Carving Magic (1959)

[Music] we would have had you over sooner but Joe's been so busy at the studio lately but all he does every night is come home and fall into bed yeah and probably making so much money he needs a truck to get it to the bank by the way where did he disappear to he's in the kitchen he'll be right in Al take your usual place in Gloria Mary it's beautiful the table I mean uh what is this an anniversary of or something thank you no no anniversary but it is a special occasion you see Joe has learned Mary don't tell him a thing they'll find out for themselves all right everybody ready no wait a minute some kind of a gag now it's not an anniversary but it is a special occasion now we have to find out for ourselves I got it you're going to try carving a turkey again oh now hold everything will you Joel now don't start carving that beautiful turkey yet please I got to go get my camera you know I always swore if we had pictures of you the last time you tried carving a turkey we'd have made a mint selling them for a TV comedy oh now Joe please don't get hurt I wouldn't hurt you for the world you know that Joe but honest watching you car of [Laughter] his I just decided to give you a special treat now I was going to let you watch from the other end of the table but for you seeing as how you're my very special friend and because you get such a kick out of watching you carve I'm going to give you a special performance now would you step right over here please I want you to watch very close Gloria Mary [Music] [Music] pap [Music] [Music] [Music] would you mind going to your place Al or are you going to stand there staring all night put how did you where did you learn a carve like that you've been taking lessons or something from Martha Logan Martha Logan you mean the home economist for Swift oh no wonder she's an authority on meet but how did you get to meet her we're making a TV film for them over at the studio and the minute I saw what it was all about I made up my mind to really learn all about carving and during camera rehearsals I got a chance to talk to her excuse me Miss Logan say tell me you think a guy like me can learn how to carve anything like you do of course and why not it's not magic you know well it sure looks like it the way you do it and to learn how to do it with all these different Meats it's not nearly as complicated as you might think really all you have to learn is a few different methods here I'll show you what I mean bread out on the table here are more than 20 different cups of meat if you include the turkey and chicken now you notice that we have them grouped if you learn to carve any one piece in each group you can handle everything else in that group you watch during rehearsals and you'll see what I mean for instance leg of lamb whole ham and the picnic shoulder are carved exactly alike you'll see how most of these are carved during camera rehearsals and when we photograph them the only real difference between carving a whole ham and carving either the butt or shank end Cuts is that these are placed with a cut surf down the actual cutting is the same this group includes all stakes and the only thing to remember about Stakes is that when all bone is removed care should be taken to cut each muscle into equal pieces so everyone will get a serving from each section for they vary in tenderness and for these boneless cuts of meat just make sure that all carving is done at right angles of the meat grain that way all servings are more tender and tasty any pot roast cut is the same once the bones are removed the only thing to remember is that all cutting should be across the grain or fibers of the meat loin of pork and lamb ribs sometimes called a rack of lamb are carved exactly the same by cutting between the ribs the standing rib roast is done differently but easily if you turn it onto the cut surface with the rib bones to the left then carve horizontally and of course the best possible example of this idea of learning to carve by Meat groups is turkey and Chicken all posty for that matter do you see how it works well it sure sounds easy the way you tell it but turkey they give you trouble trouble I'll never forget the one I tried to car for our first Thanksgiving dinner a kid could have done better pulling it apart with his hand well you just watch what I do during rehearsals and when we make the pictures you'll learn well I hope so one of the first shots they made was on carving a leg of lamp do you know that carving a leg of lamb is exactly the same as carving a whole hand the first step is to cut off three or four slices from the side opposite the cushion [Music] this can be located by the H bone the flat bone in the butt end which Slants towards this meaty section now cutting off these slices makes a flat surface for the roast to stand on while you're carving now with the roast standing upright you make sure the shank is to your right if you're right-handed a left-handed Carver would put it the other way then you make a series of perpendicular Cuts right down to the bone using firm strokes with a sharp knife and when you've got as many slices as you want you lay your carving knife flat and cut along the leg bone at the bottom of your slices you end up with a series of horseshoe shaped slices just as neat and pretty as you could want and this method of carving is the same for ham and lamb for roast fresh ham and roast leg ail and once you've learned to carve one you've learned how to carve everything in the group I guess we all learned something making that movie because Martha Logan even had to show the director how the different cuts went so he could figure his camera angles in carving a ham butt piece you place the half ham upright with the cut surface down make sure the bone end and the wedge shaped bone is on your left then slice parallel to the platter to the round bone I cut several slices and then make a vertical cut close to the round bone to free the slices well really it's the same as you do when you carve a whole hand except that you're slicing horizontally instead of vertically the shank piece is practically the same except that it's easier to cut the meaty cushion free from the bone first then slice it into as many servings as you want the next group she showed us how to carve were the loin roasts a roast loin of pork in this case a carving is simply a matter of cutting between the ribs and serving the cha the starving is easy if you have the backbone cut free when you buy the roast you leave the backbone in place for roasting then remove it before putting the roast in the platter lamb ribs are roasted and carved the same way and a standing rib roast of beef also is the same except you make your Cuts horizontally instead of vertically after that she showed us how to carve a pter you know I think this part about steaks is just about the most interest part of it all you know up until now I never thought about Stakes as being part of carving I always thought youd just cut it I know that's what most people think here but if you remember what I just showed you always cut the bone out first with a short pointed knife then holding the knife at an angle cut The Tender Loin that's the smaller piece into as many slices as there are people to be served then cut the sterin strip and the flank piece into the same number of slices that way all your servings will be the same everyone will be served equal amounts of each part of the steak if you use the same principle for all steaks you'll find that people will really enjoy having steak at your house boy is my wife going to be happy when she finds out I'm learning out of car what's next Miss Logan bone in pot roast we're going to demonstrate how to carve a blade bone pot roast first with a blade bone roast the first step is to remove the bone both the blade bone and the small piece of backbone the next step is to separate the various muscles or sections of meat where they divide naturally with the muscle separated it's easy to see which way the grain runs need section and it's important to carve across the grain turning this section if necessary to make it easy to get nice even cross grain [Music] slices but since the p along the backbone is the most tender always make sure everyone gets an equal portion of it carving round bone pot roast is about the same except that you don't have to remove the one round bone out in the kitchen before you serve it so that's how it is now my boy you're now looking at an expert Carver you mean you can carve all those different Meats the way you carv that turkey tonight just about well um would it be too much trouble I mean would you teach me H I sure will but right now I can even do better how do you mean well I figured you'd want to learn and since Mary doesn't keep our refrigerator stocked with all those steaks and roasts for you to practice on I borrowed a print of the movie we made and it shows everything I've been talking about like to see it hey well good you finish your coffee and I'll get the projector okay all set now everybody ready color light please Mary well here we [Music] go for centuries the carving of meat has been a fine art which has been practiced largely by highly trained chefs and a few husbands who have had enough interest and patience to learn the skills but now Martha Logan eminent home economist has devised a simple method of grouping the most common Meats a method that makes it easy for anyone to learn to carve this method of grouping the various meat cuts is really quite simple all it is required is an understanding of the similarity between different cuts of meats for instance people seldom think of ham and leg of lamb as being anything alike yet methods for carving the identical here I'll show you the first thing you do is to locate the wedge shaped bone called the H bone here it is on the leg of lamb pointing toward the section from which the big horseshoe shaped slices are cut and here is the H bone on the ham with the shank bone to the right of the Carver first step in carving is to remove several slices from the side opposite the meaty section this makes a flat surface for the RO rest on while carving with the fork placed in the butt end of the roast to hold it firm start slicing at the shank end cutting down to the bone with firm strokes slices should be at least 1/ in thick [Music] [Music] when the desired number of slices have been cut hold the knife parallel to the cutting board and cut along the leg bone to free this license [Music] [Music] and exactly the same method is used for roast bake of lamb the standing rib roast of beef is really one of the easiest roasts to carve properly ribs to the left of the Carver the fork is inserted between the first and second ribs to hold the roast firmly Quin slices are made from the right side of the roast across to the ribs remember to let a roast stand 15 minutes to let it firm up it will carve more [Music] easily as each slice is completed use the tip of the knife to cut along the rib bone and free the slice as cutting gets further into the roast the fork should be removed from the between the upper ribs and reinserted further down in carving Stakes there is one point of Paramount importance after removing the bone make sure that each part is cut into equal portions so that each serving will be equal for instance here is a sirloin steak with the bone removed hold the knife blade at an angle and slice the steak into equal p about 3/4 in thick including as much of a tenderloin as possible with each serving as long as you remember this whether serving Porter House sirloin ham steak or even round steak everyone at your house will be a happy steak eater and now to complete our demonstration I'll show you some of the fine points for the carving job father loves best turkey the turkey should be placed so that the breast will be to the Carver's left with the tip of the knife cut the strip of skin holding the legs in place now press the drumstick outward with a fork or your left hand place the knife between the thigh and the body and Flash through the skin to the Joint keep that outward pressure constant while you're making this cut and the entire leg will separate from the body the upper thigh joint will come out so that you can cut it free with your knife that was easy wasn't it so is this next cut separating the thigh from the drumstick you make your first cut in the angle between the two just press the edge of your knife in until you feel the joint now for the breast take your fork put it firmly into the wing and press it away from the body with your knife make a long cut just above the wing joint cutting in all the way to the Bone when that cut is made the breast is ready for carving start about halfway up the breast and slide straight down toward that Cut Above the wing joint when your knife reaches the cut the slices will fall free each succeeding slice of white meat is started higher on the breast until the crest of the bone is reached you'll find with just a little practice you'll acquire every bit of the skill of the expert happy carving and good eating okay would you hit the light please well what did you think of it boy she sure makes it look easy now wait a minute don't get the idea that this is one of those pictures just to make things look easy now carving when you get to know the different groupings like uh ham and lamb chicken and turkey and all those different loin roasts steaks and pot roasts it becomes so easy you'll wonder why you didn't think of it yourself okay I'll try it you Joe and Mary are hereby invited to our house Saturday night for dinner Ione what kind of roast do you want to cook uh are you going to do the carving what else Gloria you better play it safe and make a baloney okay okay after the way I've ribed Joe I guess I had that coming so to show you that my heart's in the right place we will have standing rib roast okay it really doesn't make any difference now whatever kind of roast you get you'll find it easy to learn how to carve it now well if I can learn how to carve anyone can learn [Music]