three recipes, the whole system stalls. Producers get squeezed on the cuts nobody wants. Consumers miss out on flavor and value. The story of the animal — where it came from, how it was raised, what it can become on a plate — never gets told past the steak course.

This is exactly why continuing education matters so much to me. It's built into everything GCP does. Chefs who keep learning keep menus interesting. Home cooks who understand a whole animal cook with more confidence and less waste. Influencers who go deeper than the popular cuts build real credibility with their audiences. They give producers a wider audience for the full animal, not just the highlight reel.

Utilization Is a Sustainability Strategy

Sustainable protein production isn't just about how an animal is raised. It's about what happens after. Every part of that animal should find its highest and best use. That's a shared responsibility between producers, chefs, retailers, and the people cooking at home. Awareness and education are the tools that make it possible. The more people understand what an animal actually offers, the more of it gets used the way it deserves to be used. This makes it more economically viable for the people raising it.

This is the conversation we want to keep having. It’s not a lecture, but an invitation to get curious about the whole animal, not just the parts that are easiest to order.

The Importance of Whole Animal Cooking

Whole animal cooking is more than a trend; it's a movement. It connects us to our food in a profound way. By utilizing every part of the animal, we honor the resources that went into raising it. We also reduce waste, making our culinary practices more sustainable.

When we embrace whole animal cooking, we open up a world of flavors and textures. We discover cuts that are often overlooked. Cuts like the chuck eye, the flank, and the oxtail offer unique tastes and culinary possibilities. Each cut has its own story and potential. By exploring these options, we can create dishes that are not only delicious but also meaningful.

Save the Date: Changing the Way America Eats Beef: A Dallas Chef Event

August 20 and September 3, this conversation moves off the page and into a room in Dallas. Global Culinary Project and Booth Creek Wagyu are bringing together the region's top private, personal, and restaurant chefs for a day built around one question: what does ethical whole animal utilization actually look like on a working menu? Not a lecture. A real conversation, led by people already doing the work.

Dallas private Chef Jeana Johnson, a trailblazer in whole animal allocation cooking will lead a discussion on what it really takes to build a menu around the entire animal, not just its most photogenic cuts. She will provide participating chefs with a multi-cut tasting of Booth Creek Wagyu meat for lunch while discussing pricing and menu strategy. The day will wrap up perfectly with a Sommelier-led tasting and pairing.

This isn't a training. It's a room full of chefs, producers, and industry voices who already care about this — coming together to learn from each other, challenge how cuts get priced and positioned, and walk away with real relationships with the producers doing this work right here in Texas.

If you're a chef who wants to be part of that conversation and part of building a more sustainable beef industry in this state, we'd love to have you at the table.

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