Butcher a Pig Under the Bridge

If you haven't made it down to the New Amsterdam Market yet here is another good reason to go.

Master Butchers Josh Appelstone and Tom Mylan will be dissecting an entire side of pig and discussing all the various cuts and their uses. Definitely sounds like something I should attend and take my video camera along. As someone who has a history of eating little to no meat I feel increasingly like I need to get up to speed on my understanding of butchery. What better way to start then with a free demonstration?

Here's the press release with all the details:

TWO MASTER BUTCHERS TAKE ON A HALF PIG UNDER THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE

New Amsterdam Market hosts a cutting demonstration, offers shoppers the opportunity to buy directly from regional food purveyors, and joins the debate on meat.

New York, N.Y. - New Amsterdam Market will be held on Sunday, October 25, 2009, from 11:00am to 4:00pm. The market will take place on South Street in Lower Manhattan, between Beekman Street and Peck Slip. The upcoming market will have a special focus on meat production, sourcing, and butchering, demonstrating an alternative to the industrial model whose safety and accountability was recently questioned by journalist Michael Moss earlier this month for his New York Times article "E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection." (Sunday, October 3, 2009).

The New Amsterdam Market on October 25 will feature farmers and meat ranchers, regional distributors, butchers, and purveyors who can trace and identify the source of every pound of meat sold to the public, even to the specific head of cattle. "The trust-based food system being pioneered by this market's participants sets a new standard that can help direct our thinking about food" says Robert LaValva, director of New Amsterdam Market, which was founded in 2005 to revive the concept of a public market system. "Public markets, which are historically instituted with civic aims, have long allowed cities and regions to control their food supply while generating economic development."

The market will feature a meat cutting demonstration by Josh Applestone, whose Kingston, NY meat store - Fleisher's Grassfed and Organic Meats - helped reintroduce the concept of local sourcing and a revival of the art of butchering. Applestone, a fourth-generation butcher who first cut meat at his grandfather's shop in Brooklyn, will be joined by Tom Mylan, who apprenticed with Fleisher's, helped open Marlow and Daughters, and is now working with Brooklyn Kitchen to open the Meat Hook in Greenpoint, which embraces a similar philosophy. The two butchers will cut an entire side of pig at the market on October 25 and discuss how various cuts are used in home and restaurant cooking.

The October market will include New York City purveyors - local businesses which select, source, and sell quality products from the region - such as BoBo Poultry, Bklyn Larder, Dickson's Farmstand Meats, Marlow and Sons, Saxelby Cheesemongers, and the Health Shoppe of Morristown, NJ. "Vendors like this are the foundation of a permanent institution" says LaValva. "In our first full market season, they will be joined each month by a changing array of like-minded farmers, food producers, and advocates, demonstrating not only the potential impact of a permanent, public market, but also the role New York City will play as a leader in the ongoing evolution of our food system."

New Amsterdam Market will convene at the same location and time on Sunday, November 22 and Sunday, December 20 this year, completing its first full season of monthly markets.

New Amsterdam Market is a regional economic development association, founded in 2005, whose mission is to revive the public market as a civic institution in the City of New York. It uniquely includes local food purveyors and distributors as its core group of vendors, joined by a changing roster of farmers, food producers, chefs, cooks, and other proponents of a regional food system founded on sustainable principles.