Butcher Apprenticeship

Hi folks, It's Andy!  Sarah asked me to chime in on the blog and write about my Butcher's Apprenticeship with Fleisher's in New York.  Fleisher's is one of the top butcher shops in the country and was recently selected as the 5th best butcher shop in the US by The Daily Meal (food & drink media company).  Fleisher's specializes in whole animal butchery and uses the entire animal, letting nothing go to waste.  Fleisher's sources its meat from local New York farms.  All of the meat that comes in is pastured and fed a natural diet (i.e. grass-fed) with no hormones, antibiotics, etc.  Fleisher's is the real deal and this shop runs a lot of animals through each week.  My job is to break down whole animals into retail case-ready cuts......and I am loving it!     

Butcher Apprenticeship:

Both Sarah and I thought it would be a good idea if one of us knew how to cut meat since we are opening a butcher shop (it seemed like an important step)!  There are very few places that break down whole animals and are willing to train rookies in the lost art of craft butchery.  Fleisher's was the perfect fit!  Fleisher's loves to work with people passionate about whole animal butchery and provides an intensive 12-week apprenticeship program.  During the 12-weeks students learn to break lamb, pork, and beef while also learning the business of running a butcher shop.     

I am 8-weeks through my 12-week apprenticeship.  It has been a crazy adventure!!  Two months ago I was cranking out Excel spreadsheets and now I am tearing apart whole-animals!  Below, I have provided some of the highlights of my experience so far. 

Animal Delivery Day:  Animals typically come in on Monday and Tuesday.  There is a sense of thrill in the air when Mitch, the guy who delivers the animals, shows up with 20 sides of pig, 12 lambs, and 20 quarters of beef.  Mitch is ridiculously jacked from lifting animals all day!  Seeing all of the animals come in and digging your knives/saws in for those first cuts is awesome.  It is also sweet seeing the room, which on Tuesday is full of hanging carcasses, deplete to empty over the course of the week.

A fresh batch of lambs ready to butcher!!

Strength and Conditioning:  I am getting stronger every day.  All of the cutting and lifting is really improving my upper body strength.  I was ridiculously sore the first couple weeks!! Luckily, the soreness is going away and I am on a daily regimen of Advil and stretching!

The Butcher Boy!
(dry-aged ribs and loins in the background)

Knives:  I have a new knife fetish.  Every morning begins with a ritualistic knife sharpening.  It is very rhythmic and relaxing to sharpen knives.  I can tell my knife is sharp when I can easily shave off some of my arm hair!  My left arm has a huge bald spot!  

Using my incredibly sharp 8" breaking knife to break the shoulder off a pig.

The Band Saw:  I also now have a band saw fetish.  I was scared to use the band saw at first and I strictly adhere to my instructor's advice regarding the band saw:  "Respect the f*#k out of the band saw."  

There she is!  The band saw!

My New Diet:  I get to take home meat most nights.  It is part of the experience and it is really important to understand how to properly cook all of the different cuts.  In the beginning, I would just eat the meat with nothing else (no veggies, bread, etc. mainly because I was too tired to cook anything else after a long day of cutting!).  This all meat diet is right up my alley.  Sarah and the other apprentices, however, have convinced me to start introducing vegetables into the routine, so I have been slowly adding veggies to the diet!

Dinner is Served!  A true butcher's dinner!  No veggies allowed!

New York City:  NYC is amazing and there are so many things to do and good meals to eat!!  My favorite meal so far is the Momofuku Ramen from the Momofuku noodle bar in Manhattan.  Ridiculous!

The Momofuku Ramen with a beer and a glass of Sake!

Slaughter:  For some sick un-explainable reason, I really enjoy attending and participating in slaughters. There is something very exhilarating and exiting about the slaughter.  I really enjoy seeing the true farm to table process of a live animal to pork-chops and steaks!  I have included several photos of a pig slaughter and a goat slaughter.  If you are squeamish, I recommend looking away!    

Me "Sticking" the pig. 

Clean-up time!

Two fellow butchers, Hannah and Jon, skinning a goat.

Hannah cutting off the goat's head at the atlas joint.  

Master Butcher Hans Sebold pulling the insides of a recently slaughtered pig. 

Sausage Making:  I love making sausage!!  Mostly, I enjoy the recipe development.  I am currently working on a sausage inspired by a recipe from my old boss at Gallo who is from South Africa.  The sausage is a South African Boerewors and I call it, the "George."  

Camaraderie:  When you spend the entire day around a butcher's table cutting meat you develop great friendships with the other guys around the table.  I am doing the apprenticeship with two other students, Evan and David (Jonesy).  Jonesy and Evan have been a big part of my experience here in New York!  Evan is planning to open up a butcher shop in Grand Rapids, MI.  Jonesy is moving to Palo Alto after the apprenticeship and hopefully he will come help me cut meat out west!  The only thing better than breaking animals, is breaking animals with good people!

Evan Carrying a Lamb

  

Jonesy

Overall, the apprenticeship so far has been an incredible experience.  The stresses of being a butcher are much different than the stresses associated with corporate life.  At the end of each day, I am completely exhausted, but it is physical exhaustion vs. mental exhaustion.  I really enjoy seeing the meat come in and go out each week. I also get a great sense of achievement turning a room full of animal carcasses into beautiful case ready cuts, bacon, ham, sausage, stock, and other wonderful things!  The main negative here is being away from Sarah and the baby-on-the-way!  Only one month left until I get to go home to my beautiful wife and our new son to be.  Harold!