Butchers are getting to know all the best cuts at Waltham Forest College where they are learning to bring back traditional butchery skills to a supermarket chain’s meat counters.
Morrisons is on a mission to have its meat counters staffed by “real butchers who are properly trained and who know all the cuts”.
The store chain has chosen the College in Walthamstow, North East London, to help them deliver pledges made in its television advertisement featuring Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond.
It is sending 43 of its apprentice butchers to the College’s Smithfield Unit to learn how to provide the “right cut at the right price” for their customers in the first year of a training programme.
Two lecturers, Ian Wood and Ray Hum who have nearly 90 years experience in the meat trade between them, have designed and are delivering the training.
The College has been teaching butchery for more than 20 years following the closure of Smithfield College, which was situated next to Smithfield meat market in central London.
Ian said: “There has been a national decline in the number of retail butchers and as a result many of the traditional skills of butchery were beginning to die out. Morrisons promotes the family butcher approach to cutting and preparing meat in-store rather than having it come in pre-packed from central processing plants. We are providing the young apprentices with the traditional skills they need to deliver that. They learn how to utilise the whole carcass as well as how to cure bacon and make sausages and faggots. What makes Morrisons different to other supermarkets is that it is providing training that leads to a national qualification, an NVQ level two, rather than an in-house training course.”
In a fully equipped classroom complete with cold store, butchers’ blocks, knives, mincing machines and display cabinets, Ian expertly demonstrates how to de-bone and truss a shoulder of lamb ready for roasting. One class of ten apprentices dressed in red and white striped aprons and straw boaters watch intently before attempting the skill themselves.
The apprentices are from all over south and southwest England and spend four weeks at the College, one week at a time, during their 32 week training programme. As well as health and safety, hygiene, and quality control they are learning to de-bone, trim, package, label, and display meat. They are also being trained to advise customers on the right cut of meat for the right cooking process, such as brisket for pot roast and braising steak for stews, and to dispense cooking advice.
Ray, 64, who had his own butchers’ shop and sausage factory in Chingford for 25 years, explained the importance of reviving these skills. "When I opened my shop in 1975 there were ten butchers’ shops within half a mile,” he said. When I sold out nine years ago I was the last one standing. The traditional butcher was becoming extinct.”
Ryan Lawrence, from Bognor Regis, West Sussex, is one apprentice who hopes to keep the traditional butcher alive. He left university in June with a degree in business and media planning to go into advertising.
“I worked at Morrisons part time while at university and butchery began to appeal to me,” he explained. “It’s a good skill to have. I am learning new skills every day and it is not as easy as a lot of people think. I am still glad I went to university. I am sure I will be able to apply my business and media skills further in my career.”
Nathan Kenward, from Beccles, Suffolk, was a head chef in a hotel but could take no more of the long unsocial hours. “I switched to butchery because it is a dying art and up-and-coming butchers are hard to come by. It will give me a good knowledge of the whole process of meat production, from field to fork.”
MaryJo Hoyne, Head of School, commented: ‘A skills led curriculum, where learners acquire specialist techniques, creates enhanced employment opportunities. Hospitality and Catering students who have a bank of skills are highly sought after in the Industry.’
The butchery apprenticeship is the third embarked on by Marc Crisp, 23, from Verwood, Dorset. “I studied catering first, then completed a carpentry apprenticeship but my employer couldn’t afford to keep me on,” he said. “I was working as a meat packer in Morrisons when I was offered this opportunity. Butchery is one of those trades you don’t want to see die out and I am happy to be helping to keep it alive.”
Morrisons is on a mission to have its meat counters staffed by “real butchers who are properly trained and who know all the cuts”.
The store chain has chosen the College in Walthamstow, North East London, to help them deliver pledges made in its television advertisement featuring Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond.
It is sending 43 of its apprentice butchers to the College’s Smithfield Unit to learn how to provide the “right cut at the right price” for their customers in the first year of a training programme.
Two lecturers, Ian Wood and Ray Hum who have nearly 90 years experience in the meat trade between them, have designed and are delivering the training.
The College has been teaching butchery for more than 20 years following the closure of Smithfield College, which was situated next to Smithfield meat market in central London.
Ian said: “There has been a national decline in the number of retail butchers and as a result many of the traditional skills of butchery were beginning to die out. Morrisons promotes the family butcher approach to cutting and preparing meat in-store rather than having it come in pre-packed from central processing plants. We are providing the young apprentices with the traditional skills they need to deliver that. They learn how to utilise the whole carcass as well as how to cure bacon and make sausages and faggots. What makes Morrisons different to other supermarkets is that it is providing training that leads to a national qualification, an NVQ level two, rather than an in-house training course.”
In a fully equipped classroom complete with cold store, butchers’ blocks, knives, mincing machines and display cabinets, Ian expertly demonstrates how to de-bone and truss a shoulder of lamb ready for roasting. One class of ten apprentices dressed in red and white striped aprons and straw boaters watch intently before attempting the skill themselves.
The apprentices are from all over south and southwest England and spend four weeks at the College, one week at a time, during their 32 week training programme. As well as health and safety, hygiene, and quality control they are learning to de-bone, trim, package, label, and display meat. They are also being trained to advise customers on the right cut of meat for the right cooking process, such as brisket for pot roast and braising steak for stews, and to dispense cooking advice.
Ray, 64, who had his own butchers’ shop and sausage factory in Chingford for 25 years, explained the importance of reviving these skills. "When I opened my shop in 1975 there were ten butchers’ shops within half a mile,” he said. When I sold out nine years ago I was the last one standing. The traditional butcher was becoming extinct.”
Ryan Lawrence, from Bognor Regis, West Sussex, is one apprentice who hopes to keep the traditional butcher alive. He left university in June with a degree in business and media planning to go into advertising.
“I worked at Morrisons part time while at university and butchery began to appeal to me,” he explained. “It’s a good skill to have. I am learning new skills every day and it is not as easy as a lot of people think. I am still glad I went to university. I am sure I will be able to apply my business and media skills further in my career.”
Nathan Kenward, from Beccles, Suffolk, was a head chef in a hotel but could take no more of the long unsocial hours. “I switched to butchery because it is a dying art and up-and-coming butchers are hard to come by. It will give me a good knowledge of the whole process of meat production, from field to fork.”
MaryJo Hoyne, Head of School, commented: ‘A skills led curriculum, where learners acquire specialist techniques, creates enhanced employment opportunities. Hospitality and Catering students who have a bank of skills are highly sought after in the Industry.’
The butchery apprenticeship is the third embarked on by Marc Crisp, 23, from Verwood, Dorset. “I studied catering first, then completed a carpentry apprenticeship but my employer couldn’t afford to keep me on,” he said. “I was working as a meat packer in Morrisons when I was offered this opportunity. Butchery is one of those trades you don’t want to see die out and I am happy to be helping to keep it alive.”
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