A class of year nine students have been given a lesson in preparing chicken with the help of a York butchers and a poultry supplier from the Yorkshire Wolds.
T.Soanes and Son, an award-winning family business based in Middleton-on-the-Wolds, donated whole chickens to The Butchers Block in Burnholme for a demonstration to GCSE Food Technology pupils at Manor Church of England Academy.
Pupils watched butcher and business owner Matthew Cross joint and prepare a whole chicken as his business partner and wife Jessica answered questions the pupils had about poultry. They were then given a talk on the fundamentals of food safety to joint their own chickens.
As part of their GCSE Food Technology course, students need to show they can joint a whole chicken into pieces.
It’s the second time the two businesses have worked on this educational initiative said Tom Kingston, Sales Manager at T.Soanes and Son.
“Today it’s important that young kitchen professionals and chefs are able to handle and work with fresh poultry because it is crucial for their skill set and those they are feeding.
“We were pleased to provide our Yorkshire-reared grain-fed chicken for them to experience jointing a bird and appreciate tasting it afterwards when they made it into a casserole,” he added.
T.Soanes and Son supply the Butcher’s Block with free range whole birds and fillets for sale. The butchers is marking a decade of providing a range of locally sourced and high quality meat. Jessica said it was a pleasure to pass on their knowledge and skills through the demonstration.
“Students at the school are lucky to benefit from amazing catering facilities in the food technology department with a huge restaurant style kitchen, and I know that for the pupils, it was a real treat to work with an entire chicken.
“It was nice to be able to answer any questions the pupils had and see their enthusiasm for butchery and poultry.”
