Lebanon
Recommended, but not required.
“One pig, a bunch of knives, a mallet, and a handsaw, and you can take care of this at home,” instructor Jeff Withington told the 10 people gathered in the Co-op’s Culinary Learning Center.
The class, cross-promoted by West Lebanon Feed & Supply, included at least one hunter, several people who had raised pigs or chickens, and others who said they’d never kept farm animals and had no plans to start. Some came to get a better grasp on breaking down large pieces of meat; others wanted to save on butchering fees.
But they all seemed to share Withington’s passion for good food.
“When you do home butchering, it’s your animal. You respect it a little more” and know what it ate and how it lived, said Withington, the head butcher and manager at the Hanover Co-op meat department.
“Like when you grow your own vegetables, it tastes better.”
During the two-hour class, which cost $20-$40 to attend, Withington cut up half a pig that lay atop a long plastic cutting board, explaining the process as he worked. As the class snapped pictures and scribbled notes, he noted some of the choices they’d encounter. How many chops, roasts or steaks do you want? Will you use the pork belly for bacon? Pancetta?
“If you have grown and (raised it), you might as well use every piece you can,” said Withington, offering potential uses for often overlooked parts of the animal, including the head, tongue and ears. Smoked, the shanks are great for soups or beans, and due to the amount of collagen they contain, the feet make “a great stew.”
He shared a feathering technique to remove the cherished tenderloin and more than once told the class not to be paralyzed by the quest for perfection. “If you cut a little bit here and there and mess up, it’s not the end of the world.”
He also tossed in some hard-won advice.
“If you lose your knife, don’t just reach in,” he said. “Done it. Found it.”
“Ouch,” said 11-year-old Dana Buswell, who attended the class with his grandmother and his mother, Betsy Buswell.
A “foodie,” Dana cooks with her all the time, Buswell said in an interview later that night. “He has his own set of knives.”
While most people gathered around Withington, Jerry Nicholson stood back, his eyes trained on a flat screen TV showing the process up close. The Canaan resident has hunted with Withington and also took a lamb butchery course with him.
“One of the things I love about his classes is, it’s not just about (butchering),” Nicholson said. “It’s anecdotes, stories, history. Wonderful stuff.”
Just down the kitchen counter from Withington, the learning center’s director cooked up pork medallions, meuniere sauce, cheesy polenta,andpork for a stew, highlighting the steps as he went along.
People often ask if they can use a slow cooker, said Eli Morse, after pouring a blend of canola and olive oils into a cast iron skillet. They can, but “if you want the mack daddy stew … it’s all about searing.”
As the evening wound down, Morse served the medallions topped with the lemony sauce, followed by bowls of pork stew he’d made earlier and polenta. The class dug in, admiring the flavors, some going for seconds, evoking something Withington had said earlier that night.
“You start out with good ingredients, you get good results. You start with not so good (ingredients), you get frozen TV dinner.”
Aimee Caruso can be reached at acaruso@vnews.com or 603-727-3210.