 | The Gourmet Butcher DVD: |
Source: Won on the Lunch sustainablog community.
DVD Description from Website:
For more than 30 years, master butcher Cole Ward has been teaching chefs, butchers, farmers, caterers and meat-lovers how to cut and prepare their own meat.
Now you can, too: In four episodes, master butcher Cole Ward and chef Courtney Contos will show you how to turn a side of Beef, Pork and Lamb into heaven on a plate.
The Gourmet Butcher™ delivers Cole Ward's entire course – plus many extras – in a four-hour DVD series that will take you through every step of the butchering process: breaking down a carcass into primal cuts, turning those primal cuts into gourmet or retail cuts, then transforming them into table-ready gourmet dishes.
What you'll get:
Four hours of one-on-one teaching from Cole on Lamb, Pork, Beef fore-quarter, and Beef hind-quarter, instruction on tools and safety, prep tips and presentation options, and meal ideas with recipes from chef Courtney.
My Review:
The Gourmet Butcher DVD set teaches you how to cut beef, lamb, and pork carcasses into primal and retail cuts and how to cook these cuts. They included general cooking advice and several recipes. The DVDs also included a short section introducing the presenters and a brief section on what tools you'll need to do the butchering yourself.
The DVDs started with the animal already dead, gutted, skinned, and otherwise ready to be cut into smaller sizes of meat. The DVD on Beef Hindquarter and Beef Forequarter was very well done. The camera work was excellent and allowed a good view of what Cole was doing. Cole worked fairly slowly and gave enough instruction that I felt I understood why he was cutting where he was and what to look for.
On the DVD on Pork and Lamb, Cole worked very quickly. I felt like I could probably reproduce his cuts if I had the DVD going (and used the pause function) as I worked on the meat, but I didn't feel like I really understood the process. The camera work was also not as high quality. Several times the camera would focus on the Cole's face while he was demonstrating something with his hands, so we never got to see it demonstrated. Also, a couple of times Cole showed his co-host how to do something instead of the camera (though often he caught himself and showed us, too). This Pork/Lamb DVD would be useful for someone needing a refresher on what to do, but less so for a beginner learning solely from the DVD.
At the end of the Pork and Lamb primal cuts sections, Cole reassembled the animal and pointed out what cuts of meat had been taken from where and in what order. It looked much like those "cuts of meat" charts. Cole didn't really reassemble the beef primal cuts at the end, but he did point out those cuts in order again.
In the primal cuts section, Cole demonstrated how to make the main cuts in taking the meat apart. In the gourmet cuts section, Cole demonstrated how to cut those primal cuts into retail or "table-ready" cuts. Cole and Courtney also discussed how to best cook these cuts (by roasting, grilling, skillet, etc.). In the Beef Hindquarter Gourmet Cuts section, the presenters talked some about aging the meat. In the Recipe section, they demonstrated--like in a cooking show--how to do a recipe.
One thing lacking was that they didn't discuss sanitary measures. For example, it was disconcerting to see a primal cut fall on the floor and Cole never mentioned (or showed) what to do if that happens.
Overall, though, if you want to learn to butcher beef, need a refresher on butchering beef, lamb, or pork, or are interested in where the various cuts come from and want tips on how to best cook them, then this DVD would be useful.
Disk 1
BEEF HINDQUARTER
Started with a quarter of carcass minus hooves, tail, and hide.
Beef Primal Cuts: 24 min 53 sec.
Beef Gourmet Cuts: 45 min 28 sec
1. Top Butt - triangle-tip roast, ball-tipped roast, (boneless) sirloin steaks
2. Bone-In Strip - boneless New York strip steak
3. Tender Loin - fillets or whole
4. Flank - Butterflied flank steak
5. "Flap" Meat - "sirloin tip" cut
6. Knuckle or Sirloin Tip - sirloin tip steak, sirloin tip roasts
7. Top Round - round steak, rouladen, top round roasts
8. Eye of the Round - minute/sandwich steaks, eye of the round roast
9. Bottom Round - cut into rump, center cut, and bottom round for pot roast
10. Shank - beef shanks
Beef Recipes:
1. Pig in a Flanket: 6 min 47 sec
2. Peposo Notturno: 3 min 20 sec
3. Cheddar Bacon Burgers: 3 min 46 sec (also showed how to make ground beef and form into burger patties)
4. Pickle & Cheese Stuffed Burgers: 4 min 2 sec
BEEF FOREQUARTER
Started with a quarter of carcass minus hooves, head, and hide.
Beef Primal Cuts: 17 min 39 sec
(Included making retail cuts of skirt steaks; plate short ribs and further processing of the plate; rack of beef spare ribs, boneless rib eye steaks, and rib eye roast.)
Beef Gourmet Cuts: 28 min 10 sec
1. Brisket - brisket
2. Shoulder - short ribs, arm pot roast, shoulder "London Royal" steak, stew squares
3. Short Ribs & Beef Shank - shoulder short ribs, beef shanks
4. Bone-In Chuck - chuck steaks, chuck roasts
Beef Recipes:
1. Grilled Steak au Poivre: 7 min 7 sec
Disk 2
PORK
Started with a half of carcass minus hooves, tail, and hide.
Pork Primal Cuts: 14 min 47 sec
Pork Gourmet Cuts: 32 minutes 48 seconds
1. Ham Hocks & Head - "head cheese" cut
2. Picnic Shoulder & Boston Butt - roasts, chops
3. The Ham - butt half, center cut slice, Top Round into cutlets plus squares for kabab, Eye of the Round into thin "medallions", and Bottom Round into steaks
4. The Ribs & Pork Belly - ribs, bacon
5. The Ribs End, Center Cut, & Sirloin End - Rib End into baby back ribs & boneless country style ribs, Center Cut into pork chops & French roast, and Sirloin End into tenderloin & sirloin cutlets or sirloin steaks
Pork recipes:
1. Braised Pork Belly: 4 min 24 sec
2. Orange Marinade: 1 min 32 sec
3. Maple Breakfast Sausage: 6 min 40 sec (showed how to grind meat and form into sausage patties)
LAMB
Started with whole carcass minus head, hooves, and hide.
Lamb Primal Cuts: 6 min 37 sec
Lamb Gourmet Cuts: 38 min 2 sec
1. Leg & Rear Shanks - Rear Shank into lamb shank and Leg into boneless leg roast (showed two methods to remove bone)
2. Breast & Front Shanks - Breast into riblets or make a pocket in for stuffing, Front Shanks into lamb shank, Brisket trimmed for use as ground lamb or in stew, and Neck trimed for stew
3. Rack of Lamb & Lamb Loin - Rack of Lamb was Frenched/Crowned or cut into rib lamb chops and Lamb Loin cut into loin lamb chops or butterflied lamb loin
Lamb Recipes:
1. Stuffed Lamb Loin: 3 min 50 sec
2. Lemon Herb Butterflied Leg of Lamb: 2 min 14 sec
3. Cranberry Apricot Ginger Lamb Sausage: 9 min 24 sec, (showed how to grind meat and fill sausage casing)
If you've watched this DVD, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.
Excerpt from DVD
Or view video on YouTube.
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