Our Classes
A fabulous gift experience for those who would like a hands-on lesson in meat and traditional butchery skills. This is an opportunity for the recipient to try their hand at light butchery and learn more about where their meat comes from, pick up a new skill and get the most from each cut. We can promise a fun and relaxed evening hosted by some of our most experienced and charming butchers. Plus, there’s a two course informal meal with wine. The attendee also takes the substantial joint they have butchered or plentiful sausages they have made to feast on at home.
Classes run Monday - Saturday 7-10.30pm, and Sundays 4-7.30pm. Please see our bookings calendar for accurate availability.
Please note - we release butchery class dates two months in advance and not sooner (eg, August's dates will be released in early June). If you cannot see the date you want in the future, email us, or check back with us in a few weeks.
Pork
The humble pig is a hugely versatile animal; generous to the cook, a celebration of fat, flesh and flavour. It’s said that you can eat everything on a pig except for it’s squeak, and our butchers can certainly demonstrate as they take you through all the cuts. You’ll discover where your morning bacon comes from, what goes into our sausages, and which cuts will give you the best crackling. The class will centre around boning, rolling and tying a piece of pork loin, with whatever you create going home with you.
Locations: Shepherds Bush and Marylebone
Beef
We might be named after the Tamworth pig, but we’re world-renowned for our native-breed beef. You’ll begin by learning about the breeds we rear on our own North Yorkshire farms, how we dry-age our beef and what to look for when buying for yourself. Then, it’s down to the butchery. Cattle provide the largest carcass that our butchers handle, so the focus is on the hefty, valuable central part of the animal where we find the sirloin, rump, rib eye and fillet. You’ll get stuck into a bit of butchery of your own, preparing a côte de boeuf joint from the rib to take home at the end of the class.
Locations: Shepherds Bush and Marylebone
Lamb
Aside from game, lamb is perhaps the most seasonal meat we sell, ranging from the delicate new season animals at Easter-time to the rich and robust hogget we sell from January to April. You’ll learn about the different breeds we sell, and how the move from mother’s milk to grass and moorland grazing alters the flavour of the meat. Our butchers will demonstrate breaking down a whole carcass, explaining the cuts and how to cook them as they go. The butchery segment of the class will see you rolling and tying your own shoulder of lamb to take away to enjoy at home.
Locations: Shepherds Bush and Marylebone
Poultry
Whereas it’s quite tricky to practice your beef, pork or lamb butchery at home, poultry is completely open to the home cook. This class covers how to use the whole of the bird from breast to carcass, focusing on chicken, duck and guinea fowl, and the difference between French and English poultry. As well as lots of cooking tips, our butchers will show you how to prepare a proper chicken kiev, bone and roll a duck and spatchcock a French chicken.
Locations: Shepherds Bush only
Game
Our game classes are a choice of two depending on the season. Our fur game (venison and rabbit) runs from February until September, whilst our class on feathered game (grouse, partridge and pheasant) takes the schedule from October to January. You’ll learn about the provenance of our game, how best to cook and prepare it as well as which seasonal ingredients and flavours are best with the meats. You’ll then do some butchery of your own, working either with a selection of game birds or preparing bones and rolled venison shoulder to enjoy at home.
Locations: Shepherds Bush only
Sausages
Our sausage-making class is probably the most hands on (and potentially messy!) of our classes. Our butchers will tell you exactly what goes into a good sausage, as well as a number of nifty cooking tips. You’ll prepare various meats for the mincer as well as the perfect ingredient combinations for added flavour, before the fun part – handling the (often challenging) sausage filler, finishing up by linking the bangers like a pro. All the sausages you make will go home with you – enough for a summer full of barbecues or a winter of stews.
Locations: Shepherds Bush only