The Butchery Guides

This is every butchery and filleting guides on this site, in one place. Thirty six of them so far, all free, all written out step by step.

I wrote these for three reasons. The first is so you can see what the process actually looks like from the inside. The second is so you understand how much time this work takes, because when someone else does it for you, that time is most of what you are paying for. The third is the practical one: if you ever need to break down an animal yourself, the instructions are here and they will not leave you guessing halfway through.

Every guide covers the same ground. What tools you need, where the safety risks are, how the animal is put together, the cuts in order, and what to do with each one once it is in your kitchen. Start anywhere. If you are new to this, chicken and snapper are the two I would begin with.

Browse by Category

Every guide below also lives in one of five category pages. If you know what you are working with, go straight there.

Whole Domestic Meat — beef, pork, lamb, bison and chicken. Six guides.
Wild Game Meat — deer, elk, moose, bear, boar and pronghorn. Six guides.
Wild Game Bird — duck, pheasant, quail and wild turkey. Four guides.
Oceanic Fish — eleven filleting guides, round fish through pelagics.
Shellfish and Seafood — nine guides, crustaceans through cephalopods.

Whole Domestic Meat

Big animals, long days, and the best argument for learning seam butchery. A quarter of beef will take you three to five hours the first time. That is not a warning, just the honest number. Chicken is the exception and the way in: minutes rather than hours, and every move on it transfers upward.

All whole domestic meat guides →

Wild Game Meat

Game is where field care decides everything. Most of what people call gamey flavor is not the animal, it is what happened between the shot and the cooler. Each of these guides deals with the specific problem that animal presents, and they are different problems.

All wild game meat guides →

Wild Game Bird

A bird takes minutes rather than hours, which makes this the cheapest place to practice. The birds differ more than people expect. A duck wants its fat protected, a pheasant has almost none, and a wild turkey should never be roasted whole.

All wild game bird guides →

Oceanic Fish

Filleting is a different skill from butchery and it rewards a lighter hand. Buying a whole fish is also the only reliable way to know what you actually bought, which matters more with some species than others.

All oceanic fish guides →

Shellfish and Seafood

Shellfish is the group where the safety information matters most, so each of these guides says plainly what the real risks are and who should be careful. It is also where the yields surprise people. A live lobster gives back about a quarter of its weight.

All shellfish and seafood guides →

Once It Is Broken Down

Butchery gets you the cuts. Cooking them well is the other half, and sauce is where most home cooks gain the most ground fastest.

From the Blog

Who Is Writing This

I am Chef Alan. I have spent 35 years in professional kitchens, I have formal culinary education in New Hampshire, and I have been honored as a 6-Time 4-Diamond Chef. More about me here.

If a guide is missing something you needed, or a step did not make sense, tell me. Get in touch and I will fix it.

Cook Bolder, Serve Wiser, Eat Better.