Confessions of a Butcher

hey guys

2009-01-28T20:56:00.002-06:00

I have been up to my eyeballs in meat for the past two years, and have had little to no free time to post here. I've taken a new position in a different market, and boy have I had my eyes opened. Unfortunately my free time seems to be even less and less, but I do have a few planned posts, including one documenting my yearly bacon and pancetta cure. I'm working 7 days a week, 60+ hours a week at

Rising prices and budget beaters

2007-01-21T22:31:00.000-06:00

As expected, price of cattle at auction is on the rise. Luckily it held steady through the holidays, trading only slightly higher than the previous average. However, when we usually see a drop after the two holidays, we're already seeing a pretty massive increase in asking price per head. Like I predicted, feeders are valuing their cattle quite dearly as the price of corn grew even more demand

watch out poultry lovers

2006-11-06T14:22:00.000-06:00

With corn on a ten year high, production of poultry (and to an extent, cattle as well) is expected to see an unprecedented drop. For all you omnivores and carnivores out there, that means a much higher price tag on chicken at your grocers. Pilgrim's Pride, the US' second largest producer (and currently attempting a takeover of Gold Kist, Inc) has already announced a 5% cutback in production,

back from the dead?

2006-10-17T17:36:00.000-05:00

I've meant to keep on on this, I really have. A crazy spring at home, an insanly busy summer at work, and things have just begun to slow down for once. I just got done rearranging my planogram to emphisis winter meals and de-emphisising grilling. I doubled the footprint of my roasts, increased my pork footprint to allow more roasts and family packs, and reduced my grilling steaks footprint

My day at the Mulitnational Corporate Conglomorate cutting facility

2006-02-14T15:08:00.000-06:00

HI all! I've been gone from the blogosphere for two months now! Crap! It's been really crazy around here. I was interviewing around the state for a new job (both within and outside the meat industry) considering a move, and KT got a new job, too. I'm still cutting in the same place for now, but I have a lead on a few other things. Mainly, I just need to find something with a shorter

That time of year

2005-12-15T13:03:00.000-06:00

Well, it's that time of year. People are putting together their year end lists. This year has been the hardest for me. I've made and amended my top ten list several times throughout the year, thinking that would help me not get caught off guard and write one that I'm not pleased with (like last year for example). I could have easily made a top 25 or top 50, but the best part of a top ten is

Deer hunting helps the troops, supposedly.

2005-12-13T14:03:00.000-06:00

Meatnews reports that a Michigan area meat processor donated over 500 pounds of deer meat to be shipped overseas to the troops. Get out your flags, and get up on your crosses, because I think this is fucking retarded. A little deer jerky is going to lift their spirits? The article says that troops have asked for jerky (most likely because it will keep and they can take it on convoys), but I

Pumped pork finds its way into meat cases

2005-12-12T17:54:00.000-06:00

Last week I wrote a counter point to Ms. Black's article in Smart Money about the meat industry. In it I wrote that outside of pre-packaged meat, saline addition didn't occurr. To my horror today, as I checked in a shipment of pork, I saw that the warehouse shipped "Always Tender" sides to me. Always Tender is Hormel's brand name for their line of pumped pork. Before now, I had never come

More good news for US Beef

2005-12-12T17:16:00.000-06:00

Japan has opened their borders once more to North American Beef imports, to the relief of both the US and Canadian beef industries. What are the effects for US consumers? You should see a dramatic increase in price of USDA Prime and Choice beef loins and ribs, but the bottom will fall out on the Chuck and Round items, as well as USDA Select primals. Filed under:beef NCA BSE mad+cow

In need of sourcing help!

2005-12-12T09:42:00.000-06:00

I desperately need your help! I need to find a source for some bone frills, those little paper hats that you place over exposed bones in Crown Roasts, racks, and standing rib roasts. None of my suppliers have any idea what I'm talking about let alone any idea who else might have them. A google search so far has turned up nada.UPDATE!:Thanks for everyone's tips. A bit more digging has turned

Flat Iron Steak, hype or heart?

2005-12-10T18:15:00.000-06:00

The Flat Iron steak. You see and hear about it in TGI Friday and Chili's commercials. You've seen it on some 1 and 2 star restaurant menus lately. What is it? Why haven't we heard about it before now? Is it a worthwhile cut of meat? I'm going to answer all of these questions.What it is: The Flat Iron steak is a relatively new cut of steak. It is rather untraditional, as it takes a defter

World Cup draw...

2005-12-10T17:40:00.000-06:00

I was going to post a lengthy discussion of the 2006 Fifa World Cup draw. I'll just say that the USA got placed into the hardest group in the tournet including Ghana (the strongest African team represnted) Italy, and The Chezch Rep., and despite this the journos are saying that group C is the "Group of Death" including both the Arggies, the Dutch, but Cote de Ivoire and Serbia and Montenegro make

Top Round; for budget friendly roast beef

2005-12-06T15:14:00.000-06:00

Today's intended post has thrown me for a loop. I left for work this morning, in the bitter cold only to find my car's battery nearly dead and unable to start. So, we'll have to modify our plans, as I'm not making it to work today. On the upside I can watch more Champion's League action this afternoon. The line on the ManU/Benefica game is 1.6/3.3/4.5 and I'm really tempted to take both the draw

Setting it straight

2005-12-06T11:29:00.000-06:00

Kate at Accidental Hedonist linked to a piece in Smart Money regarding "the truth" about meat cutting in America. Unfortunatly, this reads just like another scare story, and seems to be very poorly researched. Kate asked for a point/counterpoint, so head on over to her blog for my response.Filed under:industry butchery media E.Coli

Goat Slaughtering Part 2: Butchering

2005-12-05T22:18:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the long break, as you can imagine, with the holiday season upon us, it's hard for me to find free time to post. Anyway, so we have slaughtered the goat, known in French as Chevron and Spanish as Cabrito. First I aged it by hanging the carcass in my walk-in cooler for 6 days at ~30 degrees F. Once dry and aged, we begin the butchering.The removal of the legs has been done, and I

Turkey Day

2005-11-24T17:17:00.000-06:00

Well, the largest day for retail meat has come and gone, and mine was just fine, thanks for asking. My shop didn't move many cases of birds this year, but I'm not all that concerned. Turkeys are generally a loss leader, so I tried really hard to push my ham and beef roast sales. Last night my in laws came into town to stay with us, so I made a pot of beef bourgeonon that simmered while I

Goat Slaughtering

2005-11-16T15:28:00.000-06:00

This is how I spent my lunch hour. This lady has been bugging yours truely for several weeks to buy one of her buck kids. Finally she just asked me to take him of her hands. 65lbs. lLive yeilded ~35 dressed. It would have been more if i had kept more offall, but I only kept the liver. It was so bitterly cold that I didn't want to sort through everything. The lady's dog got a nice

I work with morons

2005-11-14T17:35:00.000-06:00

This is the "easy" way to price turkeys according to my supervisor. Y'know, instead of just slapping a price tag on them, he decided to write the approximate weight (which required him putting them on the scales anyway) and then confuse the hell out of the customers by coming up with this bizarre sign. I, for the life of me, couldn't figure out why he would want to do this. I finally asked him,

Dangers of the job

2005-11-14T17:28:00.000-06:00

Sweet, malted, nectar of the Gods...

2005-11-06T21:32:00.000-06:00

A classic makes a glorious returnFiled under:Rhinelander beer

Boning a butt (OMG!! ROFL!)

2005-11-01T22:18:00.000-06:00

I thought I would do a photo-montage of how to bone a pork butt:First, place the butt with the aitch bone facing away from you. There should be a pin bone on the right side. Above: toparrow shows the aitch bone, bottom arrows shows the pin bone. Next, cut a line from the top right of the aitch bone down to the pin bone, following the curve of the shoulder blade.Here's the entire top of the bone

Pumpkin Carving

2005-10-30T08:32:00.000-06:00

Our jack-o'lanterns this year. KT did the kitty and i did the crimson ghost. My ode to my old punk rock years. Filed under:Halloween pumpkin+carving Crimson+Ghost

New Methods of Retail Cutting (Bottom Round edition)

2005-10-28T19:50:00.000-05:00

Not too much exiting to speak of this week at work. Pork butts are on sale and it's perfect grilling and smoking weather. Lots of Boston Butts and Western-style Butts going out the door. Same with rump roasts. An interesting thing I found a while ago while searching the beef.org site looking for cutting diagrams for a beef shoulder clod (to illustrate a point in an online discussion:Bottom

Assam-smoked Duck Sausage...

2005-10-24T18:41:00.000-05:00

...with dried cherries and green peppercorns.This was one of two items I did for a wedding this past weekend. The other being the bresaola that I posted about previously, and which I neglected to take photos of due to the mad rush this weekend trying to get everything done.First, I deboned 4 whole ducks. Each was around 7 pounds. I removed any tendons as well as the skin and any fat. The skin

Dry Aged Glamour Shots

2005-10-18T10:31:00.000-05:00

Weekend that flew by...

2005-10-16T21:39:00.000-05:00

It's Sunday night, and I can't believe that the weekend is over. Friday night was suppose to be low key, just a few beers with the boys and home so I could go into work early the next morning. Well, a couple beers at the bar, then I went with my buddy Mike's house and drank a few with him on his front porch. Then, after leaving to go home, called another buddy and met up at the lamest party.

Equiptment Auction...

2005-10-13T15:57:00.000-05:00

Tons of stuff from the former Diggs Packing facility in Columbia went up for auction this morning. If only I had a truck and a few more hundred dollars, I could have set up a new shop, no problem. Large goods like the grinders, patty machines, cryvac machine, etc. went for pennies on the dollar. Tables went really cheap. There was an entire double sided coffin case (which would have been

Sausage crazy part deux

2005-10-11T14:21:00.000-05:00

Today is my day off, so I'm firing up the smoker, to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and some sausages in the freezer in need of smoking. I use an electric smoker (much more consistant smoke and also our Condo assc. doesn't allow charcoal/open flame grills.) Usually pecan wood is used in the smokeing of Anduille, but it's hard to come by here, so I fell back on one of my old favorites,

Dry Aging Beef

2005-10-11T13:33:00.000-05:00

Here's two striploins and a partial rib about half way through with the dry aging process. The basic gist of the process is keeping the meat just above freezing for about 28-30 days open to a low humidity environment. The enzymes break down the meat and the moisture evaporates, leaving a very tender, very tasty, almost creamy meat. It has such a complex taste and smell, not entirely unlike aged

Some fun things

2005-10-07T19:37:00.000-05:00

Just can't keep myself from ignoring the blog no matter how hard I try. Columbus was a ton of fun, I just wish I was going to Germany along with the team. Alas...Anyway, I've secured my first true gig as an independent Charcuterie. I'm producing a couple of items for a friends wedding. First is a small Bresaola.Normally these are done with a Top Round, but the wedding is only about 100 people

Columbus insanity

2005-09-03T08:52:00.000-05:00

Yesterday some KC boys came by at 5am and we headed out for the US/MEX WCQ tonight. 12 hours later we were checked in, gussied ourselves up and were eating fish and chips at O'Shaughnessy's in Columbus' Arena ditrict. We were early, but within a couple of hours, the place was packed to the gills with US Supporters and the beer and liqour flowed like rain. Props to all the barstaff and

Notes from the Weekend

2005-08-29T00:55:00.000-05:00

Friday was a pretty crazy day. Normally my commute takes maybe 35 minutes, but a monsoon decided to start as I began my drive west on i-70 and it took over an hour at maybe 40 mph to get to work. Then, the clouds broke and everyone came in to bbq, I guess. I had hoped to duck out of work a little early so that I could run some errands that afternoon, but got stuck working late after all. I

Back from the auction

2005-08-25T22:55:00.000-05:00

...didn't buy a sausage stuffer. It was actually a gallon lard press with a sausage horn stuffed onto the water spout. Lame. There was next to no personal property (plus I'm pretty much spent until I get paid tommorow afternoon) but I stayed around to see how much the farm sold for. 10 Acres plus house, barn, and outbuildings went for $180K. It really was a pretty farm, and pretty cheap

Been Busy

2005-08-25T12:53:00.000-05:00

things have been pretty crazy around here. I got an offer for a capital investor for my planned Charcuterie. Essentially, I just need to find a kitchen share, get a license and figure out how to sell perishables at the farmer's markets and I can go ahead. I've been trying to learn how to write a business plan, but that may get left to my mom or brother, both of whom have much more experience

New look, new name

2005-07-21T17:58:00.000-05:00

I decided that the old look and title weren't as applicable to the direction of both my blog and the way my career has been moving. I used to be very interested in film, and spent some time at film school, but really, it's not for me. Currently I'm focusing on gaining as much knowledge and skill at what I love (meat) as possible so that I can eventually open an artisan butcher shop/charcuterie.

Great News for Beef eaters!

2005-07-15T18:10:00.000-05:00

US Courts overturn Canadian Beef Importation InjunctionWhat does this mean for US consumers? Well, a lot, really. Commercial grades of beef should plummet and retail prices should see a similar reduction. Presently, even USDA Select loin product is wholesaling above $5/lbs. I've heard on the coasts that Choice is up to $15/lbs retail. Yeouch. But a reeling Canadian beef market should help

Sausage crazy

2005-07-07T22:43:00.000-05:00

wish i had the digital camera that I'm about to order, because I've been going crazy making sausages at work. I sold about 30 pounds of brats over the holiday weekend. They were pretty freaking great, but needed some more mace or something. Tasty though. Today I made a few pounds of Porto style chorizo. I didn't have any portueguese red pepper paste, so I used Sirachi. They smell and look

Upcoming Inventory, more on Gross Margins

2005-06-27T21:54:00.000-05:00

Well, my store's owners decided that the perfect time to do inventory was this Thursday. As in right before the biggest 3 Day weekend for a meat dept. all year. Also the day we get our last truck before the 4th of July. So I'm going to be extremely long on most of my product to get us through the weekend, and I have to inventory all of it. This will also obvioulsy effect our numbers.On the

New Case of BSE discovered in the US: NCF. as big of hypocrites as ever

2005-06-24T17:40:00.000-05:00

the USDA announced today that another case of BSE has been discovered in the USA. Mind you, we still have a ban in place against Canadian Beef, despite their ability to prove their own competance in preventing cases of BSE which is driving the majority of Canadian beef ranchers into insolvency. The NCF can say time and time again that our beef is safe and that BSE pozes no threat to our food

Meat Profit Margins

2005-06-08T21:19:00.000-05:00

I was pouring over some figures, both sales and cost and started finding my profit margins on various items in my dept. I figured that they would be pretty decent since my Price Points are rather high, and, even though meat costs are sky high, my costs don't seem that high. But as I said in my last post, I'm having a hard time selling entire loins, and am having to over trim to make my meat

2005-06-03T21:02:00.000-05:00

also, stephen malkmus on fantasy sports via oddjack

2005-06-03T20:37:00.000-05:00

A message to the people of Earth… No matter how hard you try, you’ll never be Bettie Page or Mike Ness unless you already are them, so please, stop trying. Thanks, The Management -via My Big Black Cock - Today was fine. I cut like a madman at work since the weekend is gonna be nice and I'm gonna be in Oklahoma. I can't figure the little town I

2005-06-01T10:58:00.000-05:00

Ten Most "Harmful" Books according to conservatives via suicidegirls---The Holiday weekend was rather tame. I worked all four days of it, and only left myself the afternoon to go fishing with the Dudes. We didn't catch anything. I did manage to take home a shit ton of bug bites. And just let me clue you all in, pond fishing and not drinking beer is Boring.---This weekend we're going to Norman

I hit the powerball!

2005-05-26T18:22:00.000-05:00

And only the powerball, unfortunately. My $2 ticket returned $3. not quite like my recent trip out to the riverboat Casino where I doubled up my bankroll in about 15 minutes, but it's better than nothing, I guess.So this morning I got up late, began roasting some chicken parts for stock, and began chopping veggies for my mirpoix. I totally took off 3/4's of my fingernail and nail bed on my

Eating BBQ before noon?

2005-05-24T11:18:00.000-05:00

does this indicate a problem like drinking before noon? Not that it matters since I'm drinking a beer, too.I love pulled pork, and this may be odd, but I much prefer it braised in beer than smoked, which is much more traditional. I think the meat is more tender, and I like the taste of the beer as much or more than smoke.So here's my recipe:one well trimmed Pork Butt. I like to use the whole

Linklater to direct film version of Fast Food Nation

2005-05-23T21:29:00.000-05:00

LinkI think that's interesting. I'd like to see an update of the information, too. Our entire sewer main backed up today. It was just a matter of time. The plumbing is ancient, and I'm sure the town sewers are archaic.

Why am I hungover?

2005-05-22T10:21:00.000-05:00

Friday was an insanely busy day at work. I guess it was the last day of school, so I was inundated with deli sandwich orders. I realize that I have a pretty decent margin on sandwiches, but there is no way in hell that my time is best served dishing out mayo and white bread and pressed meats. I had an order for 50 ribeyes, which was pretty big. I gave the guy a sale price from last week, which

new look, same old shit

2005-05-19T23:36:00.000-05:00

Just got back from a few beers with the Dudes. I'm hungery, but I shouldn't be since we had stir fry for dinner, and I ate too much (I marinated some ribeye scraps I took from work in some soy, oyster sauce and fresh, grated ginger)I'm really obsessing over sausage curing and dry aging of beef. I get paid tommorow and I think I may pick up a few books on Amazon that have piqued my interest. I

template work and wasting my day off.

2005-05-19T14:37:00.000-05:00

Busy coding some CSS to make this blog actually look good. Jamming out to: Got some sun tea brewing on the porch and sipping on a cran and vodka. Nice afternoon.

wtf is with my template?!?

2005-05-17T23:35:00.000-05:00

Did I purposely pick the ugliest damned template? I keep meaning to code some css, but I keep getting distracted. I have a decent template I wrote for Heart of America Soccer Foundation that didn't get used, so I could just mod that I guess.In the mean time, KT and I went for a walk in Cosmo park that ended up being like a hike. It was just spur of the moment after getting some Limeaides at Sonic

Jace's Famous Brat-Burgers

2005-05-17T14:36:00.000-05:00

For those of you who have been lucky enough to attend one of the many tailgates at Arrowhead Stadium where I've served these beauties, you know the hype is real. For those that don't, my recipe is below. I didn't try reducing the recipe, because I'm not very good at that. Try doing so if you wish, but I don't have any idea of how to do so. My bud Octavio said he saw that Johnsonville was now

back wit a new batch

2005-05-13T18:36:00.000-05:00

so our cable was shut off for a little while. Then I got paid. Good.Our anniversary was good. KC was fun and Bluestem was an amazing restaurant; see the Heartland section of eGullet if you're interested in my full review. It involved Foie Gras and Kobe beef.Work has been ok. There was an issue with my pay, but I got it resolved. Things have been moving. I've gotten more compliments. I'm

hell of a day

2005-04-29T18:51:00.000-05:00

Since I'm taking the weekend off of work to celebrate KT and my anniversary, I had to bust some serious tail to get everything prepped and stocked for the weekend. And it kicked my ass. I'm totally worn out. I'm not making dinner, but I threw some Salmon croquettes and some couscous together last night after dinner for our lunches, so we may just eat those. I'm really looking forward to

another nasty day

2005-04-28T16:58:00.000-05:00

Slept in since it's an odd day and I'm not working. Got up and lazed around until just past noon, then left for a hair appointment. I was a little early, so I ran across the highway to the antique mall to look for vintage knives, with no luck. A few straight razors, but not in my budget. My buddy Jason is amazing, and I don't mind paying $20. Hell, it's a steal since he spends so much time

It's all I can do

2005-04-24T10:00:00.000-05:00

Friday started rather uneventful. Work went well. I just keep gradually cleaning more and more and reorganizing. I've also been testing the waters of this tiny town I work in (750 people) by putting anything and everything in my meat case. I had a bunch of excess pork sirloins, so I tied them up nice together (like you would on a crown roast without the ribs) and made them pretty, and they

2005-04-21T12:28:00.000-05:00

Wow. Am I ever taken aback by my new job. Monday was just getting accoustomed to the place and the people. I saw a ton of things wrong with the place, but I only made a couple changes that were rather pressing, food-safty wise. Yesterday I came in and all the changes I had made had been switched back to the wrong way. So, I fixed it again, pointed out to everyone what I had done, why I had

I'm lucky to be alive, no thanks to these idiots

2005-04-19T09:59:00.000-05:00

{inserts picture of the dudes}Friday Nathan calls me, "Hey let's shoot some pool and get some early drinks at Sapphire"Sounds great! I'm broke, but got a new job. let's celebrate like fucking rockstars, let's make our way to RipCity©. Cut to four slow, boring games of pool, countless $1 draws of Highlife and several too many $2 Whiskey and Cokes. We've arrived and we're holding a

A giant weight has been lifted from my chest.

2005-04-13T10:44:00.000-05:00

I was woken this morning by a job offer. Very nice. The money could be much better, but the hours are about perfect. Just last night, I was feeling panic-y and super worried about finding work, but now I'm rather relieved and completly back to normal. It's amazing how I react to unemployment. The two times I've lost jobs (both due to lay-offs) I've instantly become a mess and fallen into a

oh shit owww....

2005-04-12T12:06:00.000-05:00

I stepped on some broken glass. Man it's fun pulling a 3/4" shard of glass out of your heel all the while knowing that you are one of the most retarded people you know because you were knowingly walking around with bare feet after breaking glass. I'm a viking!

it's 2pm and raining

2005-04-11T13:53:00.000-05:00

and gross.The weekend was great, actually. Friday night I picked up acold six pack of ESB, then cooked a nice dinner for KT and I. It was a really gorgeous night, so we actually ate on our screened porch. It's such a nice feature of our home, and we seldom use it unless the dudes are over and want to smoke. Then we went and drank a bottle of cheap champaign in the hot tub. I think it really

Possible vindication

2005-04-08T16:29:00.000-05:00

Had a decent interview on Tues. Sent my references and contacts as requested today. I'd love to get a call back, even if the place is a bit of a dump. I showed up in suit and tie, as mom always taught me (she's head of a large HR dept.) and was way over dressed. Better than underdressed I suppose. I smiled and made eye contact and kept good posture, but I didn't get much of a chance to sell

my fucking head

2005-03-06T17:32:00.000-06:00

is pounding into oblivion. I just started taking some meds and took today's way late. Onset of withdrawl after only 6 hours off schedual makes me a little nervous, but the meds are working great otherwise.I missed Paul Westerberg last night, but I never really got my hopes up because I figured there was no way to pull the $20 door.I saw all the dudes Fri. night which was nice. It's so much more

Social Retardation

2005-02-15T10:37:00.000-06:00

So my last job was a mixture of a really cool gig, and really shitty management, and I left under pretty shady circumstances that seem to get shadier and shadier the more I hear back from some of the people I still talk to. No matter.But one guy (who has no film background and is computer illiterate) called me out of the blue last week trying to recruit me for a new business, basically copying

Happy Valentine's Day you sorry sad fuckers

2005-02-14T15:25:00.000-06:00

I'm feeling good for the first time in a couple weeks. Been sleeping very poorly again, but crashed out last night after making dinner (gorgonzola stuffed chicken breasts with garlic mashers) and watching the new episode of Iron Chef America. I actually fell asleep before KT. I woke up breifly, and KT was laying in bed with the lights and TV on, folding the laundry that I haven't been

half finished thoughts and half lived lives

2005-02-09T11:23:00.000-06:00

muddled thoughts that come from insomniac nights chased by caffeine-riddled mornings. I had all intents to get to bed relatively early last night, only to find myself obsessively checking boards that aren't occupied and listening to the same damn live version of E. Smith's "Twilight" about a hundred times. I could excuse myself the time if I had moved past speculating the best method to produce

Rebirth renewal or just a fucking Re-hash?

2005-02-08T03:15:00.000-06:00

broke. unemployed. unhappy. unfulfilled. bored. bothered. bewildered Seems like the past two years have been a fucking circle. Just when I feel like something might be shaping up someone pulls the rug out from underneath me. Current projects: - straightening out my portfolio - straightening out my professional website - Constant car repair - job search - botching up my unemployment claim