Figure 59.—Skinning the head.
Splitting the Carcass
Split the warm, dressed carcass into halves. This allows for free circulation of air around the halves, to get a quicker chill. Also, a dressed beef carcass is heavier and harder to handle if it is not split.
To split the carcass, first saw through the sacral vertebrae or tail region from the inside ([fig. 60]). As soon as you have made the cut to the rise of the pelvic arch, saw from the outside. To make sawing through the center of the vertebrae easier, mark the correct line you wish to take down the backbone with a knife. Mark over the top of the bony spinal processes, which can be easily located with the fingers ([fig. 61]). Make the split through the loin and rib. In the chuck region, lower the handle of the saw to make sawing easier ([fig. 62]). If the split gets off center, continue through to the next vertebra and realign the saw.
PN-4606
Figure 60.—Splitting the sacral vertebrae.
