'a goring of butchers..'

Apparently the collective noun for butchers is a goring, and I have definitely worked with my fair share. I am now working with my 8th and 9th butcher. Many butchers in the UK stay with the same one and then they may go off to open their own shop or stay once fully trained. I have loved all of the different places I have worked in but I really value the breadth of experience that I have had. To be honest it's not necessarily just about how to cut the meat up properly (although that is, erm, the point). It's the tricks of the trade, that make it. And I don't mean cutting corners.

For instance, tying, packaging, chopping, sharpening, uniform, counter presentation, cleaning, storing, etc, etc.What is rather wonderful is that I'm actually starting to have opinions of my own, ideas of my own (eventually..). When doing certain tasks whether it's using the over-wrap machine or tying a certain way I think of who it was that taught me. I smile. Then I think of my butchering journey. And I've only been sat on the train for about five minutes.

Yesterday I did my first leg of pork with Butcher Mick. really enjoyed it, but it took me a while. I sent this photo of it to Butcher George who I used to work for, he said it was fine but the pig had dirty feet. Oh, there's that smile again.

gb