Fleischer/in

1. On the Search 1.1 Questions Youth faced with career questions. Not an easy topic nowadays. What should I become? Creative, like a graphic designer? Or should I deal with people, like a salesman? How about exciting High-Tech like a Mechatronic? But is my school graduation enough? Are my grades good enough? There are too many of everything anyway! People will always need to eat. Maybe I should just learn something to do with nutrition! 2. What is expected? 2.1. The Enterprise Kaya Hello! Master Hello. Kaya I have just finished school and I was wondering if it was possible to do an apprenticeship as a butcher? Master Of course, in fact. We still have one position free. When would you have time? Kaya Holidays start next week, so that would be a good time. Master Great, then come on Monday morning at 6 am. And then we will show you what being a butcher is all about. Kaya Thank you very much and i will se you next week. Bye. Master Good morning Kaya. Nice to see you. Get up on right side of bed this morning? Kaya Yes, a little early – but that´s fine. Master Great. Kaya, these are our colleagues from the production department: Dominique, Herbert and Philipp. Kaya Hello. Master And they have already started deboning. So Kaya, let me tell you a bit about our business: We are a middle-sized business in its´ third generation – we have been around for 75 years. We have between 20 and 22 employees. Four work in the production department and the rest work in the front of the of the shop or in the kitchen – catering service. We don´t do the slaughtering ourselves, we have contracts with farmers. I got there, choose the animals, they bring them to a private slaughter house , where they will be slaughtered, chilled and delivered to us. The first thing we do when the product arrives is control quality. First, we check the cooling temperature to make sure that it has been cooled to the right temperature. Then comes classification – this here is a nice meaty U2 bull – a young bull with a good fat content. Just as it should be. 2.2 Prerequisites Master So, how are your grades? Kaya Pretty good actually, except art. Master Yes well, drawing is not a required skill here – as you can see - Craftsmanship is more sought after you need to be able to handle food, must be friendly and most importantly, be able to work with computers – however, that does not come until a little later. Kaya OK You may not need to be able to draw, but creativity and ideas are a must… Lugging half-pigs around and slaughtering calves are a thing of the past. The requirements have changed dramatically over the last few years. Today, creativity in the purchasing of raw materials and their processing and improvement is vital. This ranges from the production of traditional meat and sausage specialitites to the development of new and exciting recipes as well as our own specials. Taking part in the organisation of parties and events is especially fun, showing creativity for evening dinners, for parties or large occasions. Combining your craft and ideas – these are the things, which make our job so diversified. If you like getting stuck in, have your wits about you and are good with your hands, if you are creative and reliable, then the meat business just might be your thing! 2.3. What can I learn from the foreman? In the first half of the apprenticeship, the apprentice will, among other things, learn the following: What the legal guidelines concerning food hygiene are What you need to know about quality control How to prepare, clean and use the necessary machinery How to choose different meat types and parts and to portion them And how to work with receipts and plan individual work stages Master Philipp, we now produce wieners/frankfurters… Basically , we have the lean meat Then the spices Salt And one after another, we add these ingredients – O.K.?! As well as the prearation of specialities such as pies and Rouladen, Sülzen and poultry pro-ducts, apprentices learn how to prepare a full meal. In the catering department you learn how to conduct sales and advisory meetings, to prepare meals and serve them, and to plan service and carry it out. 2.4 Rights, Duties and Opportunities If an apprentice shows real interest and ability, the company will offer them a permanent trainee position. There is a written vocational training contract. This covers things such as work hours, holiday and pay. The length of the trial period is also an important factor which is covered here. Vocational training lasts three years. Hard work and talent can, however, reduce this time. During this time, the trainees will mainly be involved in the more practical side of the job. Theory is taught at the vocation school. In the second half of their training, the trainees can begin to specialise and and have more influence over the content of their training. After completing the journeyman exam there are a great many career opportunities. For example: Independent running of a butchers Branch management Business management studies the running of the meat and sausage product department in a larger company or teaching training to become a training supervisor A panic-proof career with a future and good earning possibilities! 3. Vocational Training 3.1. Choice of a profession, Requirements and Demands My name is Philipp and I am in my third year. The master is telling me how to make Rote Wurst. The versatiliy of the work meant that I had really enjoyed my holiday apprenticeship with Kaiser Butchers. 2.4 Rights, Duties and Opportunities If an apprentice shows real interest and ability, the company will offer them a permanent trainee position. There is a written vocational training contract. This covers things such as work hours, holiday and pay. The length of the trial period is also an important factor which is covered here. Vocational training lasts three years. Hard work and talent can, however, reduce this time. During this time, the trainees will mainly be involved in the more practical side of the job. Theory is taught at the vocation school. In the second half of their training, the trainees can begin to specialise and and have more influence over the content of their training. After completing the journeyman exam there are a great many career opportunities. For example: Independent running of a butchers Branch management Business management studies the running of the meat and sausage product department in a larger company or teaching training to become a training supervisor A panic-proof career with a future and good earning possibilities! 3. Vocational Training 3.1. Choice of a profession, Requirements and Demands My name is Philipp and I am in my third year. The master is telling me how to make Rote Wurst. The versatiliy of the work meant that I had really enjoyed my holiday apprenticeship with Kaiser Butchers. There are a lot of competitions, where trainees have the possibility to show what they can do. And sometimes you get an award. Then the Boss is really proud – and it looks good at your reference. 4. School Education 4.1 School-Routine Teacher: The task for today is or consists of: Different intestines Our teacher at vocational school teaches us a lot. Today we are learning about the different types of intestine used in salami making. Teacher: Everything alright so far? – Whats the first thing we do? Pupil: Wash our hands! Teacher: Let´s go! There are two curriculums – one for the things we will learn on location and the another for the things we learn in vocational school. By the time we are finished, we can do a lot: We can decide for ourselves which work needs to be done first. This is something we will have to do alone later. But during training, everything is explained to us in detail. The ingredients are ground together in the meat grinder. Following the recipe for pork salami, we measure out the spices. This machine is called Kutter. It chops the meat and bacon down to grain size. To this we add the spices. The mixture is then put into the stuffing machine. To avoid there being air bubbles in the salami, the mixture needs to be thoroughly compressed. Filling the sausage is not as easy as it looks. It takes practice. In the end, we check that everything has gone to plan. 4.2 Trade Test We all passed the intermediate exam, our teachers ahd explained everything to us in detail. Next up is the journeyman exam, and we´re all working hard for it. Since recently, we have been able to choose two subjects. These are called „Wahlqualifikationseinheiten“. We have a choice of six subjects: Slaughtering preparation of specials meats and sausages preparation of a meal or buffet advising someone or purchasing meat catering service or the correct use of a packaging machine We need to plan our own work, carry it out and then write a report about exactly what we have done. It is important that we use what we have learnt in school about technique, financing, environment and planning. The written exam contains the following. The subjects are: Merchandise management and production Commercial trade Economic and social studies Failing the exam isn´t the end of the world, luckily, you can retake the exam twice. Take up the challenge for your future and learn a butchers job!