This class is for foodies, families, and farmers who want to respect, honor, and utilize the whole animal while providing nutrient-dense and delicious food to their families. For farmers, this class offers an invaluable opportunity to create value-added products for their customers without relying on local butcher expenses or timelines. Rock Hill Heritage Farm of Hershey is excited to offer another opportunity for you to experience and learn from the best butchers in the business, Hand Hewn Farm. Join us in Hershey, Pennsylvania, as we host our 6th farm-to-table class, celebrating education, community, and the preservation of heritage skills for generations to come.

As Wendell Berry eloquently states, “for today we celebrate again our lives’ wedding with the world, for by our hunger, by this provisioning, we renew the bond.”

Next class is Oct 25-27:

Class Attendance Options:

• Full Pass: $1,000 per person for all 3 days (3 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners, final charcuterie spread)
• Foodie Pass: $775 for class days 2 & 3 only (2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 1 dinner, final charcuterie spread)
• Day Pass: $375 per day – available for days one and two. (Each day includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner)

All Passes Include the following Hospitality:

• Farm to Table Meals that demonstrate the possibilities of this kind of processing.
• Beverages: Kombucha, nitro and hot coffee, tea, water.
• Snacks: Freshly baked bread.

Class Itinerary:

Day One: Humane Slaughter

• Introductions over breakfast: Pastries, coffee, tea.
• Walkthrough of the slaughter process and necessary tools.
• Humane killing of the pig: Collect blood (optional).
• Move pig to scalding location: Clean, hoist, scald, repeat. Harvest offal: blood, liver, heart, spleen, kidneys, bladder, intestines, caul fat.
• Prepare offal: Rinse bladder and hang to dry. Liver, heart, spleen, and kidneys go into the cooler or are diced for dinner. Soak caul fat in cool water.
• Lunch: Chili or other hot soup with bread and cheese, possibly a salad.
• Clean casings: Prepare and stuff blood sausage into cleaned casings. Clean and cut offal for offal fry. Rinse caul fat. Split head, inspect shot, and cut off jowl.
• Q&A session.
• Clean up and prepare for Day 2.
• Dinner: Toast with deviled offal fry and salad or other vegetables.

Day Two: Butchery

• Carcass breakdown and further meat and offal preparation for Day 3.
• Breakfast and overview: Omelets, oatmeal, egg bake, or similar breakfast items.
• Commence butchering: Quarter the animal, discuss different applications for each part (chops, bellies, roasts, bones, ground meat), portion and wrap if not used the next day. Cured cuts go to the cooler or fridge; meat and fat are ground and stored.
• Lunch: Blood sausage with roasted potatoes or another easy-to-prepare meal.
• Prepare stock: Head and bones go into the stockpot with celery, onions, carrots, garlic, and bouquet garni (bay leaf, fresh thyme, parsley stalks). Use liver to make liverwurst. Ground meat is packaged as ground pork. Fat can be ground for rendering.
• End of day: Pick head meat for goetta and strain stock. Stuff and cook liverwurst, chill overnight along with goetta.

Day Three: Feast

• Breakfast: Goetta and eggs, with maple syrup or honey.
• Weigh cured meat and create cures for bacon and other cuts.
• Render lard if not done the previous day.
• Package bulk meat and weigh ground meat for sausage recipes.
• Summary of the weekend’s work: Create a charcuterie tray with blood sausage, liverwurst, and cured products.