'bright lights & big cleavers'

When I started doing butchery, I'd sharpen my knife and I'd receive the bit of meat I had to trim, and I'd clumsily hack away at it util it vaguely still resembled meat. The butcher said it looked at best like road kill. I wasn't upset or actually surprised. I knew it looked appalling and it would indeed be minced to make burgers. But the next time I got it I merely lacerated it to look like a manged pile of meat. So the only way was up.

These days I am far more sophisticated and can trim to a fairly high standard. Essentially it's because I stopped wielding my knife like an axe murderer. But instead, I took a very gentle approach, only using the very tip of my knife, teasing and persuading the meat to prise itself from the bone, seaming and tempting.

Being a butcher takes a lot of patience and gentleness. The soft yet firm touch is a lot easier when chopping prepping meat. It is of course always better to leave the bones with no meat on what so ever: 'meat is money'.

An old butcher always said 'Keep the meat on the meat.' And I have tried to do that ever since.

gb

'and pigs will fly' a response..

So I was in the pub and a local pointed me to this article in the Guardian (I'm an Independent reader) .

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/aug/17/butchers-return-high-street-independent

Now reading this piece by Fiona Beckett I felt heartened but also a little bit sad.

Okay, so at the end of a long day at the block, most butchers are chomping at the bit at quarter to 5, not just eager but desperate to go home or get a quick pint in.

This attitude needs to change, in our industry we must make more of a conscious effort to have the best possible product with the outstanding service. Since you will not get this in a supermarket, it is just impossible - as you remain anonymous and so do they.

The butcher needs to be more friendly, approachable and offer a decent product, but politeness is half of the battle.

So what can you do? Well, you mustn't be intimidated - for good meat (from traceability to flavour) you must engage in conversation and talk to your butcher - trust me they want to help you, and they want you to return.

Convenience is the age old argument for not going out of your way to the shop. Fine. But most butchers strive to get a nice looking shop with the best in terms of equipment. What's the key to success I hear you ask? Parking. It doesn't matter how good your shop is, if they can't get parked you can't get custom. Every butcher dreams of getting a spot with parking available. This is so that it is more accessible for people to travel, thus selling lots of food.

What I do like about this article is that it is another great advert about the importance of knowing where your food is coming from. From farm to fork. This is important, other wise you genuinely have no idea what you are eating - the label on the back doesn't say which gasses have been injected to keep the meat looking pink and I don't know how the big stores manage to get every chicken looking the same, down to the exact same weight. Spooky.

This industry needs oomph. It needs enthusiasm. It needs a love of food. At a reasonable cost.

Life's far too short to eat bad meat, and it won't necessarily break the bank, I can assure you.

The way that supermarkets are going meat is becoming more expensive every day.

The price of bacon is going up anyway, pigs do fly.

gb

'the never ending bovine..'

Belted Galloway - what a beast!

Over the last

few days we have spent a large chunk of time sorting out this giant carcass.

From 'thick rib' to 'choice'. Mince trim to steaks.

How much beef have we cut up, chopped, seamed, boned out? How much meat have

we vacuum-packed and 'trayed' up.

It is astonishing how much food you get off these animals.

I frequently get asked how much one of these magnificent creatures costs?

Well the answer is: mind your own business! Let us worry about that. But a 3rd-hand Ford Ka would probably cover it..

The main thing is just how glorious it is to bestow such a craft. Watching as two butchers battle with it, knees straining, bringing it from fridge to cold block, hand sawing straight through the body, then splitting and separating it into smaller cuts. Fantastic.

What a privilege. Rib of beef anyone?

gb

'cold hands warm heart..'

Often when i'm working a customer will recoil when I give them their change. At first I figured it was because I look shifty and they thought it was short, but lately they have been more vocal saying things like, 'eee pet ya hands are carld like'.

Butchery is indeed a cold profession. Very cold. Less than 5°C if you're a fridge and below -18°C if you're a freezer. When holding the meat for us butchers you must be careful and it can be pretty painful since the beef, chicken, lamb or pork (and often ourselves) is chilled to the very core. Meat must be cold. It affects everything. Including the taste. You should always endeavour to keep your meat cold. Now I'm not going to get ranty (which usually means I am) but you must always defrost meat in a fridge, it is far safer and less likely to seep blood, which is rank to deal with in your lovely kitchen. Happy meat is freezing meat. The colder you keep it the better it will taste. Or else it will start to part-cook and no one wants that now!

However as far as we butchers go, it's all about the thermals and thoughts of warm sunshine...


gb

'watching your waste line.'

Waste. One of the biggest crimes of 21st Century. People grumble on about how much of the Sunday paper they don't read. How full their bin is. How much they have to chuck. Now when I think of this it conjures up overflowing landfills in some distant (we hope!) hell hole. Well we all have far more control over these matters than you would realise.

This is absolutely the case with regard to waste and meat products, and indeed packaging. There's a reason that meat in a butchers shop is not pre-packed. It's so you can tailor your order. Just think, you too could be the proud owner of made to measure gammon, bespoke chops and hand crafted burgers. I jest slightly, but meat comes from life, and it can be expensive, so we should ensure we value it and utilise it i.e eating it! And to us of course, meat is money.

This is why Mrs Canny-Body from down the road is of course allowed to buy two pork and leek sausages, half a pound of back bacon and very occasionally a small joint of salmon cut. Butchers do enjoy it when people spend vast amounts of money (obviously - they are trying to run a business!) But what they hate the most is waste. So think when you buy, and we also have the blessing of the freezer. And never think you're spending too little.

gb

'I dub thee Sir Loin!'

After thinking more about my last entry 'the right cuts' I thought on this further.

Whenever anyone comes into the shop and asks for a fillet steak I carefully lean into the counter and gently pick up the tender joint and place it, deftly onto the surface of the block. Then I pick up the steak knife and slice through the muscle with care and precision.

It's like transporting royalty - because I am so aware of how valuable this part of the beef is.

It's not, I have to say, my favourite steak, but I know the monetary value - and I would get shot if I damaged it in any way. This cut is definitely tender, succulent, melt-in-the mouth; and when cooked perfectly - nothing short of fabulous.

But who decided that the sirloin component of bovine was the best? Who claimed that this was beef royalty? Whereas flank, blade and clod remain the peasants? A life destined for stews and curries... Just as King Rib of Beef - roasting fame, is noble whilst poor Brisket is banished to the humble, cheaper end of the market, or worse - forgotten!

There's a reason that fillet, rib eye, and sirloin are cut from the 'choice' but I would love to know exactly who chose...

gb

'which cut's the right cut?'

To be honest, there is no right cut. Wow, that was easy.
However, there is the right way to cook and prepare something. For instance using fillet of beef (particularly rare breed stuff) would be well and truly wasted if we were to mince it and create a standard spag bol.

People are forever exhausting the question, not 'how?' or 'why?' but 'which?'
I try and gently encourage people to go for something they have never gone for, perhaps brisket or shin of beef, or pork tenderloin - if cooked properly these cuts can be exquisate. Naturally these lend themselves to slow cooking. Just leaving it to fester for hours so that all the flavouring from the fat and muscle can soak in.

I stumbled across a fantastic recipe for Ukranian stew ('borscht' which is predominantly shin, beetroot, shallots and paprika) and it was fantastic with crusty bread for dipping. There are umpteen recipes for all sorts of different cuts. And quite often, these cuts are the least expensive! Although you may have to go to your local butcher to source them - which he/she will with pleasure.

I charge you with this. Try something weird. It will enrich your life.

gb