What Butchers Need to Know
Worcester, Massachusetts, butcher Paul Lachance discusses his industry's trade trends: "...the butcher is not a slaughterhouse anymore. [Gruesome] images of dripping cows or [removing] 'the awfuls' [entrails] is [gone]." Modern butcher schools teach about the entire life cyle of animals that humans eat: broad knowledge covers not only animal anatomy but also delicate culinary skills like sausage making, stock reduction, and special cuts.
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Experts in Meat Anatomy
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A butcher uses a bone saw to splice the joint and separate the shank from the femur. A modern retail butcher dabbles in far more than meat-cutting. His study of animal anatomy enables him to identify and remove cuts of meat from a large carcass. He must be trained in genetics, breeds and market terminology. Slaughterhouse butchers kill, gut, skin and split an animal and then package and ship carcasses to retail butchers who cut, grind and debone specific meat cuts. Besides teaching about animal tissue, butcher schools educate a student about processing or manufacturing products that come from the tissue. A slaughterhouse butcher should feel comfortable and confident while killing a lamb, pig or steer, and should be able to dissect whole animals into larger quarters.
Tools of the Trade
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Government regulations specify a commercial meat freezer's temperature to avoid contamination and spoilage. Like a skilled surgeon, a butcher must be able to identify and use meat-cutting tools. He must be adept at wielding knives, grinders and saws. He must know the difference between a boning knife, cleaver, trimming knife and scimitar. His know-how with knife sharpeners, cutting blocks and bone saws allows him to trim a 200-pound beef in record time. Early on, he must develop the expertise of meat carving and expertly brandish a knife to trim a whole side of beef or create smaller cuts for display in meat cases.
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Difficult Cuts and Tissue Identification
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A kosher slaughterhouse cuts the neck and severs the esophagus and trachea, which stops blood flow to the brain and causes unconsciousness. A butcher must know how to use a band saw to cut a pig's head in half. He must be able to master the delicate task of boning and butterflying a shank and then rolling it into a roast. Much of today's meats comes already cut into segments. When a butcher removes prepacked meat from the box, he should know which end to start cutting and then begin making cuts with either a saw or knife. He should be able to identify the animal of origin just by looking at the meat color: mammals produce red meat like beef, pork, veal, lamb and mutton while fowl, which includes chicken, turkey, geese and duck, produce white meat. Seafood includes fish and shellfish, and "game" refers to non-domesticated animals like rabbits or deer.
Other Duties
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Local food trends encourage a return to the old-time butcher shop that bought meats directly from local organic farms. Besides analyzing meat, a butcher should know how to set up a meat display case; brine, cure and smoke meats; cook cold cuts; make stocks and demi-glaces; or even develop a recipe for a signature sausage. He should know the difference between a free-range and factory farm chicken. He should feel comfortable performing customer cooking demos and taste tests, and also know about meat sourcing, availability and labeling. He should know about charcuterie, the art of salting, smoking and curing meat; different grindings; lard recipes using meat scraps, suet balls and dog food. He should be able to do a yield test; french a rack; bone a chicken; preserve, pickle, freeze wrap and vacuum pack meats. He should master regulations concerning waste, inspection, temperature and safety. He should be able to not only discuss humane animal handling, Escherichia coli bacteria, antibiotics concerns, and feedlot controversies but also be well versed in meat seasonings, spices, casings, cutlery and smokehouse techniques.
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