Butchery Masterclass - Abergavenny Food Festival

We recently hosted an incredible butchery masterclass at the Abergavenny Cooking School during the Abergavenny Food Festival. This was our first time offering a butchery workshop beyond training our own staff, and it was a resounding success!

Participants learned to butcher two of our badger-faced sheep—specifically hogget—under the guidance of our expert, Huw. We began with an overview of our journey at Three Pools, sharing how we transitioned into farming and the natural step of butchering our own animals. After discussing safety protocols and knife care, we dove into the hands-on experience of breaking down the sheep.

Huw encouraged everyone to actively engage in the process, allowing participants to wield large butchery cleavers and bone saws for the first time. It was inspiring to see their enthusiasm and connection to meat production as they learned each cut.

In just about an hour and a half, we broke down the two sheep into a variety of cuts: legs for roasting, butterflied legs for the BBQ, chops, fillets, shoulders, boned-out shoulders, rolled breast, and, of course, kidneys.

Next, we took the kidneys and fillets straight to the stove, where Tom prepared a tasting of the exceptionally fresh meat. The feedback was fantastic—participants enjoyed the kidneys and absolutely loved the hogget fillet. But we had one more surprise: while the workshop was in full swing, we had a sow-roasted mutton leg cooking for over 12 hours at home. We served this tender dish with pickled onions, salsa verde, and freshly baked bread crafted by Rachel, who runs the Cooking School.

Overall, it was a fantastic session, and we’re eager to host more workshops like this. We are passionate about connecting people to the process of meat production, and this event truly hit the mark. If you're interested in joining us for future butchery. workshops, please let us know!