“Your knives are your paintbrush, your sculpting tool,” says Kari Underly, principal, Range Meat Academy, based in Chicago. Their medium may be different, but butchers also use handheld tools like artists to bring shape to an undefined surface. To create their art, however, butchers are first taught practical skills for safety, yield and maintenance.
Most butchers are taught through school programs – high school, university or technological schools, on the job or through a training program, says Chris Fuller, director of business development, Stock Yards Southern California.