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finding a intershp in a butcher shop

2K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  chefedb 
#1 · (Edited)
I was wondering how I should go about looking for an internship as a butcher, as I come closer to my graduation I feel like I need to learn more about the cuts of meat to better understand what I want to cook when it comes to meats. I am located in San Antonio, TX, willing to move.
 
#2 ·
Welcome to Cheftalk.

I'm going to move your post to a more relevant forum where you will probably have a better chance of it being seen and receiving a reply.

I don't know where you are based.  Our membership is gathered from around the globe but I suspect you'd get a different answer from members in different countries.  It might help if you said where you were!
 
#3 ·
Almost impossi'ble because there are so few butcher shops as we knew them today. Even the schools dont teach it correctly because many of the instructors are to young to have learned real meat cutting. Today 95 % of meat is boxed and precut. One of biggest suppliers IBP is a division of Tyson foods. Swift is also big. Most of the meat is cut in slaughter house processing rooms by Mexican guys who are taught just 1 cut then pass it down assembly line style. I was lucky I learned how to break down whole carcasses from the old timers and now I am old and try and show the young guys I work with.
 
#5 ·
If your willing to relocate in the US I'd suggest contacting some of the larger well known butcher shops such as Lobels in NY, Sparrow Meats in Ann Arbor Mi, etc. Try to find a butcher that is also working with dry aged meat so you can learn those techniques. I think you might also want to consider certain packing houses in Chicago, Detroit or NYC.  There are still true butchers out there but your going to have to seek them out and really pursue a job.

Have you contacted Hirsch's in Plano? Surely there must be quality butchers in Texas especially with the high end Market in Dallas and Austin not to mention all of the game processing in Hill Country as well as the German shops making sausage.

This is one time you really will have to think out side of the box!

Dave
 
#6 ·
OK, now I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin' ... Why don't you just look up butcher shops (meat wholesale / meat retail / meat preparation) in the Yellow Pages, start with the closest one to you, walk in and ask. "Hey look, I'm just out of school. I'm interested in learning proper butchery. I'd be willing to work a couple of shifts pro-bono. After that, if things look good, maybe you could put me on." I'd be willing to guess that one of them would take you up on the offer. I looked by where I live. There are thirty(30) places I would say worthy of a visit. I would not make a phone call, but visit first. I would be in full work attire. "I was just coming back from (class, work, make something up) and I thought I would drop in. I'm interested in your business." I've been hired by three(3) places after just standing around as a customer talking to other customers and selling them more or better stuff. It aint'e rocket surgery.
 
#7 ·
Don't know where you live, but Sysco Food Service owns Butcher Block based in Georgia ask a rep about it. A lot of their meat is cut by laser light(steaks etc) but they still have good meat men there.
 
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