About the show
Anthony Puharich knows meat. He should. He's the butcher that stands between Australia's best producers and chefs, whether at his meat boutique Victor Churchill or supplying Australia's best restaurants. Join him on a culinary journey from farm gate to the dinner plate, and learn how to make the most of your meat.
When Anthony was a young boy, he spent countless hours with his father, Vic, one of Australia’s leading butchers – learning how to work with, cook and respect all varieties of meat. 20-years later, Anthony, along with his father have grown Vic’s Premium Quality Meats from a retail shop in Sydney, to an international meat wholesaler.
Ask the Butcher will take you behind the farm gate, in to the deep freezer and on to the hot grill, to learn anything you could possibly want to know about meat.
Each week, Anthony and his team will explain individual cuts of meats and take you through the ageing process at his famous – and one of the world’s coolest – butchers shops, Victor Churchill. Beef, lamb, pork, cured meats, poultry and game will all be on the menu.
Anthony will visit the kitchens of some of Australia’s top chefs including Matt Moran, Shannon Bennett, Peter Gilmore, Kylie Kwong and Neil Perry. As well as explore cooking at home and how best to utilise the meats readily available at your local butchers.
No steak will be left unturned as Anthony educates and entertains with his laid-back, rock and roll approach to all things carnivorous.
The 8-part series is produced by Valarc Films for the LifeStyle FOOD Channel.
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I'm hoping this will be out on DVD soon - would love to show it in our butcher shop.
is a prk leg cooked the same as a leg of ham? kind reguards dave.
is pork the same as ham ?
Ham is pork, but has been treated with a saline solution and pumping brine and then smoked and cooked.
The recipes are so informative and easy to follow...even my cooking is good
will ask the butcher come out on DVD?
I hope so; it is a very informative program series.
I would like to know why lamb racks are so small these days. I remember when you were ablw to get decent size portions of meat on lamb racks?
Buy hogget instead of costly lamb. It tastes just the same. Lamb is classed as hogget as soon as a permanent front tooth erupts and the price drops dramatically! As grain fed livestock are eating a 'coarse' diet this causes permanent teeth to erupt sooner ie a younger animal & may be smaller. Grass fed have a much better taste and grow bigger because their permanent teeth don't erupt so quickly & lambs grow for longer ie larger. Also breed as a lot to do with it. Larger, bigger muscled lambs have larger cuts and excellent succulent meat! We produce lamb and beef - we eat lamb but prefer hogget and grass fed over grain fed as it has a fatty taste.
Lamb racks will vary on where you buy them from and ultimately where your butcher buys them. Grain-fed lambs usually have larger eye muscles and grass-fed lambs are inconsistent in their size. Check out askthebutcher.com and submit your questions through there- that way you always have the answer on hand. Thanks Marty.
great show, would love to see the proper recipe for the lamb shoulder Matt Moran makes.
Maybe we can dish this up for you all!!! While you wait check out askthebutcher.com and have a look at other chef's recipes (plus my own). Thanks Ezza.
me too! I have just been trauling this site to find the reciepe!!
I would love the recipe for the brine shown on the ask the butcher -lamb programme Heather 71
The show has some realy good information that shows the general public a little about modern day Butchering. I would like the program to be more than half hour. Whilst watching last nights program everything seemed to be a little rushed and a segment not finished off. Other than that i thought it was a good program.
Thank you Alistair22! We would like the program to be more than half an hour also. (wink wink LifeStyle Food)
on the hindquarter you get the round steak,topside,rump steak,eye fillet,gravy beef,silverside and eye of silverside,and tbone,plus once you take out the bone at end of tbone sirloin(newyork steak)skirt steak, and the flank that can go in mince or sausage trimmings On the forequarter you get the boneless blade steak,bone in blade steak(bbq steak),chuck steak,scotch fillet,beef ribs,beef briskett which can be rolled or is usually used for mince and sausage trim,you can also get oyster blade which is the bone in bbq steak boned out
Great show. Just discovered it. I have around a kilo and a half of Cape Grim 67 day dry aged rib eye off the bone steaks in the fridge. It was an expensive purchase but the steaks will be great. What I am after are thoughts on dry ageing at home. I plan to try it and have done quite a bit of research but would like it if Anthony would give his thoughts on attempting this at home. I plan to use a dedicated fridge to solely be used for this exercise. Cheers Chris
I would love the recipe for the flow cooked chuck that looked brilliant
Check out askthebutcher.com for chuck recipes Andrew292. Thanks for watching.
I would love the recipe for the slow cooked chuck that looked brilliant
I would love the recipe for the slow cooked chuck - that look brilliant
great show, would have loved a bit more detail and would love to see a full break-down of a carcass. I can't find anywhere all the different names of all the different cuts and where they are on the animal. The "askthebutcher" website only shows 11 different cuts...
Anthony is undoubtedly a very good and entertaining butcher but he does need to be careful with the meat science. The yellow colour of the fat in grass-fed beef is due to the carotene in the grass, not chlorophyll, and intramuscular fat has about the same level of saturated fat (about 50%) as other fat reserves although as Josh points out this may be lower in grass-fed than grain-fed beef.
The real difference between grass fed beef and grain fed is the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats. Grain fed is less healthy as they get lots more omega-6 fat from the grains they eat compared to grass. http://www.eatwild.com/healthbenefits.htm
Thanks for the eatwild reference. Excellent resource.
I've just seen the 1st show, a little disappointed at some aspects, being a butcher my self for over 30 yrs,& a self taught cook for about the same; some of terminology must confuse the average consumer i.e. chuck as opposed to beef neck, the secondary cuts not referred to such as shin (gravy beef) heel muscle (a better cut of gravy beef), also the term fillet ,not defined into butt fillet & or long fillet or striploin. I would also disagree that grain-fed beef is more tender than grass-fed as there are many factors involved such as hanging or aging, my personal preference is Bovine was meant to grass & clover. Not being detrimental just constructive criticism.
Absolutely Mark! I appreciate your comments. I use the terminology I do because I believe most of the viewers have a nice, rounded understanding of food and meat. I definitely encourage the discussion on grass and grain-fed animals so I'm glad you are joining the discussion.
One for the GUYS......this is the first time my husband actually wants to watch a cooking show.
Thanks Margie!! I am very pleased to hear this. Check out my website askthebutcher.com for recipes you should 'encourage' him to cook.
It's about time there was a program showcasing proper butchering skills that seem to be being eradicated with the saturation of supermarkets within our communities; we all know how convenient they are but their lack of" proper training" & interaction with the customer, is eradicating a wonderful trade & skill & creativity; good one
Yes!! We want our viewers to go into their local butchers and start creating relationships with these people who LOVE meat just as much as they do!
i agee going from a small shop into a supermarket has been an eye opener there is no breaking of bodies,no sausage making,no customer service,the appentices in these places have no chance to make in in a butcher shop as these skills are never taught and are hard to obtain once you have finished you ticket.