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A butcher is someone who prepares various meats and other related goods for sale. Many butchers sell their goods through private stores, but nowadays, in the Western world most meat is sold through supermarkets.
Duties
A butcher will carry out primary butchery by selecting carcasses, sides, or quarters from which primary cuts can be produced with the minimum of wastage, separate the primal cuts from the carcasses using the appropriate tools and equipment following company procedures, trim primal cuts and prepare for secondary butchery of sale, and store cut hygienically and safely. Secondary butchery involves boning and trimming primal cuts in preparation for sale. A butcher will also manufacture meat products for sausages, pies and stir-frys. Butchers will normally buy in 'hindquarters' which will be either the left or right side of a cow's back and leg. The back is called 'long roast' and the leg either a 'top' or 'top bit'.
Boning
The top consists of four main parts: 'silverside', 'topside', 'thick flank', and 'hind shin'. These are more commonly boned out: first the 'shin' is removed, then the hip bone followed by the 'thick flank', and then the 'femur', the 'silverside', and the 'topside' are split. The primals are then trimmed to produce sausage trim and mince trim and either 'hung' or vac-packed until needed.
The 'long roast' or 'gun' also consists of four main parts: the 'sirloin', 'fillet', 'rump', and 'rib-eye'. These are boned out from the 'long roast', trimmed and cut into steaks. They can also be served 'bone-in' for roasts and T-bone steaks.
Sausage Making
Sausage making was first conceived as a use for leftovers of meat. Originally, the meat was minced, salt was added, and the resulting mixture was filled into intestines. Queen Victoria had her butcher roughly chop the meat so the sausages had more texture. Today, sausages are made with different types of packaged seasonings, fresh herbs and spices, rusks or breadcrumbs, water or ice. A small amount of pork fat is added to chicken sausages to help moisten them during cooking.