Why did a pork Butcher just sell pork?

[WHS1899]

I have an ancestor who was a pork butcher. Looking at Google, it seems, as the name suggests, that a pork butcher sold all things pork related. But why? Didn't they have beef or poultry? Or were there beef and poultry butchers too?

Does anyone know the answer?
Beverley

[ShaunJ]

It may be something to do with the specialised nature of the curing process for pork products.  The regular butcher would have sold all kinds of fresh meat, but you would go to the pork butcher for bacon, ham, gammon, pork pies etc.

France too has its Charcuteries as well as regular Boucheries.

[behindthefrogs]

If you go back a hundred years many butchers just sold the meat that they farmed.  Pigs could be kept on a relatively small acreage and fed on collected food waste, while cattle and sheep required appropriate land which he may not have had available.

Thus the answer may lie in the question: why did your ancester only farm pigs? Larger businesses will often have developed their specialisation from these beginnings.  This applies particularly with pork where there are many prepared products, bacon, ham, pies etc which do not exist to any extent for other meats.  Thus a pork butcher also becomes a specialist in producing these.

David

[GeoffE]

Watch out Piggy!  Look what happened to your pal!



Curtis's of Lincoln - they seem to have diversified since I were a lad. http://www.curtisoflincoln.com

[Brie]

Beverley,

Not really answering your question but just in passing, they still had pork butchers in Leicestershire when I was young. They sold everything piggy related particularly pork pies and sausages. I think Walkers was one chain of pork butchers and Pork Farms another.

Other butchers in the town sold all sorts of meat, only the pork butchers seemed exclusive.

Brie

[Brie]

Hi again Bevereley,

Have just asked my Ma and Pa. They think the reason is probably historical. At one time there were separate markets for different types of animal. Apparently this can still be seen in place names e.g. Poultry in London and Swinegate in Leeds.

Brie

[Suttonrog]

Shaun was right.

You did not go to pork butchers just for pork.

They used to do a lot of processing. They cured the hams and gammons; made sausages, pork pies etc.

Our local butcher used to say that the only thing from a pig he could not use was the squeak. I suppose their demise is due to the fact that very few people now eat fagots, brawn,chitterlings, potted meat, trotters and all the other things that made them competitive against a normal butcher who did not produce these products.

Rog

[Nick29]

Hi again Bevereley,

Have just asked my Ma and Pa. They think the reason is probably historical. At one time there were separate markets for different types of animal. Apparently this can still be seen in place names e.g. Poultry in London and Swinegate in Leeds.

Brie

Many of my ancestors came from a small village in Suffolk called Swilland, which apparently got its name from pig farming connections.

[geniecolgan]

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)

In the days before refridgeration each of these meats would have required different storage and processing facilities.
Even in the old days, they knew about cross-contamination.

Genie (a butcher's daughter).