I watched a guy at the market hack at a pork shoulder for ten minutes straight

He was just chopping down with a cleaver, trying to split the bone. I finally walked over and showed him the seam between the muscles. One quick cut with a boning knife and it fell apart. I told him, 'The bone is a guide, not a wall.' He looked shocked. That was last Saturday at the Fulton Street market. How many home cooks are out there fighting their meat instead of working with it?

3 comments

3 Comments

hayden_craig951mo ago

That's the whole thing right there. People see a big piece of meat and just start attacking it. It's like watching someone try to break down a door when the handle is unlocked. My uncle used to wrestle with a whole chicken for an hour, sweating and cursing. Then I showed him how to find the joints. Suddenly it took two minutes. The tool matters, but knowing where to cut matters more.

claire_davis311mo ago

Watching that chicken wrestling match sounds painfully familiar.

nguyen.angela1mo ago

But a sharp knife beats joint knowledge any day, @hayden_craig95.

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