Eat & Drink
DIY Butchery Trend Surfaces in Toronto
Cowbell Restaurant is bringing back the concept of do-it-yourself butchery. With the wave of socially conscious eating at its crest, Toronto locavores are taking nose-to-tail eating to a new level. It's no longer enough to know the farm your meat is coming from, make sure you frequent your local farm-to-table eatery, or experiment with haggis in your own kitchen. Now you have to look your meat in the face, and then watch it be cut up.
DIY butchery is a trend that started resurfacing in London and New York over a year ago, where conscious eaters pack butcher shops and restaurants for hands-on classes to learn about primal cuts and how to break down carcasses. And while it hasn't fully materialized on the Toronto scene yet, Chef Mark Cutrara is starting to push things in that direction.
He's launched a series of demonstrations where Cowbell's butcher Ryan Donovan breaks down pork and beef sides, whole deer, and other animals from head to tail. Hosting five sold out events already, Cutrara plans on holding at least one demo per month.
When I turned up at Cowbell on Sunday night, 20 aspiring home butchers filled Cowbell's basement kitchen space to watch Donovan break down a side of Berkshire pork.
As an added bonus, farmers Dennis and Denise Harrison of Dingo Farms (where Cowbell sources most of its meat) were also there to watch the break down of their own pig and talk about their farm. Over four generations of farming on that land, the Harrison family has gone from grass fed, to feed lot, and back to grass fed. I stumbled across this clip that summarizes their story and relationship to Cowbell nicely.
Cowbell's Ryan Donovan has been butchering for years, and excitedly talked about the anatomy of the pig (and farm animals in general), how their muscular systems work, and what that means for the flavour and preparation of different cuts of meat.
Cutrara and Donovan also got into some real-time menu planning, talking over how they would use things like the rind (boiled and put into potato croquettes), head (made into Testina), and trotters (to thicken up stock).
It took Donovan about 2 hours to break down the side of pork. I really enjoyed when he put the porky puzzle back together with the various cuts - trotters, hocks, football and baseball ham, loin, tenderloin, bacon, and head.
Then he broke out the sausage maker and finished off the demo by making mouth-watering sausages seasoned with honey, garlic, thyme, ginger and oats.
The group finished off the evening by enjoying a pint and a sampling of Cowbell's house-made charcuterie (including a beautiful lardo and venison chocolate salami) that they were making long before The Black Hoof stampeded onto the scene.
With Toronto food mavens like Corey Mintz leading the butcher-love trend, maybe we can hope to see hands-on classes from other nose-tail devotes like the Black Hoof or proper butcher shops like The Healthy Butcher (who currently does demos), Cumbrae's or Sanagans.
But before grabbing a clever and fancying yourself the next Dario Cecchini, maybe catching a demo at Cowbell is a good way to get started.
The next Cowbell butchery class will be breaking down a whole deer on January 31st. Look out for details and future dates on their website.
Photos by the author.
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uhh...not for me, I think. Good for those who want to kill and cut their own meat, all "primal style". I'm happy to let the professionals (chefs, butchers) do it for me and just enjoy the tasty results.
i'm sooo in! made sausages this weekend and knowing how to properly butcher would've saved me a few pesos at the supermarket. Thanks for the tip and another great piece!
Ryan Donovan is also partnering with Dave Meli, head butcher at Healthy Butcher, to teach a class called "Breaking the Pig" at The Stop Community Food Centre.
The three-hour class includes a demonstration of "whole animal butchery" and discussion of farming practices, challenges of getting local food to market, how to identify good pork, and how to utilize tertiary cuts and be more economical in their own kitchens.
Scheduled for Friday, February 8th, 6-9pm. $120 per person and like all cooking classes at The Stop, proceeds go to support The Stop's programs.
http://www.thestop.org/cooking-classes
This is awesome! Sadly I think this is one of the most ignored aspects of food preparation/cooking. I'd like to try this some time for sure.
If you can't look an animal in the face, kill it, cut it and eat it "all 'primal style'", you should become a vegetarian. Where do you think your meat comes from?
I LOVE MEAT !!!
Get of your high tofu horse buddy. Maybe he/she just likes the taste of meat. Plus, killing the animal wasn't part of the course.
I just love a juicy sausage.
That's ridiculous. It's like saying if you can't build a bike using only raw materials you shouldn't drive one.
Can't you vegetarians hear the celery screaming when you bite into it? You cruel basstads.
I get this message from Chrome once in a while when I visit blogto:
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For detailed information about the problems with this site, visit the Google Safe Browsing diagnostic page for www.blogto.com."
So by your logic, if I can't (or don't wish to) build a house from scratch, I shouldn't live in one?
My original comment had nothing to do with any issues about meat or how its prepared. I have no problem whatsoever with eating meat, and have no desire whatsoever to be a vegetarian - I simply stated that I don't wish to become a butcher. There are lots of people in this City who do it for a living and are a lot better at it than I am, so I'm happy to leave it to the pros and enjoy the fruits of their labour. It just looks like a lot of work, but kudos to those who are into it.
Get off your high horse, you moron
I keep getting malware warning as well specifically form this site.
What is going on blog.to?
The age-old high-horse vegetarian vs self-righteous meat-eaters. It's a little tired.
Very cool piece; I really dig it.
same here, plust my Avast anti-virus warns me about Trojans on this site as well.... odd....
The malware: It's the Army of the 12 Vegetarians trying to get all you burger basstads
now if only someone would offer the whole kit and kaboodle, right from the DYI slaughter house to DIY snackin, then we'd be talkin gravy. i smell a trend all you charcuterie owners.
In all of the pictures, I don't see a single hair net. Aren't there rules about things like that?
There are rules but the main purpose is to prevent the handler from touching their hair and then food. These people are professionals... Should Chefs wear protective glasses to prevent an eyelash from falling into food?
Is this supposed to be fun?? Really....dismemberment of a whole fucking deer is supposed to make me a better cook and help me appreciate my meal? What would Julia say???????? Man, if you think a tofu pie in the face was something, think of what will happen when PETA finds out about the Jan 31st deerfest.
Am I a moron because I failed to understand the point of this article? Hmm...I thought the point of "DIY butchery" and the whole organic food movement is to raise awareness about where our food comes from. You described the process described in the article as "primal style", when the reality is this process is far more organic (and humane) than that which takes place in providing you with convenience meats. I think this is the way we should all think about our food. Plus, in much the same way as I would research the workmanship going into...say, a new bike or a new home before I purchased one, I want to know and understand where my food comes from.
Again you miss the point. There's a difference between being interested in where your meat comes from and acting as my own butcher. One does not necessarily have to follow the other. I wasn't criticizing those who choose to do so, I was simply saying, in what I thought was in a light-hearted tone, that it's not for me. That you can't seem to grasp that is why you are a moron.
Can the trolls put a sock in it please? I went to the class the other day and I can tell you it was a fantastic experience. Really positive and great for learning where the different cuts come from and how to cook them. I can't recommend it enough.
The point which you are failing to grasp is that I, like you, am expressing an opinion. Generally, I feel that people who make comments like yours ("my cow has a name" and "good for those who want to kill and cut their own meat, all 'primal style'") might think a little more about what they're consuming if they were to 'get their hands dirty', so to speak. As you said, you were being "light-hearted". I simply don't approach this subject in a lighthearted fashion. However, I'm certainly lighthearted when it comes to your proclamation of my mental capacity. Best to you and yours.
Donovan is my hero.
This is a cry for help from an unfortunate deer who is probably snoozing after a long day of minding it's own business and snacking on grass.
A snoozing deer?
I didnt know deers worked for the TTC!
Looks like I missed this: The Stop is holding a butchery class with Donovan from Cowbell and Dave Meli from The Healthy Butcher on Monday Feb 8th. http://thestop.org/cooking-classes
How much extra for a 3" goatee hair in my sausage??
I would just go for a chance to peer once again into those dark pensive eyes..... donovan.... i miss you at the HB... meat does not taste the same since you left..... sorry but it is true...too me.