Armand Ferrante Crowned the Best Butcher
Armand Ferrante, a Whole Foods Market butcher from Middletown, N.J., won the company’s 2012 national Best Butcher competition finale held at Meatopia on Saturday in New York City.
Through months of nationwide competitions with more than 300 professional Whole Foods Market meat cutters, Ferrante cut and carved his way to the Best Butcher national championship, where he went head-to-head with two other finalists.
The title match included a trio of knife-wielding tasks including:
- Making a Turducken by deboning a turkey and chicken and adding duck breast,
- Merchandising a whole lamb, and
- Creating a new-to-the-meat-case “cut” from a beef forequarter.
The Jersey Boneless Short Rib, the new “cut” Ferrante created for the contest, will be featured in all Whole Foods Market stores starting Sept. 15, for $8.99 per pound.
[ Also Read: “Which ‘Meathead’ Will You Vote For?” ]“It’s such an honor to be recognized for the job I do every day – and have done nearly every day for the last 40 years,” said Ferrante.
Armand also won a trip to Iceland’s Food & Fun Festival (February 2013, Reykjavik) and a year’s worth of bragging rights.
