Today was all about meat. We arrived at the Kinnealy's meat processing plant where we saw how meat was cut, sliced, diced and packaged for shipment. Unlike old fashioned butcher houses, the processing/butchering plant is very clean and only receives pieces of the cow, lamb etc. to butcher into smaller and specific cuts. There are no cows hanging from hooks, and there is actually very little blood throughout the whole plant. A great discovery that some people do treat meat well.
-side note - more women were butchering than men
In the afternoon, Jamie Bissonette, the part owner of Coppa and Toro, came in to teach us the methods of butchering a whole lamb, a slab of sirloin and how to perfectly cut up a chicken. His philosophy is novel and really got me thinking about the meat we eat. He believes in buying local products, knowing where the animals come from, what they eat and how they are treated. Knowing that they were treated well, not only gives peace of mind, but also you really are able to get quality - plus you feel better about eating the animal. Furthermore, Jamie told us how to utilize every part of the animal and how to make the most money out of it. Buying a whole animal is only good if you know how to butcher it and use it to create a value. But wonderful flavors and dishes can come from creativity and knowledge of how to use every piece: from rendering down extra fat, to making stock, to skewering and curing pieces that are tougher-endless possibilities!
Quick facts:
-chicken breasts should be the same size as thighs
-never wet age meat - sitting in own blood is not good
-use the tip and end of knife for cutting meat and the whole knife for cutting up chicken
-a lamb has a t-bone
-its better to trim fat off the sirloin than to leave tough fat on for the consumer
-grades of meat are based on fat marbling - select, choice, prime
- supermarkets have select, restaurants have choice, and some restaurants have prime (2-3% of all meat are considered prime) - see a picture below
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| Aging Beef (Dry) |
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| Woman cuting fat and connective tissue |
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| Select, Choice, Prime |
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| Jamie and the lamb |
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| The Lamb T-Bone |
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| Lamb Belly |
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