Why did it take so long? Well, I must confess that I'm a habitual researcher. I get it honestly though as my Dad suffers from the same trait. I think it is further exacerbated by the fact that I'm stingy and don't want to waste money making mistakes.
But honestly, there is a great deal to learn. Bear in mind, that I have no expertise in butchery nor have I ever hunted and skinned deer or anything of the sort. I had a basic understanding of where on a hog certain cuts from from and how you cook them. I knew that muscles of locomotion tend to be tougher than support muscles and therefore benefit from a long and low temperature cooking technique. I knew why you grilled a steak and braised chuck roast but beyond that, I couldn't tell you how you identified those cuts on a carcass and how you got them from there into your grill/dutch oven.
I started with some books and videos - some of which I'll list here:
The first one is probably what started the whole thing. Its a series of videos by a guy named Brandon Sheard who is also known as the Farmstead Meatsmith. I heard him on a podcast, and watched the videos immediately and I was hooked. I started getting books on charcuterie (more on that later) and sausage making and I was off to the races. There are three videos on this series and I can't reccomend them highly enough. They really do capture the spirit of what it means to take animals for our own consumption. He really captures the reverence for the animal that I think is lacking in our industrial food supply.
I'm not sure how to embed Vimeo clips into this blog - but please start with this link to:
Now - promise me that you watched the videos linked to above - then and only then can you go on to the next ones.
This one comes courtesy of the University of Kentucky. This was the one I watched over and over. Firstly because it had good camera work, sound, and was in high definition. Secondly because it was pretty thorough (being about 40 minutes or so). Its like getting a butcher lecture/demonstration.
This is a three part series courtesy of Food Farmer Earth. Its thorough and worth several viewings. The other two parts follow below.
There are tons more videos out there and you'll find that the more you watch of them, the more comfortable you'll get with not only the process but also the planning that you'll need to do.
Books:
There are a TON of books out there. I'll start with this one.
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| Pick it up at Amazon here. |
This is the one that was something of the gateway drug for me. When I first got it from the library, I had no aspirations of butchering a hog - I just wanted to make bacon, sausage, and ham. I got fascinated with charcuterie as part of my journey with meat. Admittedly, I've only scratched a tiny surface of the art-form but I'm learning as I go. One of the tenets of the book is to start with quality meat - which I guess is how I got derailed into butchering.
In the interest of full disclosure, the primary author of this book, Michael Ruhlman has taken quite a bit of heat for much of the info contained herein. Experts in the food safety and charcuterie community say that he flies a little fast and lose with some of the best practices (and that some of his recipes are too heavy on the salt). While I'm aware of those critiques, I don't really bother with them on the whole. I think this book is largely responsible for the charcuterie Renaissance that is happening in this country. It kind of started (or at least threw a big log on the fire) the whole movement. There are a ton of people out there making their own bacon and salami who otherwise wouldn't be were it not for this book. Yes, there are better books out there. Yes, there are probably an error or two. Yes, some of the recipes are on the salty side. But I think unless you are already pretty heavy into the hobby, this is as good a place to start as any.
Now on to butchering:
Just go ahead and get this book. Right now... there is a link right under the picture. You need it. Or... if you are cheap, see if your library has it. Either way, start with this one!
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| Buy this one at Amazon here |
This book is exhaustive. It has sections on not only each animal but also of packaging, freezing, processing, food safety, slaughtering, sourcing... if you are only going to get one book, get this one.
If, however, you wish to get another book on the subject, try this one:
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| Available at Amazon here |
Now, in full disclosure, I did not read much of the contents of this book. HOWEVER, there was a CD-ROM included with the book (that I checked out from the library). On that CD was a pdf that contained about 250 close up pictures of butchering a hog with step by step commentary. I actually put the pdf on my iPad and used it on the counter when I was actually doing the butchering. I found it incredibly useful!
Once you dive into all these sources, you will quickly notice that one source will show you one way and another will contradict that by doing it a completely different way. The point is that there a ton of ways to break down the carcass and decisions you make with one cut can exclude you from other options later on down the line. For instance, you don't get a boneless loin roast if you want to have bone in loin chops. You can't smoke a boston butt on the grill if you've ground it all up for sausage. Some of that may seem pretty obvious but as you go through your options you'll quickly realize just how many choices need to be made...
Before long, I experienced analysis paralysis. Too many options... too many sources... to many ideas... too many wants... I was reaching all over the place for the one source that would just tell me to DO IT THIS WAY! I was literally losing sleep. I'd wake up in the middle of the night going over primal cuts and brining techniques. In a way, I knew TOO much. I had this desire for this cut of meat; I wanted to cure this cut this way and that one another way. I wanted to make this sausage and use this method but then another method with another sausage. I wanted to try this method... on and on it went!
Finally, I expressed some of my frustrations to my wife and she helped me compartmentalize everything and get back on track.
If you find yourself in this situation, here is my advice. STOP! Have a good beer and stay calm. Back up and realize what you are trying to achieve. You are not trying to achieve culinary perfection and butchery excellence with this first venture. You ARE trying to learn something by putting good meat in your freezer and on the table for your family. Find one source and just do it the way they say do it. They say separate the shoulder between these two ribs (but the other source says you get a longer coppa if you split between another pair of ribs... but then you wind up with less.... See? This is what got you in this position in the first place), so do it that way! Pick a recipe that seems to be fairly well regarded and go with it. Quit splitting hairs... don't over complicate things. You aren't going to "have it all" the first time out! Well, maybe YOU can, but I couldn't!
Once I got this reality check, I was SO much better off. I chose to go as close to step by step as I could from pdf mentioned above with the book by Cole Ward. I chose one brine recipe for the ham and some of the bacon (with an option to do a portion of the bacon another way if time permitted). I finally just chose two sausage recipes for types I knew my family would use. I tossed out that odd-ball exotic recipe that sounded so good and was the perfect compliment for risotto - we don't make risotto. But, we DO make lots of beans and rice or sausage and cabbage... so andouille and kielbasa it was.
I felt SO much better after that realization. I hope you don't get to that point in the first place. If you start with ONE book on pork processing and ONE book on hog butchery, you should be okay. I got too overloaded with too much information. I will admit though, that having exposed myself to lots of methods did help on butcher day. When I hit a roadblock or two, I was able to switch gears and work around them much easier - but more on that later.
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