Whole Lamb Butchery

Last fall, I donated to the Kickstarter campaign for Fifth Quarter Charcuterie, an excellent sandwich/butcher shop in the Montclair district of Oakland that offers local pasture-raised meat. In exchange, my friends and I got a class on how to break down a whole lamb and we kept all of the meat. We got to play around with options like aging the loin, whether we wanted to turn the belly into bacon, etc.

Scott, the butcher, used to offer butchery classes when he worked at another shop and plans to offer classes to the public in the near future. I would highly recommend it to Bay Area folks!

Here are some photos from last night:

house-made charcuterie

this weighed around 56lbs in this state



our dinner next Saturday



dinner tonight

Veddy nice! I live about 5 mins away from 5QC. There was considerable excitement when it opened, and it certainly was a welcome addition to the Village.

You got a lotta sausage as a whole batch.

Apparently Montclair was sorely missing a good sandwich shop, because Scott says he’s sold about 5,000 to date.

I was surprised by that, and really glad there were plenty of people to take some!

I’m not typically a sando guy, but there is a sandwich shop a block and a half away that has a computerized system that you can input your favorite sandwich order(s) into. Next time you come back, they’ll have it on file and make it. I’ve been there once, and don’t remember what I ordered.

5QC no doubt makes a better quality sandwich. You just have to like something that’s on their short list of what’s available that day…

I’m not usually into sandwiches either, but I have a weakness for meatball sandwiches, especially when the marinara soaks into the bread.

Absolutely beautiful job!!!

There are three sandwiches locally that I partake of on a somewhat regular basis:

1. Wood Tavern’s pastrami sandwich
2. Bakesale Betty’s fried chicken sandwich
3. Roli Roti’s porchetta sandwich at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market

I should get around to trying 5QC’s versions, though I did see a Yelp review that the porchetta sando was lacking there.

Your lamb is MUCH bigger than the ones I am used to preparing.

Thanks!

1, haven’t tried. 2, not a fan. I think it’s too bland. 3, YES. Love that they can do breadless and just give you a pile of meat. No longer a sandwich, but better!

Do you break down whole animals too? How big do you usually get them?

I’m 5 minutes away also and am happy to have Fifth Quarter in the neighborhood. I took a similar pig butchery class at 4505 in SF a few years ago.

20-25 Days 4-7kg. Plane is taking off.

I think there’s at least 4 Berserkers in Oakland, likely more. Really should get an offline going here.

Is that in the US or abroad? I think the US tends to slaughter animals when they’re older and bigger.

That’s Spain, it’s the reason people don’t like the flavor of lamb or goat, they’re a bit too old here. Like suckling pig.

Too cool. Will pass along details on the store; relatives/friends have been in mourning since the close of Prime Smoked, so great to have a new place to send them.

Awesome! They have a very tiny case so it looks like there’s not much, but just tell your buddies to call ahead if they want anything specific.