Butcher Girl Alison's breaking down a hindquarter 'dance' at Beef

Going by the name of Butcher Girl Alison, Ms Meagher will demonstrate on stage how to break down a hindquarter during two 45-minute shows at Beef on May 8 and 9 at 7pm at the Rocks Ringside while people dine.

A qualified butcher, Ms Meagher said she would also educate people about all the cuts that came out of the hindquarter and the secondary or forgotten cuts.

"I will be taking them through the carcase so they have a better understanding as to where their meat is coming from and where the cuts are coming from," she said.

"I've been in the meat game for about 20 years, I started in London and it's taken me all over the world."

Ms Meagher started her working life as a food styler, styling food to be photographed for magazines after obtaining a consumer science degree from RMIT in Melbourne.

It was only after a job in a caftan shop in Notting Hill, London, didn't pan out that she found her calling in butchery.

"I walked past a butcher shop in Notting Hill and loved the display in the window and I went in asked for a job. I was in my late 20s. I became quite obsessed with the art of butchering, I thought it was craft so I decided to come back to Australia and start my apprenticeship," Ms Meagher said.

"I got obsessed with that window, I thought it was gorgeous."

On finishing her apprenticeship, she moved to China for six years where she worked for Elders Fine Food China as an ambassador for Australian beef moving all over China and into south east Asia training people on how to cut meat and doing shows.

That was from 2014 until 2020 when she moved back to Australia and started her own business, Butcher Girl Alison, consulting and working with government agencies and chefs.

"I do event butchering, it's never the same things, it's constantly something different," she said.

"I don't have a background in butchering, my father's not a butcher, no one in my family is a butcher, it's just something I'm very passionate about. I've always been passionate about food so I was always going to be involved in the food industry in some way."

Ms Meagher said she spent time with a boner learning knife skills and techniques, and tried to make her shows as engaging as possible.

"It is a show, I love to perform, it's where I dance the best," she said.

"I don't think any female is doing what I'm doing, event butchering, so it's exciting (for an audience) to see a woman up there.

"The reaction from the audience is amazing. People love it - one, because they're learning something and two, it's a show. I don't think I've ever had a bad comment.

"I just describe it as a dance because it's moving in one spot very quickly - it's a bit like a dance, it's the same movement every time...you've got movements of a knife in a certain way, the way you hold it, it's just a dance. I think it looks pretty fluid."

Ms Meagher said she liked cuts of meat that were versatile to cook and from the forequarter.

"I generally like ones from the forequarter because the forequarter is a little bit sweeter and I think there's way more hidden gems in the forequarter like the petite tender which is the top of the bolar blade, which is probably the second most tender muscle in the whole animal, the first one being the tenderloin," she said.

"I do enjoy the flank as well...I think it's really versatile, it's off the stomach of the animal, and you can grill it, you can roll it and slow cook it, you can have it as whole steak. I think it's just incredibly tasty and versatile, I think that's probably my favourite to work with."

As well as doing the shows and consulting, Ms Meagher said she was very passionate about mentoring women in the meat industry and thought it helped to have someone like herself show other women what could be done.

"You can't be it if you can't see it. I remember when I started butchering it wasn't easy. I didn't know anyone like me, I didn't have any mentors that I could see or could help me," she said.

"So, I'm very passionate about listening to and supporting women in the industry."