The shoulder clod is the big boneless muscle group on the outside of the shoulder, and USDA prints it whole, trimmed and in three of its parts. IMPS 114 places it behind the elbow, below the ridge of the blade bone and in front of the 6th rib. Most of it sells as a trimmed clod. The parts that sell on their own are the top blade, the clod heart and the petite tender. The chuck roll vs shoulder clod article covers how the clod trades against the other half of the chuck. This one is about what comes off the clod and what each piece costs.
The parts and their IMPS codes
| Part | IMPS | What it is | IMPS weight classes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shoulder clod | 114 | The whole muscle group | 13 lb to over 21 lb |
| Shoulder clod, trimmed | 114C | The clod with the outer and minor muscles removed | under 12 lb to over 18 lb |
| Top blade | 114D | The infraspinatus, the flat iron's source | under 2 lb to over 5 lb |
| Clod heart (arm roast) | 114E | The thick end, the triceps muscles | under 8 lb to over 12 lb |
| Petite tender | 114F | The teres major | under or over half a pound |
One code trap to know before writing a spec. USDA's daily boxed beef report prints the trimmed clod as 114A. In the IMPS book, 114A is the "shoulder roast": the clod trimmed to an even thickness of at least an inch. The book's trimmed clod is 114C, which takes off the shoulder rose, the latissimus, the trapezius, the teres major and the small muscles over the arm bone. When you buy, write out the trim you want, not just the number.
Two details from the IMPS text matter at the counter. The top blade can ship in the same box as a trimmed clod. And the flat iron is not a separate subprimal: it is the top blade with the tendon through the middle cut out, after which it can be split into two pieces, and IMPS lists flat iron steaks as a portion cut of the top blade. The clod heart has its own portion cut too: boneless arm steaks (IMPS 1114E), cut across the grain once the smaller muscle and the heavy elbow tendon come off, and sold as ranch steaks.
What each part costs
Over the last 12 months the median Choice prints ran in a clear ladder:
| Part | Median price, last 12 months |
|---|---|
| Shoulder clod, whole | $4.04/lb |
| Shoulder clod, trimmed | $4.14/lb |
| Clod heart | $5.24/lb |
| Top blade | $5.69/lb |
| Petite tender | $8.12/lb |
Over five years every fabricated part traded above the trimmed clod on every day both printed. The median gaps were about $1.00 a pound for the clod heart, $1.32 for the top blade and $3.64 for the petite tender. The whole clod usually sat a few cents under the trimmed one: below it on 84 percent of days, by a median of 8 cents. It still carries the pieces the trimmed spec takes off.
The top blade and the clod heart are the close call. The top blade traded over the clod heart on 69 percent of days in five years, so the order flips about one day in three.
Where the volume is
The trimmed clod carried about two thirds of the clod family's pounds on USDA's report in the last 12 months. The clod heart carried about 14 percent, the top blade and the whole clod about 8 percent each, and the petite tender about 5 percent.
The parts print nearly as often as the trimmed clod but in much smaller lots: a typical day's top blade or petite tender trade is a fraction of the trimmed clod's. That shows in the prices. Over the last year the trimmed clod moved more than 5 percent in a day on 2 percent of days. The clod heart, top blade and petite tender each did so on more than a quarter of days. Read a part's price over a week, not off one print.
Which part follows which
Over four-week stretches the whole clod moves almost exactly with the trimmed clod. The top blade and the clod heart follow it only loosely, and the petite tender mostly goes its own way. Each part has its own buyers: the top blade feeds flat iron and value-steak programs, the clod heart feeds roasts and boneless arm (ranch) steaks, and the petite tender is portioned into medallions.
For a buyer the gaps are the menu. The clod heart usually costs less than the top blade, though not always, and the petite tender runs about twice the trimmed clod's price per pound.