Butchery, over and above!

[KavKav]

Morning all!

Today we have a pair of close friends coming for lunch. SWMBO decided that we were to have rosemary walnut and apricot stuffed leg of lamb and the procurement mechanics was down to yours truly. Yesterday morning, in a blizzard, I cautiously eased my way to our local farm shop. I went to the butchery counter on arrival, smiled hopefully at the butcher and told him I wanted a nice leg of lamb about 2.5KG and would he be good enough to bone it while I waited, fully expecting to be told as politely as possible that it is Saturday morning, he is busy and would I care to ‘DO ONE’?
Quite the opposite happened, Mr Butcher disappeared out the back and returned and presented a leg of lamb for approval, I shook my head and without comment he went and fetched another, I shook my head at that and withering slightly under his politely arched eyebrow, he went and fetched a third which looked perfect! He then proceeded to carefully bone and trim the leg and he finished it with a series of butterflying incisions and to my astonishment, he then put it on the scales, fully boned to calculate the price! Thanking him profusely for his ‘can do’ attitude, I bore the beastie triumphantly home, made a marinade and the joint sat nicely in said marinade overnight in the fridge until this morning when I made the herb, rosemary walnut and apricot stuffing. Stuffed the beastie and tied it all together and it now sits nicely in the oven. I have had fun with this and look forward with interest to carving and tasting it. Hope I have not bored you all, just thought this was worth sharing.

The recipe is available on olive magazine.com if anyone is still awake and interested:-
https://www.olivemagazine.com/recipe...d-leg-of-lamb/

p.s. Post lunch, the lamb and stuffing was utterly delicious! I would recommend this recipe to anyone!

[Sinnlover]

Well I have to say that’s what I would expect a decent butcher to do. Although there would be sod all chance of that happening in a supermarket.
My local one is great no matter what you want they will sort it, failing that if it is busy he will ask me to come back later that day. Not an issue as he is 3 minutes walk away. (It helps the lads that work for him all drink in the local so I know them all well).
I have done a few butchery courses with them, all very enjoyable. Butchery is a real skill, dressing the cuts is not as easy as it looks.
If I won the lottery I would like to open a high class butchers as a side hustle / hobby (with a decent team to run it day to day).

I will have to have a google for the recipe as it’s sounds yum.

[Kingstepper]

Certainly wouldn't expect him to weigh it boned. Maybe there's a different price boned.

[seadog1408]

I am breaking down a deer carcass fortnightly at the moment, you are right it's not easy!!

[Jon Kenney]

I was a butcher for eight years. Actually the youngest butcher in the country (at the time) to pass butchery management City and Guilds with a distinction.

It has held me in very good stead over the years, and only last night I was giving a bar and restaurant owner some useful tips, 28 years after leaving the trade.

I still love to butcher to this day. The family also love to watch whenever I have a side of pork delivered.

[Auto]

I was a butcher for eight years. Actually the youngest butcher in the country (at the time) to pass butchery management City and Guilds with a distinction.

It has held me in very good stead over the years, and only last night I was giving a bar and restaurant owner some useful tips, 28 years after leaving the trade.

I still love to butcher to this day. The family also love to watch whenever I have a side of pork delivered.

My dad was a butcher all his life, took it over from his dad.
As a young kid I would help out every now and again, just wished I’d took proper notice of his skills when I was there and maybe have picked up on it.
That’s one thing that sits on my mind knowing I’ll never have the chance to learn from him again.

It’s a true art form done correctly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[draftsmann]

I am breaking down a deer carcass fortnightly at the moment, you are right it's not easy!!

I’m envious- that sounds like a pleasant “hardship”. Is it mostly muntjac in your part of the world?

[pugster]

first job i had at 16 was working in a butchers shop , butterflying a leg of lamb is easy as long as you take your time , de boning a whole chicken without it looking like its been run over is another matter :P.
butterflyed leg of lamb maranaded in garlic/rosemary/anchovies and red wine has been a favourite in this house for many years.

[seadog1408]

I’m envious- that sounds like a pleasant “hardship”. Is it mostly muntjac in your part of the world?

No, luckily I have fallow roe and muntjac, they mostly get sold straight away but now and again I put one into my own freezer.

[reggie747]

No, luckily I have fallow roe and muntjac, they mostly get sold straight away but now and again I put one into my own freezer.

You ARE Bear Grylls and I claim my £ 5 !!