On Tuesday, Stephanie and I met up with Andy, Meredith, and Jonathan over at Bloodhound for the third in a series of butchering demonstrations/cookouts held there. The first one I’d heard about from Andy after the fact, and the second one I was out of town for, so I was very happy that I’d finally be able to get in on the fun.

Whereas the two previous events involved a whole pig (ah, memories), this time they were working with a side of beef hung from the ceiling. Stephanie and I arrived just as the two chef-cum-butchers (Ryan Farr from 4505 Meats and Taylor Boetticher from the Fatted Calf), were taking it apart. Over the course of an hour they disassembled the side into various cuts, while all the scraps and fat went into a meat grinder to make sliders.

The whole thing was kind of a spectacle. It was way off the hipness charts, even by San Francisco standards—so you can probably imagine the orgy of cameras, DSLRs, and iPhones all snapping away. I have to admit I did feel a little self-conscious, but I still managed to get a few good shots of the carnage.

While we were watching, they were bringing around homemade corndogs and these amazing grilled peaches wrapped with pancetta and basil to whet our appetites. By the time the meat came off the grill, the place had devolved into a kind of feeding frenzy. They’d bring out trays of food which would be completely picked clean in a matter of seconds. I didn’t get much of a chance to appreciate the various cuts of beef that they’d grilled up, partly because it was such a madhouse to get any. But the sliders—omg they were awesome. I probably had three.

Those last three remind me of pat’s vs. geno’s.