In these episodes, Brandon and Lauren explain why they finally broke down and bought a side of beef for their family; why Brandon decided not to freeze any of it; and how they worked through the side of beef removing chunks of meat, as needed over a three month period of time. 

Brandon will convince you that the best way to eat beef is -- VERY aged, and offers suggestions on how to entice your family to eat it, despite the colorful mold. 

Finally, Brandon and Lauren reveal their three time-tested and proven pillars of beef cookery, and the cooking techniques they recommend in preparing each cut of beef.

• To Kill a Pig Nicely now available FREE of charge on our YouTube channel!
• Membership is open!
  • 60-day free trial available!  Promo code: "60daytrial"
  • New content available on: beef mold, SlaughterDay Fry, fenalår
  • Membership forum topics now categorized for easy browsing!
• Join us for one of our upcoming spring Family Pig classes!
• Help us produce more episodes by supporting us on Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/meatsmith.

• Why we broke down and purchased a side of beef, 9:48
• Our decision not to freeze any of the beef, 19:01
• The way to eat beef is ... very aged, 22:02
• Mold on aged beef, 33:12
  • How to get your family to eat dry-aged beef with mold, 43:45
• How we broke down and cooked our side of beef, piece-by-piece, 49:44
  • Skirt steak and flank, 49:44
  • Foreshank, 51:52
    • Braising (plate, brisket, flank), 53:58

       Continued in Part 2.....  

• There are no links for Episode 51.

In this episode, Part 2 of a two-part series, Brandon and Lauren talk about their own kitchen principles and habits. They relate how most of these habits have come along slowly; although cooking and eating all three meals together, daily, as a family, is something they've been doing since before they were married. Brandon and Lauren describe mealtimes as anchors to their day — “like monastery bells ringing us in”.

Learn what typical breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snack-times look like for the family; and how seasonally available ingredients are the foundation from which this large, energetic household's daily meals are created.

In this episode, Part 1 of a 2 part series, Brandon and Lauren talk about their own kitchen principles and habits.  They describe how these habits have come along slowly; but that since before they were married, and to this day, they have always cooked and eaten all three meals together as a family.   They describe mealtimes as anchors to their day -- "like monastery bells ringing us in". 

Learn what a typical breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack-time look like for the family, and how Brandon and Lauren build their menu around seasonally available ingredients to create nutritious, economical meals for their large, growing, energetic family.

In these episodes, Brandon and Lauren discuss the virtue of making bacon -- how it is about so much more than just putting food on your table -- and how it can lead you to excellence through virtue.  Learn: how emotion, passion, virtue, and temperament relate to the slaughtering of animals and making bacon; what you can anticipate in making home-made bacon for the first time and the difficulties you might encounter in eating it; and the new tools Brandon has been dreaming about for his shop as well as the factors he must consider in discerning whether or not to buy them.

• To Kill a Pig Nicely now available FREE of charge on our YouTube channel!
• Membership is open!
  • 60-day free trial available!  Promo code: "60 Day Trial"
  • New content available on: lamb butchery, curing red meat, lamb curing, and lamb carpaccio!
  • Membership forum topics now categorized for easy browsing!
• Join us for one of our upcoming spring Family Pig classes!
• Help us produce more episodes by supporting us on Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/meatsmith.

• Announcements (and what Brandon's been up to), :59
  • Dreaming of a bacon slicer, 2:17
  •                  ... and a wall-mounted paper dispenser.... and a bowl chopper,  18:38
• On what basis does one decide to upgrade their home meat production set-up?  23:23
• What one can anticipate when you first start making bacon, 32:28
  • How to overcome some difficulties of eating bacon:
    • abundance, 33:35
    • rancidity, 36:15
• Virtue acquisition through bacon making; 39:18
• The ends of cooking: the natural and the supernatural, 46:33

• Why do we cook? 1:02
  • The dichotomy between work and gift, 5:09
• Animals and the hunt, 10:47
• Emotions and the kill, 14:15
• Emotion, passion and virtue, 23:18
• Excellence in the ordinary; filling your life with humble delight, 30:04
• How emotion and temperament affect the kill, 38:29
• The temperament of pigs, 46:35

• Berkel Bacon Slicers: https://www.theberkelworld.com/us/slicers.html
• On the Natural Fermentation of Salami by Brandon Sheard: https://farmsteadmeatsmith.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/On-the-Natural-Fermentation-of-Salami.pdf
• Farmstead Meatsmith Slaughterday Fry video: https://farmsteadmeatsmith.com/membership/harvest-films/
• Benton's Bacon:  https://shop.bentonscountryham.com

• Seven Fires:  Grilling the Argentine Way by Francis Mallmann:  https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Fires-Grilling-Argentine-Way/dp/1579653545
• St. Thomas Aquinas:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas
• Descartes:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes
• Aristotle:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle
• Jane Grigson:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Grigson
• The four temperaments: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_temperaments
• Andrew Plotsky:  https://www.stitchdownfarm.com/about

In this episode, part 1 of a 2 part series, Brandon and Lauren discuss the virtue of making bacon -- how it is about so much more than just putting food on your table -- and how it can lead you to excellence through virtue.  Learn what you can anticipate when making bacon for the first time and what some of the difficulties you might encounter in eating home made bacon are.  Find out which new tools Brandon has been dreaming about for his shop lately, and what factors he must consider as he discerns whether or not to purchase them.

• To Kill a Pig Nicely now available FREE of charge on our YouTube channel!
• Membership is open!
  • 60-day free trial available!  Promo code: "60 Day Trial"
  • New content available on: lamb butchery, curing red meat, lamb curing, and lamb carpaccio!
  • Membership forum topics now categorized for easy browsing!
• Join us for one of our upcoming spring Family Pig classes!
• Help us produce more episodes by supporting us on Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/meatsmith.

• Announcements (and what Brandon's been up to), :59
  • Dreaming of a bacon slicer, 2:17
  •                  ... and a wall-mounted paper dispenser.... and a bowl chopper,  18:38
• On what basis does one decide to upgrade their home meat production set-up?  23:23
• What one can anticipate when you first start making bacon, 32:28
  • How to overcome some of the difficulties in eating bacon:
    • abundance, 33:35
    • rancidity, 36:15
• Virtue acquisition through bacon making; 39:18
• The ends of cooking: the natural and the supernatural, 46:33

• Berkel Bacon Slicers: https://www.theberkelworld.com/us/slicers.html
• On the Natural Fermentation of Salami by Brandon Sheard: https://farmsteadmeatsmith.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/On-the-Natural-Fermentation-of-Salami.pdf
• Farmstead Meatsmith Slaughterday Fry video: https://farmsteadmeatsmith.com/membership/harvest-films/
• Benton's Bacon:  https://shop.bentonscountryham.com

In these episodes, Brandon and Lauren discuss braising, pan-frying and roasting — the only techniques you need to cook any cut of meat deliciously!   Learn how, by starting with fresh meat from well-raised animals, you will eliminate your need for fancy recipes, extensive ingredient lists, and excessive time in the kitchen.  Also learn which cooking method is best for each cut of meat (based upon the part of the animal it comes from) … Is it tough or tender?  Fatty or lean?  You’ve got this!

• To Kill a Pig Nicely now available FREE of charge on our YouTube channel!
• Membership is open!
  • 60-day free trial available!  Promo code: “60 Day Trial”
  • New content available on: lamb butchery, curing red meat, lamb curing, and lamb carpaccio!
  • Membership forum topics now categorized for easy browsing!
• Join us for one of our upcoming spring Family Pig classes!
• Help us produce more episodes by supporting us on Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/meatsmith.

• Idaho Pastured Pigs (IPPs); 3:21
• The three methods of meat cookery:  braising, pan frying and roasting; 15:48
  • Receptivity to the results of your cooking; 31:05
  • Definitions of braise, pan fry and roast; 36:08
    • Braise – 37:01
    • Pan Fry – 38:17
    • Roast – 38:40
  • Unique facets of each cooking method; about 41:34
    • Larding; 43:22
  • Determining whether to braise, pan-fry, or roast; 48:27
    • Lauren’s X-Y grid, 49:48
    • How Brandon cooks various types/cuts of meat, 54:59
      • Fatty and tough (ie. belly) ; 55:06

Continued in Part 2 ……

• • • How Brandon cooks various types of meat (continued from Part 1), 1:02
      • Lean and tender (ie. meat from the loin, chops, steaks); 1:02
      • Tough and lean (ie. bottom round, top side, silver side); 5:39
        • Brining; 8:26
      • Fatty and tender (ie. back fat, baby-back ribs, loin steak); 12:53
        • More on braising; 19:27
        • Deglazing; 23:26
  • Summation of Lauren’s x-y grid meat cookery graph; 27:40
  • Recommended meat cookery cookbooks; 45:32
  • Delighting in the family meal:   If you want to digest well, you need to be happy; 53:07

• Julia Child: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Child
• On the Anatomy of Thrift: Side Butchery:  https://farmsteadmeatsmith.com/films/

• The Complete Meat Cookbook by Bruce Aidells:  https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Meat-Cookbook-Bruce-Aidells/dp/061813512X
• The River Cottage Cookbook by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall: https://www.amazon.com/River-Cottage-Cookbook-Hugh-Fearnley-Whittingstall/dp/0007375271/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=The+River+Cottage+Cookbook&qid=1574189763&s=books&sr=1-2
• The River Cottage Meat Book by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall: https://www.amazon.com/River-Cottage-Meat-Book/dp/1580088430/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=The+River+Cottage+Meat+Book&qid=1574189914&s=books&sr=1-3
• The Old World Kitchen by Elizabeth Luard:  https://www.amazon.com/Old-World-Kitchen-Tradition-European/dp/1612192688
• Julia Child: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Child
• Jane Grigson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Grigson
• Charlotte Mason: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Mason

In these episodes, Brandon and Lauren discuss braising, pan-frying and roasting -- the only techniques you need to cook any cut of meat deliciously!   Learn how, by starting with fresh meat from well-raised animals, you will eliminate your need for fancy recipes, extensive ingredient lists, and excessive time in the kitchen.  Also learn which cooking method is best for each cut of meat (based upon the part of the animal it comes from) -- Is it tough or tender?  Fatty or lean?

• To Kill a Pig Nicely now available FREE of charge on our YouTube channel!
• Membership is open!
  • 60-day free trial available!
  • New content available on: lamb butchery, curing red meat, lamb curing, and lamb carpaccio!
  • Membership forum topics now categorized for easy browsing!
• Join us for one of our upcoming spring time Family Pig classes! (Winter classes are already at capacity.)
• Help us produce more episodes by supporting us on Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/meatsmith.

• Idaho Pastured Pigs (IPPs); 3:21
• The three methods of meat cookery: braising, pan frying and roasting; 15:48
  • Receptivity to the results of your cooking; 31:05
  • Definitions of braise, pan fry and roast; 36:08
    • Braise - 37:01
    • Pan Fry - 38:17
    • Roast - 38:40
  • Unique facets of each cooking method; about 41:34
    • Larding; 43:22
  • Determining whether to braise, pan-fry, or roast; 48:27
    • Lauren’s X-Y grid, 49:48
    • Examples of how Brandon would cook various cuts, 54:59
      • Pork shoulder (fatty and tough); 55:06

• Coming Soon!

• Julia Child: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Child
• On the Anatomy of Thrift: Side Butchery:  https://farmsteadmeatsmith.com/films/

• Coming Soon!

In Episode 44, Brandon introduces "The Finisher", a new tool he's discovered for pithing ducks (rather than slitting their necks) which allows for a more attractive presentation and preserves the blood, within the animal, for such dishes as Duck a la Press.  Brandon and Lauren discuss the struggle that exists between humane killing and efficiency, and question whether pithing or neck slitting is the more humane method of poultry slaughter.   Other topics include:  making Duck a la Presse; how poultry plumage acts as a veil for an animal, but simultaneously reveals its nature and reality; how commodified forms of meat, as currently sold in supermarkets, allow us to forget that we are a burden to the earth; and how to preserve meat in its own fat in the form of confit and rillettes.  Finally, Lauren discusses her maiden venture into making hand soap from lard and her new Keto diet.

• To Kill a Pig Nicely now available FREE of charge on our YouTube channel!
• Membership is open!
  • New content available on: lamb butchery, curing red meat, lamb curing, and lamb carpaccio!
  • Membership forum topics now categorized for easy browsing!
• Join us for one of our upcoming Family Pig classes!
• Help us produce more episodes by supporting us on Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/meatsmith.

• The tyranny of abundance: the fat of the pig, 2:54
• Family Pig Class recap, 6:11
• Avoiding nitrites: for health or other reasons?, 17:33
• Salami, 30:00
• Killing ducks, 37:50
• Poultry fatting house, 42:37

• Poultry slaughter: efficiency vs. humaneness, and aesthetics, 1:00
• Stunning to kill: “The Finisher” pithing tool introduced, 2:30
• How to make Duck a la Presse, 9:08
• Plumage as a veil that both covers and reveals:  16:32
  • Retaining the veil to reveal both the nature and reality of the animal, 17:45
• How commodified forms of meat allow us to forget that we are a burden to the earth, 22:13
• Receiving the Gift: how docility to the nature of an animal yields more than is given, 22:35
• Ethics of certain animal products, 33:33
• Preserving meat in its own fat
  • Confit, 41:34
  • Rillettes, 47:20
• Making soap from lard, 51:36

• The Art of Natural Cheesemaking: Using Traditional, Non-Industrial Methods and Raw Ingredients to Make the World's Best Cheeses, by David Asher:  https://www.amazon.com/Art-Natural-Cheesemaking-Traditional-Non-Industrial/dp/1603585788

• "The Finisher" by Adrenaline.com:  https://adrenal-line.com/
• Dan Barber, chef and co-owner of Blue Hill at Stone Barns, on Chef's Table:  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4360158/
• Westland Distillery:  https://www.westlanddistillery.com/
• On the Anatomy of Thrift:  Fat and Salt:  https://farmsteadmeatsmith.com/films/

In Episode 43, part 1 of a 2 part series, Brandon shares his new-found method of killing duck (and other poultry) and the newly discovered tool he uses to do it.  Other topics include:  the tyranny of abundance; Brandon's reason for generally avoiding nitrates (the reason may be different than you think); the magic of rennet; and a well-loved side topic -- salami (it's so delicious!)

In this episode Brandon is interviewed by Steve and Joseph of The Working Title podcast.  Brandon shares the winding path that led him into the butchery trade; the unique approach of Farmstead Meatsmith; and how Farmstead Meatsmith came into being.  Other discussions include:  how technology has left the domestic scale behind (dulling the edge of human nature in the process); factory farming vs. veganism; the butcher's duty to kill well; the cost of our existence; and what a random morning in Brandon's life looks like.

• Membership is open!
  • New content available on: lamb butchery, curing red meat, lamb curing, and lamb carpaccio!
  • Membership forum topics now categorized for easy browsing!
• Watch Brandon compete on The History Channel's The Butcher!
• To Kill a Pig Nicely now available FREE of charge on our YouTube channel!
• Join us for one of our upcoming Family Pig classes!
• Help us produce more episodes by supporting us on Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/meatsmith.

• "I am an itinerant slaughterman.", 1:02
• Farmstead Meatsmith's unique approach - entire process yields to the culinary end, 3:22
• Brandon's path into the butchery trade, 7:25
• The birth of Farmstead Meatsmith, 16:15
• How technology has left the domestic scale behind, 18:54
• Technology dulls the edge of human nature, 23:15
• Factory farming vs. veganism and Brandon's epiphanous moment, 26:55
• The duty to kill well -- be deliberate, swift and decisive, 34:21
• The cost of our existence, 42:18
• A morning in Brandon's life and how to kill animals nicely, 55:20
• Random questions, 1:03:22

• Marian Caskets:  https://www.mariancaskets.com/
• Jane Grigson:
  • Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Grigson
  • Amazon books:  https://www.amazon.com/s?k=jane+grigson&ref=nb_sb_noss_1