Re: The local butchery

ChattyCathy wrote:
Sheldon wrote:
ChattyCathy wrote:
I went into a local butchery today and noticed that the butcher was
female - and it suddenly struck me that I'd never seen female butcher
before. I've seen plenty of female assistants, who help pack the cuts of
meat and serve the customers etc., but this was the first time I've
noticed a female butcher turning a nice big pig into recognizable cuts
of pork...

Have you ever noticed that most butchers are male? Or is just me?

What you're seeing at your local market are "meat cutters", not
butchers (butchers break down the entire carcass). Typically butchers
have always been males (usually large males) because butchering
requires great physical strength. Nowadays markets only receive
primal sections, they've already been butchered (they're not very
large chunks and typically don't even contain bone) and are now ready
for the meat cutter, a much less physically demanding job... I see no
reason that the typical female can't do a meat cutters job... I often
see females at stupidmarket meat departments cutting meat.

Oops, my mistake. I should have said "a whole pig" instead of "a nice
big pig"...

Don't try to smarm me, I read what you wrote: "pig".

Pigs are not very large or heavy, especially not eviserated pigs...
had you said *hog* that would be a different scenario. A live pig is
under 125 pounds.... when slaughtered, by the time it's gutted, bled,
and shipped to market a pig may weigh around 60 pounds tops. Pigs are
typically sold whole, to be roasted whole (or half), there's no real
butchering involved. Hogs are much larger, usually 200 pounds and
up... those are butchered at the slaughter house and shipped to the
market in sections. I don't believe you saw a whole hog at your meat
market.

I'm not saying that there are no female butchers, there surely are,
but typically what you see at the retail market level are meat cutters
(male and female), there aren't many butchers anymore anyway, much of
the butchering is done assembly line fashion, each person does one
operation, butchering today is more or less automated, and becoming
ever moreso at an ever accelerating rate... won't be too much longer
and all there'll be is factory packaged meat, there won't be any meat
cutters at the retail level.

http://www.tyson.com/Recipes/Learning/PorkQuestions.aspx

Q: What is the difference between a pig and a hog?
A: hog is the generic term for all swine. Pigs are immature hogs
weighing less than 125 pounds.
---

http://www.elboricua.com/roast_pig_BBQgrill.html


SHELDON
.

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