Our Classes
!!! Thank you for your interest in booking a Butchery Class.
Due to COVID-19 we have suspended all classes for the time being. !!!
AN UPDATE, Thursday 8th July 2021:
We thank you for all your kindness and patience while we have been re-assessing the risks and implications of Covid-19 with regards to restarting our Butchery Classes. Regrettably, we must once again deliver news that we know will be disappointing to some of you, but more than likely, not a surprise to most of you.
Apart from recent announcements by the Prime Minister, we have had to face several hard facts in recent weeks with the now prevalent Delta variant. This has led us to two very important conclusions:
First, to protect our customers and our staff we have taken all recommendations by Track and Trace very seriously and when requested we have been instructing staff members to self-isolate with immediate effect. As a result, several of our shops have recently been required to close, including our Moxon Street shop in Marylebone where we will be hosting our classes once we resume. We feel the current risks involved are too great and we cannot face regularly closing our Moxon Street shop, both for our shop team, butchery classes and the Marylebone community at large, whom we serve.
Second, we have discovered the appetite for a summer start to classes simply is not there. With our classes being quite cost-heavy to run we require a minimum of 8 participants to break even with any class. Now, we are struggling to fill classes and have found that most potential participants would prefer a September start. With the financial implications in mind, there are also social implications. While education is the principal focus of our classes, the social aspect is often the most appreciated. With 1 or 2 participants the social side would not be present.
We have therefore taken the difficult decision to postpone our butchery classes once more with the genuine expectation that this will be the last and final time. We hope to greet you with open arms for a fresh back-to-school start in the month of September when most adults will have also had their second jab.
Any vouchers with an expiration date in March 2020 or going forward will be honoured as soon as we are back up and running.
Do sign up to our newsletter at the bottom of our homepage so you don’t miss any further announcements.
If your summer 2021 class is being rescheduled, you should have received an email from us with our apologies. If you have not received an email, please get in touch with Indre at butcheryclasses@thegingerpig.co.uk
A fabulous gift experience for those who would like a hands-on lesson in meat and traditional butchery skills. This is an opportunity for our guests 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 at the end and you get to take the substantial joint you have prepped or plentiful sausages you have made to feast on at home. Scroll down for more information on our classes.
Classes run Monday - Saturday 7-10.30pm, and Sundays 4-7.30pm at Moxon Street, and at Borough Market on Wednesday to Friday 6.30-10pm, and Saturdays 4-7.30pm. Please see our bookings calendar for accurate availability. Buy a voucher online or in any of our eight shops.
For corporate or group bookings, please call 0203 869 7804. We can accommodate 12-16 in Moxon Street and 10-12 people in Borough Market. Unfortunately we can't book out a class exclusively for less than the aforementioned numbers.
Please note - we release butchery class dates one month in advance (eg, August's dates will be released in late 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: Marylebone
Beef
You’ll learn about dry-ageing and what to look for when buying beef. 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: Marylebone and Borough Market.
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: Marylebone, Borough Market
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: Marylebone
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: Marylebone
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.
TO BOOK PLACES FOR THE GINGER PIG & BREAD AHEAD SAUSAGE SANDWICH CLASS, CLICK HERE.
Locations: Marylebone, Borough Market