Oh how I wish the title of today's post was an indication of great meat breakdown prowess. Sadly it is the other meaning of the word 'butcher' that is applicable.
The renaissance of my love of cooking in response to my greater energy and time as a result of Theodora Project's increasing maturity was fully manifest this weekend. I have been frustrated that my choices for protein to make dinners from had gotten stale and limited. I went to the supermarket with a specific goal of getting some different items. This meant buying various meats and breaking them down into smaller sizes for the freezer.
However, we are having a bit of last fling of winter here and there was a desire to make some braised meat dishes before we get to the warmer, grilled meats season. Wife wanted a classic pot roast. I obliged her. But I wanted some pork shoulder for future projects. And herein lies the source of my doom. For while I thought I was getting an 8 pound boneless pork shoulder, in fact I bought a bone-in roast. "Well," I said to myself, "No problem. I will just de-bone it."
One problem. My knives. None of them are really sharp enough for this kind of serious meat cutting. It was an ordeal. I tried three different knives with little. I tried sawing through the big bone with no result. I heavy ass Chinese cleaver did nothing to the bone. Trying to get the tough outer skin off was a joke. I finally managed to cut a good deal of the meat off. It will be going into stew type of dishes, so if it is not looking pristine, it is not a big deal. I ended up with the big bone intact with a lot of meat still attached to it. I will at some point throw it into the pressure cooker with something and make a soup.
The whole experience was quite humbling. BUT, it has motivated me to research and find out the location of a good knife sharpening service!
3 comments:
Solution: Shun Knives
Sharp knives are a thing of joy. My vegetables never put up that much of a struggle, though.
I'm excited to hear about post-knife sharpening
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