Just read this article this morning. I was wondering if anyone else has and I think we might just qualify for some parts of it. I know I do.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100323/us_time/08599197434500
I can say that I fit into that group. The butcher has become a thing of the past.
Larry
I am probably pretty close
I could not butcher an animal but the Bradley has coerced me into becoming a bit of an ametuer butcher
Sometime around 1975 I took a butchering course at Connestoga Community College in Waterloo, Ontario. It was a full "Butchering 101" course -- 13 full weeks of 3 hour classes.
The local Mennonite farms would have their meat slaughtered, and then send it to the College for us to practice on. They got somewhat irregular cuts :D but the butchering was free.
I've looked to see if any local colleges teach a course like it, but no luck. It was probably the most practical course I have ever taken and I'd love to take a refresher....
Rich
I pretty sure I would qualify.
I've been taking butchery courses at my local butcher for a while now.... nothing super complicated, just an evening here and there where we take apart a side of pork, beef or a whole lamb and learn about the various cuts.... more to be confident in recognizing what you're getting when you buy stuff pre-packaged cuts or to be able to go into a butcher and tell him exactly what you want.
It's been good... and is something I definitely want to continue when I am out of the big smoke and back on the family farm in a few years.
I do my own butchering, but it's not absolutely every meal. Only when I go hunting, fishing, or can get a deal on a hunk of meat. This amounts to about 7 or 8 months out of the years worth of butchering.
OH CRAP
Ya mean meat dont come from a package at the meat counter :D
I Have done many Deer in my day roast to steaks and stew meat to.
I even had to do two Sheep that were killed by dogs. ::)
Ketch
We butchered a cow this winter, she had a bum leg and it was gettin worse so before she couldnt walk we got her in the barn and BANG.
I also proses my own deer along with my sons, some of his friends and Taby's friends.
Being in alaska the few butcher shops we do have here don't even butcher meat. They get it pre butchered and then sell it to us saps with no other option!
I butcher my own chickens...does that count? :D
I raise my own beef but I have it processed.
I don't know how we would get a 1200 lb animal in the air to gut it like the pros do.
Carolyn
In my younger days I work for a Groc Chain and went into management
with them and part of the Training was 6 months in the Meat Dept. Do
I remember that much about it, naaa. Wish I did. I Processed 16 or 17
Deer this year and have added an arsonal of "Butcher" knives to the kitchen.
For extra Money I would unload the meat Truck at two stores twice a week.
40 to 60 hind and Fore quarters a store. That's work. It would come in a
refrige truck hanging. You wrapped one arm around the hind quarter and rest
it on your stomach while you unhooked it with the other hand and then walk it
down a sloop of the inside trailer 40 feet long to a conveyer system.
Thanks for that post. It brought back a few memories, but they not that old. I use to frequently visit Fleisher's Meats when I worked in Kingston, NY; but haven't been there in about six years and kind of forgotten about it. Part of their store is a restaurant, and you can eat outdoors on their patio. They make some of the best sausages I have every tasted.
There is a place in the 401/Warden area in Toronto that does all of it's own butchering right out in full view. It is an art.