you can get a good look at a bull’s ass by sticking your head up there, but…

the new space is awesome, and they know it.  tom, brent and ben—draped in blood stained whites and knives tied with chain links around their wastes—have a renewed swagger in their steps, and for good reason.

the meat hook’s home:  old factory, natural light, dark wood ceilings, and massively tall brick walls.  the building resembles an old european church more than it does a butcher shop.

highlights: very tasty collection of old cookbooks, beer making supplies, and of course, a jam packed chest high display case of locally sourced and beautifully hued pasture raised meats.

i joined them last night for the new location’s inaugural pig butchering class.  besides the obvious components—sawing it apart and slicing it into all the recognizable cuts—a sleep deprived (opening week) tom mylan dropped a handful of knowledge bombs on the pork loving crowd (and a few well timed man on man jokes for good measure).  while pin pointing the ham (basically the upper thigh/butt) he explained that the way we cut animals reflects our cultural identity.  the jamon craving spaniards, for example, call most of the rear end of the pig the ham simply because that’s what they want most.  bacon biting brits, therefore, can be expected to cut the stomach much longer, allowing for more of their top choice.  us americans?  in typical melting pot fashion, we cut ‘em somewhere down the middle.

the new brooklyn kitchen labs/meat hook is gonna blow up.  it is, in short, the shit.  sign up for a class, or stop by to buy some of the choicest meat this side of anywhere. i recommend the mailing list so u know when new classes are released (email patrolling foodies fill up the slots with an aggressive quickness).

on the docket for us?  sausage making class for me and candy making for her.