Meat: Secret Diary of a Lime Wood Commis - age 19 1/2
I haven't posted for a few weeks...got a bit caught up in the madness that is the fish section but luckily I've been moved off those duties and have spent the last couple of days on meat - that's more like it!
The great thing about this section is that you spend a bit of time with Chef & some other seniors on Wednesdays (when the deliveries come in). I was slightly surprised when Chef asked me to grab the steaks from the delivery barn, I looked everywhere for them and couldn't see any so I rung up to the kitchen and asked Chef where they were and he said "you see that thing hanging in the middle of the room - the steaks are attached to that" and then I realised that I had to bring up the whole cow!
Once I'd brought the cow up to the kitchen I took it to the butchery room where three of us started the break down process, which means separating the primal cuts from the bone and utilising the secondary cuts for charcuterie. There's way more to it than I had thought - from the brining of the meats to the spice salt cures and the rest!
This Wednesday we focused on a new breed of cattle that Chef had been down to London to taste and thought was worthwhile us using, it's a bit more expensive I think but having seen it and tasted it (perks of the job) I must admit it was pretty good. We took the sirloins off, separated the rib eyes, boned the legs but kept the bones for the marrow (we're smoking it and putting some in our burgers for flavour) as well as cut some T bones. Most of the leg meat was for the bresaola to go into the Smoke House and the rest will feature on lunch menus and on our A La Carte menu.
The good thing about the meat section is that you shadow a senior, there's a lot to take in but I've always dreamt of butchery as a kid so it was a great feeling collecting the whole cow and then seeing every bit of it utilised and made in to something that would be eaten - there was zero wastage!
