Proletariat Butchery

Took then pancetta making class from Zeph. Was very informative beyond pancetta and a lot of fun (drinking wine at noon is always a bonus) and the sausages he cooked up for us were quite delish! We appreciate Zeph’s nose-​to-​tail butchery mentality, and bought the pig jowls while we were there, also ordered a ¼ lamb that we picked up later, day after it was butchered! Talk about fresh! Highly recommend taking a class and buying meat from this local business.

Met Zeph at a bacon night at Seravesa. He was super friendly and knowledgeable about his craft, and the bacon and ham we sampled was incredible. We bought some and look forward to making at home.

I’m going to keep this short and sweet. Zeph’s knowledge and crowd engagement while roasting a pig and chicken’s at our Function for 50+ people was fantastic! He is very outgoing and doesn’t hesitate to get guests involved! Working with Zeph was easy and enjoyable not to mention the meat turned out Amazing! Want to wow your guests?! Serving the roasted pig was definitely as much of a show as it was dinner! Will be using him again soon!

I’ve taken four classes at Proletariat Butchery — Classes on making bacon, sausage, guanciale and a class on pork butchery. Zeph’s knowledge of the animal’s anatomy and understanding of salting and curing meat is outstanding. He is incredibly patient and engaging with the crowd at his classes. He gets everybody involved — and cooks up scrumptious sausages for snacking on at his classes. I never in my life thought I would butcher a pig but working with Zeph has made me confidant in my abilities working with animals. I can’t wait to take lamb butchery and continue learning about the processes that come with meat preservation.
And if you’re looking to buy meat, he works with local farmers + is reasonable priced + the meat is truly the best! You can’t go wrong with these classes + his fresh and cured meats!

A few months back I cured my own bacon. Later that week I met Zeph at the Original Nomad party in PDX. Somehow, the stars aligned and my newfound interest in meat preservation landed me in front of a true artisan butcher. I can only say that the sausage I sampled at the party made me an instant believer in Proletariat and I was embarrassed by my remedial task of cured bacon, but inspired to keep my efforts moving forward. Try the Camapgne sausage. Rich, sweet and nutty, and highly palatable. My kids raved over this at dinner this week and I am a customer for life. Just good, real, wholesome food from a true craftsman.

One New Year’s Eve, a friend of mine made a resolution to keep all of her drunken promises, and she’s been trying to honor that ever since. Lucky, lucky me.
This same friend declared, one sangria-​soaked night, that my upcoming birthday party (themed Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves) would afford the PERFECT opportunity to roast a pig! I totally agreed. Yes! we cheered. We’ll roast a pig!
But the next morning, I was like… did I dream that conversation? did I agree to roast a pig? and um… where do you get a pig? and then, like… howwww???
True to her resolutions, my faithful friend followed through. She had a coworker with some connections, so was able to get the ball rolling, but a lot of the process still seemed sort of intimidating, and in some cases downright scary. There was something called butterflying. There was talk of a pig in a black plastic bag spending the night in our bathtub. I began to reconsider.
Just a couple of weeks before the event, another friend randomly posted some pictures of a roast she’d just attended, and referenced Zeph at Proletariat. My eyes grew wide. I sent a message to the friend immediately. She gave Proletariat a glowing recommendation and said if even if I had plans already, I should «ditch them and go with Zeph!»
Given the referral, my roasting co-​schemer called him up and agreed: Proletariat was our hero.
Here’s a sampling of what Proletariat Butchery can provide:
— Butchery classes
— Full butchering services
— Provision of quality local meat
And for our purposes…
— Pig roasts! From pork to fork.
We wanted to do a bunch of the stuff ourselves, and Zeph was the perfect coach. He brought the hog to our house the day of the event, already butterflied (trust me, it’s much nicer to have this part done), and talked us through the process of getting miss piggy on the rack and over the coals. Once we had it going, he left us to it, and it seemed pretty darn easy. We fed probably about 50ish people at the party, including myself, and I heard nothing but great feedback on the piggy’s general deliciousness.
There’s much more I could say, but let’s leave it at this: if you’re the type of person whose drunken promises tend to lead to you an imminent need for quality meat, get Proletariat on your speed dial. You’ll be glad you did.