A day at Casa De Carnes Bolonha

I spent this morning assisting and observing at Casa de Carnes Bolonha, (no website!?) the neighborhood butcher and carnivore temple. Sonia felt I should know the ‘proper’ Brazilain way to cut beef and made arrangements with the local butcher for me to spend a couple of days behind the counter learning South American grass-fed butchery.

I got a hat, white jacket and plastic apron and got put to work immediately boning chicken breasts. I managed to get through about two dozen icy breasts with only one minor nick to my thumb. The breasts were just busywork while we waited for the 9am tuck from the abattoir to arrive with seven beef quarters, six rear and one forequarter.

Beef is too important in southeast Brazil to be left to hovering journalists, so I just stood by and watched while the cutter pared it down into the popular Brazilian cuts; picanha, fraudinha, maminha. . . .

Butchering at Casa de Carne Bolonha

I was not invited to join in the cutting as I was with the chicken, but I still made myself useful by opening and closing the freezer door as they went in and out with their hands full of beef, and answering questions about how closely the US watched the Brazilian presidential elections.