The bustard is a large bird which is at its best in April. Bustard is usually served roasted. It is eaten in Africa, Asia and Australasia but scarce, though recovering, in Western Europe.
Lapwing. A variety of plover which congregates on ploughed fields in winter. They have green wings and a proud crest. We call them flapwings because of their odd, random flight. If they are eaten, they are usually gutted and roasted and served on buttered toast and garnished with lemon and watercress.
A crab in the process of losing its shell, when it is described as having "busted" loose. In New Orleans this is a popular treat, dipped in batter, cooked in butter and served with béarnaise sauce.
The butcher is the person who selects the meat and cuts it up into its component parts for consumption.
A butcher's block is generally a free-standing, very solid wooden, usually oak, surface, often presented as a table on wheels, of the same height as a work surface, which should be used exclusively for cutting meat. The butcher's block is designed to last for a long time under heavy wear and tear. An old one will be beautifully worn.
Butcher's broom is a stiff, evergreen shrub that is both attractive and unusual. It looks a little like a small holly but is actually a member of the lily family. The only monocotyledonous lily, the bitter roots are used to make an apéritif called petit-houx and the young shoots are eaten in France as pragon and in Italy as pungitopo. The true leaves are replaced by leaf-like cladodes, that is, green flattened stems which are lance-shaped with a spiny tip. The flowers are small, dull green and found in the centre of the cladodes. Male and female flowers appear on different plants, and if the female flower is fertilised it produces a striking scarlet berry which lasts into the winter. The woody branches of this plant used to be bound into bundles and sold to butchers for cleaning the meat from their chopping blocks.
A butcher's hook is a solid hook on which a carcass or large joint might be hung.
A butcher's knife is a large knife with a smooth, unserrated blade for cutting through meat. It curves slightly upwards away from the handle and has a wide bolster to protect the hand.
