"[Stromboli Pizza manager John] Okumus said one of the pizza shop's cooks mistakenly started butchering the deer, and a girl using the women's restroom peered into an open door to the kitchen and saw what was happening. A health inspector wrote up a report but the pizza shop was not cited." [The Morning Call; via Daniel M.]
@sarag22: Heh. To summarize the story, Okumus had bagged 2 deer while hunting, took one home, and took the other to the pizzeria, where his friend was supposed to pick it up on his way home. The friend didn't pick it up, the deer sat there, and on Okumus's day off, the employee started butchering it.
Which makes you wonder: Do they routinely butcher animals for meat toppings at this pizzeria? Wouldn't your first reaction as a pizzeria employee be "WTF is that deer doing here?!?" Instead it was, "Oh, a deer, guess we're going to have a venison special pizza. I'll get to work on this buck."
@Adam: my question is was it just sitting out for a couple of days on the counter and then the guy decides to have at it with the boning knife, or was it in the walk-in for most of that time? Either way, deer butchery is not a big deal in the Keystone state. Where I grew up, one can see signs along many roads advertising deer dressing services. And you can have the whole thing made into bologna if you want.
@Brian: Seemed to me that the timeline was pretty fast.
In the story, Okumus says he bagged the deer on the 2nd day of deer-hunting season in PA, which seems to be Dec. 2, at least for non-archery hunting.
The story was published on Dec. 3, and refers to the health dept. having shown up "yesterday afternoon" (which would also be Dec. 2).
So my guess is that Okumus went out early morning, on his day off, took down the 2 deer, dropped one off at the pizzeria and took the other home. Once home, he was called back in after the employee started butchering.
@ESNY1077: the USDA has to inspect the meat we eat. Wild deer have parasites and who knows what else crawling around in them. If any of that gets into the pizza, the owner is facing a lot more than 'a correction'.
@ESNY, Butchering doesn't happen in a pizzeria, and it doesn't happen even in what you consider "butcher shops" -- at least not starting with the whole carcass. I interviewed the guy who owns the local butcher shop and asked him about cutting up venison or things that hunters might bring in, and his answer was no, not never. While he has the skills and the tools and the space, he said that it would be way too much trouble to segregate everything beforehand and clean everything afterward according to health codes so that he could be cutting meat for customers by the next morning.
Basically, all the meat that comes into butcher shops is inspected and it's just meat and bones, divided into halves or quarters or whatever the shop orders. They aren't getting whole cows in the back door.
The kind of butchery that was going on in that pizzeria belonged in a meat packing facility, not a food-prep kitchen. And, BTW, there are several in my area where hunters can bring in their kills, and where farmers bring in livestock for one-at-a-time cutting and packing. So it's not like you need to go to some mega-processor to get the work done. So, either you do it in a private facility, like your garage where health inspections don't play a part, or you have it done at a proper facility.
Actually, here in NYC, at least in the outer boroughs, the butchers get whole animals. My former landlord was a butcher in Windsor Terrace, and when you peered through to the back area, you could see whole cows hanging. In my current neighborhood, I've definitely seen whole lambs and pigs. I think neighborhoods that have more "ethnic" populations often have butchers that d whole animals.
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16 Comments:
When I read the headline, the first thing I thought was, "this has to be in Pennsylvania." Sure enough, it happened in Allentown.
BrianPrestonCampbell at 10:03AM on 12/04/08
How do you "mistakenly" butcher a deer??
sarag22 at 10:56AM on 12/04/08
@sarag22: Heh. To summarize the story, Okumus had bagged 2 deer while hunting, took one home, and took the other to the pizzeria, where his friend was supposed to pick it up on his way home. The friend didn't pick it up, the deer sat there, and on Okumus's day off, the employee started butchering it.
Which makes you wonder: Do they routinely butcher animals for meat toppings at this pizzeria? Wouldn't your first reaction as a pizzeria employee be "WTF is that deer doing here?!?" Instead it was, "Oh, a deer, guess we're going to have a venison special pizza. I'll get to work on this buck."
Adam Kuban at 11:01AM on 12/04/08
You can put anything on pizza.
hmcnally at 11:05AM on 12/04/08
@Adam: my question is was it just sitting out for a couple of days on the counter and then the guy decides to have at it with the boning knife, or was it in the walk-in for most of that time? Either way, deer butchery is not a big deal in the Keystone state. Where I grew up, one can see signs along many roads advertising deer dressing services. And you can have the whole thing made into bologna if you want.
BrianPrestonCampbell at 11:31AM on 12/04/08
@Brian: Seemed to me that the timeline was pretty fast.
In the story, Okumus says he bagged the deer on the 2nd day of deer-hunting season in PA, which seems to be Dec. 2, at least for non-archery hunting.
The story was published on Dec. 3, and refers to the health dept. having shown up "yesterday afternoon" (which would also be Dec. 2).
So my guess is that Okumus went out early morning, on his day off, took down the 2 deer, dropped one off at the pizzeria and took the other home. Once home, he was called back in after the employee started butchering.
Adam Kuban at 11:42AM on 12/04/08
the ONLY part of this story that makes any sense is that it happened in allentown....
sloppy at 11:46AM on 12/04/08
Why would someone complain that butchering an animal was going in the kitchen? What did she think happens in there?
ESNY1077 at 11:51AM on 12/04/08
@ESNY1077: the USDA has to inspect the meat we eat. Wild deer have parasites and who knows what else crawling around in them. If any of that gets into the pizza, the owner is facing a lot more than 'a correction'.
BrianPrestonCampbell at 12:41PM on 12/04/08
I want a fior di latte and sliced venison medallion pie finished with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano.
Ciao,
Paulie Gee
pauliegee at 12:43PM on 12/04/08
The real question here is whether anyone has had venison pizza or knows where to get some.
Daniel Zemans at 12:44PM on 12/04/08
gis for bambi pizza
http://flickr.com/photos/placeinsun/32375658/
boscoep at 1:07PM on 12/04/08
@ESNY, Butchering doesn't happen in a pizzeria, and it doesn't happen even in what you consider "butcher shops" -- at least not starting with the whole carcass. I interviewed the guy who owns the local butcher shop and asked him about cutting up venison or things that hunters might bring in, and his answer was no, not never. While he has the skills and the tools and the space, he said that it would be way too much trouble to segregate everything beforehand and clean everything afterward according to health codes so that he could be cutting meat for customers by the next morning.
Basically, all the meat that comes into butcher shops is inspected and it's just meat and bones, divided into halves or quarters or whatever the shop orders. They aren't getting whole cows in the back door.
The kind of butchery that was going on in that pizzeria belonged in a meat packing facility, not a food-prep kitchen. And, BTW, there are several in my area where hunters can bring in their kills, and where farmers bring in livestock for one-at-a-time cutting and packing. So it's not like you need to go to some mega-processor to get the work done. So, either you do it in a private facility, like your garage where health inspections don't play a part, or you have it done at a proper facility.
dbcurrie at 1:19PM on 12/04/08
Actually, here in NYC, at least in the outer boroughs, the butchers get whole animals. My former landlord was a butcher in Windsor Terrace, and when you peered through to the back area, you could see whole cows hanging. In my current neighborhood, I've definitely seen whole lambs and pigs. I think neighborhoods that have more "ethnic" populations often have butchers that d whole animals.
NYminknit at 1:34PM on 12/04/08
And here I was wondering how a deer wound up at St. Marks & First.
Barbara Hanson at 3:07PM on 12/04/08
Haha. I'd love to ask the deer-butchering pizza guy a few questions.
sarag22 at 3:39PM on 12/04/08