VIDEO: at the center of the competition for the best apprentice butcher in Occitania, two young winners selected for the national final

Peeling, boning, tying… Eyes on their pieces of meat, these young apprentices selected for the regional selections of Occitania challenged each other with method and speed to distinguish themselves from each other and win the ticket to the final of the best apprentices butchers of France.

In the laboratory of the Lot vocational school in Cahors, the nine candidates aged between 17 and 21 were put to the test this Monday morning. “Only two of them will be selected to participate in the last national stage, on May 14 and 15, in Avignon. To decide between them during these 4 hours of competition, they will have to implement four different techniques: deboning the meat, trimming , skinning and binding”, intervenes Robert Pradeilles, one of the members of the jury, representing the CFA of Lozère.

On the menu of this regional stop in Occitania: beef, pork, lamb and chicken. “Only 40 minutes left. Think of the people who will have to cook your pieces of meat. And don’t neglect the decoration,” Laurent Flaujac suddenly writes. For the butcher of the Halles de Cahors, also president of the professional union of butchers of Occitania Interbev and president of the jury of the competition for the best apprentice butcher: “This event is a real showcase for young people, the profession, but also courses training. Through these young people in the 2nd year of PAC, this competition promotes the know-how of an artisan trade. Slaughtering is a complete job where you also need to be a good manager, a good salesman, and know the animals well.” .

It is therefore a competition that wants to be attractive and the sector really needs it, as these representatives explain: “Currently more than 6,000 butcher posts are open in France. We are struggling to hire employees, such as apprentices. The tragedy is retirement of our artisan butchers who cannot find a buyer. Yet the incomes in the profession are correct. We are also gradually observing a feminization of the profession. Furthermore, this year, the best butcher worker in France is a woman, she is Stéphanie Hein , of the Indre-et-Loire.

Abdoulaye Koné (Haute Garonne) and Mathieu Garde (Aveyron), joint first

But in this promotion of nine selected from Occitania, no girls this time. Who knows, they might represent the apprentices at the next regional competition next year in Montauban. Meanwhile these young apprentice butchers have done well. “There is an excellent level, but I find that the differences are more marked between the very good and the less good”, observes Robert Pradeilles, one of the examiners for him.

Among the excellent ones were our two winners of the day: Abdoulaye Koné (Haute Garonne) and Mathieu Garde (Aveyron), joint first. The candidate from Lozère is in 2nd place, Yannis Degalle in 3rd; followed by that of Lot, Yanis Byl, 4th. Therefore, tied for the following candidates: Cameron Nicole (Hérault), Clément Tajan (Hautes-Pyrénées), Quentin Puybusque (Aude), Mathis Martinez (Gard) and Arthur Lacam (Tarn et Garonne). Gers, Tarn and Pyrénées-Orientales had no candidates.

The two regional finalists will be able, if they wish, to intensify their training in view of the national event, by participating in an internship at the Higher School of Meat Crafts in Paris.