This morning, hubby and I raced up to San Francisco because I’d signed up for a nine-hour butchering class with 4505 Meats’s Jedi Master Ryan Farr.

Both Dallas and I were spending the whole day learning how to properly break down a 700-lb grass fed steer and Fitbomb was there as paparazzi.

After a meat and greet (*bad pun alert*) with the other students and instructors, we dug in to a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs and chicken apple calvados sausages.

Once our bellies were full, we got a quick yet thorough tutorial on the different cutting implements.

Then, Ryan and Kent went into the walk-in fridge and came out hugging a ginormous hind quarter of beef. It was time to get down to business.

Check out the rest of the class after the jump…

The smell of the beef fat was like fresh grass.

The class size is limited to six people so you have plenty of opportunity to get personalized instruction on proper cutting techniques and hands-on practice. Ryan talked us through each step and demonstrated what to do…

…and then everyone took turns slicing, hacking, and sawing.

For the next few hours, there were big slabs of meat set in front of us that we methodically broke down into steaks, roasts, and bones.

I have to admit, I was apprehensive initially because I was a virgin butcher and the other students had previous butchering experience or worked professionally as a chef at a steak house. Dallas was a fellow newbie but he had nothing to worry about because he’s a Paleo superhero.

However, Ryan immediately set me at ease by patiently describing and walking me through each cut. Anytime I was tentative about slicing, he’d come by and encourage me to be precise yet rough.

While we were busy slicing up the beef, Kent laid out nibbles for us to eat which included: steak tartare…

…spiced nuts…

…fruit…

…smoked lamb bacon…

…offal sausage…

…head cheese…

…and seared spider cut (which I removed from the inside of the hip bone, thankyouverymuch).

We finished portioning out all the beef by 2pm…

…at which time we lunched al fresco.

The fantastic spread included: world famous chicharrones…

…slow-roasted rabbit seasoned with harissa…

…slow roasted pork shoulder and belly…

…tuna confit…

…sautéed vegetables…

…salad, and fresh fruit.

Here’s my lunch plate:

Then, it was back to work grinding up the fat (which I dubbed “Paleo spaghetti”)…

…and the rest of the beef.

We spent the rest of class weighing and packaging our beef that was divvied up to take home.

If you are in the Bay Area, you should definitely sign up for one of these butchering classes. You’ll learn so much, bring home 100 pounds of stellar grass fed beef, and have a greater appreciation for your butcher. You can also purchase Ryan’s book, Whole Beast Butchery, which will give you step-by-step instructions on how to break down beef, lamb, and pork at home.

I can’t wait to go back and get covered in animal juice.

On our way home from the city, we picked up the Double-Os at my parents and ate a small supper of duck confit and stir-fried broccoli.

We piled all the meat in our fridge at home (I’ll stick it in the freezer tomorrow)…

…bid adieu to the noisy fans…

…and headed to our temporary pad.

Ack. I wonder how everything will work out once I go back to work tomorrow night…