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Watched a guy in Chicago break down a whole hog with a cleaver and a boning knife, nothing else
I was at a small shop on the South Side last fall, just watching their process. The head butcher used a 6-inch boning knife for the whole thing, even the spine, and a cleaver just for the trotters. He said his mentor told him 'if you need a saw, you're not in the meat right.' I came back to my own shop and tried it on a Berkshire last week, and it forced me to learn the joints way better. What's the most basic tool set you guys use for a full breakdown?
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derek995mo ago
Yeah that mentor saying hits different once you actually try it. The weird thing nobody talks about is how much it changes your knife care routine. When you're not using a saw you're basically scraping bone nonstop. I sharpened my boning knife three times on that one hog. Did you notice your edges going faster than usual when you tried it on the Berkshire?
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brooke_webb6mo ago
Honestly, that mentor's saying is kind of wild but it makes sense. It forces you to actually know the animal. So what did you do with the spine on that Berkshire, just work the knife in between each vertebra? Tbh I saw something similar at a county fair once, but it was with a lamb. This old guy had one of those real thin, flexible knives and just popped everything apart. It looked easy but I bet it's way harder than it seems. Makes you respect the skill for sure.
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alex_taylor106mo ago
Yeah, it's like watching any real expert - they make the hard stuff look simple.
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