Why did a pork Butcher just sell pork?

[ShaunJ]

Interesting Wikipedia article on Charcuterie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charcuterie

".......charcutier, generally translated into English as "pork butcher". This has led to the mistaken belief that charcuterie can only involve pork. The Food Lover's Companion, however, says, "it refers to the products, particularly (but not limited to) pork specialties such as pâtés, rillettes, galantines, crépinettes, etc., which are made and sold in a delicatessen-style shop, also called a charcuterie."

[Redroger]

Here's my take on it........

Pork tends to go bad fairly quickly in comparison to beef or lamb.
 
I don't know why but it was likely due to the animals nature, cows chew grass, pigs are omnivores

So pork was eaten fresh, smoked or cured whereas the best beef or venison was "hung" to age ( a bacterial process)

Of general interest to the subject, a Pork butcher in Doncaster Rhoden's now closed had for many years a leg of bacon hung from the ceiling which had been bought by a lady for Christmas 1956 for some reason never collected, and was still hanging there in the late 1980s. All that happened was that over the years I used the shop the leg visibily shrank year on year.

[JMStrachan]

When was your ancestor a pork butcher?

Pork Butcher shops were very traditional in the UK, tight up to the 1970s or 80s, when supermarkets took over, though a few pork pie specialists remain. They specialised in all things made from pork - ham, bacon, sausages, pork pies, sausage rolls, brawn, black pudding, etc. So they weren't like a butcher who sold fresh meat.

There were national and regional chains of pork butchers, so your ancestor could have run one of those. She was highly unlikely to have been involved in rearing and slaughtering pigs, but will have made some of her products, such as pork pies, and bought in the rest.

So a pork butcher did a lot of cooking and baking of products made from pork, and didn't sell much fresh meat. A butcher did the opposite.

[LizzieW]

I had ancestors who were pork butchers and their siblings were butchers but not of pork.  In fact I have generations of farmers/butchers in my family, then one uncle was a butcher in Cleveleys and Blackpool, he had a few shops at one time, and two of his sons were butchers.  Then out of the blue, one of my sons had a Saturday job in a butcher's shop and decided to train as a butcher.  However, he gave it up when family butchers started closing down when the supermarkets took over where we lived.

We went to Tunbridge Wells last week and they had privately owned butchers shops there and in another couple of small towns nearby that we visited.

[triumph3]

just reading the interesting post on pork butchers and the thought occurred to me as to why almost the only thing sold in punnets are strawberries !

[behindthefrogs]

Perhaps it is because a punnet is a small container made for gathering small fruit or vegetables.  Originally it was made to also measure the fruit gathered and contained approximately a pound (a pun).

[stanmapstone]

An etymology < the name of a man with the surname Punnett (supposed inventor of the container) has also been suggested, although apparently no contemporary documentation is available. OED

Stan

[Phil1965]

Pork butchers are still alive and well in the North of England, where I come from. Waterall Bros in Sheffield is a fantastic example. They do well, I guess, because they are specialists and their pork, ham, pork pies, scratchings, haslet etc etc are just much better than a non-specialist's.

[Redroger]

Excellent one in Boston, Bycrofts of Wormgate. When Mr Bycroft  died a few years ago without an heir he was kind enough to leave the business to his staff.