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Appreciation post: the old guys who taught me to break down a whole hog by hand
When I started at Kessler's in 2009, there was an old German guy named Walt who could break a 250 pound hog into primals in about 20 minutes with nothing but a hand saw and a 6 inch boning knife. Last Tuesday I watched a new kid stand in front of a bandsaw for 15 minutes trying to figure out where to start, and it hit me how much we lost. Walt never used a chart or a video, he just knew where the seams were by feel, and he'd make you do it 30 times before he'd even tell you your cuts were getting cleaner. Now most of the young guys coming out of the trade schools can name 40 cuts but can't find the natural seam on a shoulder to save their life. I still use Walt's trick of feeling for the soft spot behind the shoulder blade before I even pick up a knife. Anybody else here learn from an old timer who did it all by hand, and do you still teach it that way?
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shanem3711d ago
That "knew by feel" thing is everywhere now, people skip the basics and just trust the machine.
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