The backyard butcher's shop in Staadt on Lake Constance.
A culinary story about a place of exceptional meat enjoyment and dining pleasure in collaboration with TYPEMYKNIFE®
The success story of Michael Vogt, from printer to meat sommelier and winner of the Best Swiss Gastro Award 2022
The printer and his transformation into a meat sommelier At first glance, you might ask yourself how a former owner of a printing company came to be involved with meat and its preparation.
If you take a closer look at Michael Vogt, he seems to have found his passion. A man of a man, tall, broad, strong shoulders and hands that could tell a long story of hard work. Standing in front of his cold store in a leather apron and matching cap, Michael Vogt welcomes us to his backyard butcher’s shop in July 23 with a satisfied smile.
From the outside, it’s already more than an interesting hotspot, with an oversized Nina Hagen smiling from her first Nina Hagen Band album cover directly from the building opposite to the entrance of the Hinterhofmetzgerei. A rogue who thinks evil of it. After indulging in a vegan breakfast of delicious homemade Bünder Fleisch and enjoying an excellent coffee, we got down to the nitty-gritty of the story behind the butcher’s shop.
Anyone who has followed the era of offset printing in its metamorphosis into the digital age knows that every passionate printer has asked themselves the same question. Which paper will I use to earn my next living? The fact that this question of life planning was forced upon him was certainly not in Vogt’s focus when he became a printer. The fact that he then turned his passion for an exquisite steak into a success story wins our full respect.
Michael Vogt's leap into the butcher's trade.
It has not escaped Michael Vogt’s notice that a butcher in our society, which feeds on shrink-wrapped meat substitutes, has long since failed to make a sensible statement and receive the respect due to the result of his work.
However, taking the step to gain a foothold in a profession that previously had nothing to do with paper printing is very daring and it has paid off for him. If there’s one thing he dislikes, it’s factory-style meat production. The presentation of a protein mass in a PCB tray with water flow welded in nitrogen so that the hazardous waste content does not become too musty in the shortest possible time.
A committed butcher has animal welfare and the quality of his work first and foremost in mind. Anyone who does not understand and respect this does not belong at the stove or at the carving table. Our society is already richly endowed with soulless fries and burger fryers. The fact that Michael Vogt is not a trained butcher, but a career changer, has in no way damaged his reputation as a backyard butcher. Michael has been joined by a team of two professional butchers who have a perfect command of the production of exquisite sausage products and who support his quality standards without compromise. A super team, 3 strong men with a new age butcher design.
instagram.com/hinterhofmetzgerei
Aspiration and reality consistently pursued
If you want to sell perfect meat, you have to take care of the supply chain and the producers. Those who revive traditional virtues in the age of industrial food production also create a unique selling point.
In the past, being a butcher always meant taking the cow out of the barn and bringing it to the slaughterhouse to be slaughtered. Short distances, no transportation, no anonymous slaughtering with robots, but respect and esteem for the animal and its destiny to serve us as food.
This is exactly what Michael has achieved with his pasture cow husbandry and the selected cattle breeds in his herd. The animals stand on a lush meadow not far from Staad in Grub and enjoy the magnificent view over Lake Constance.
The best conditions for outstanding meat quality, which manifests itself in production and further processing. One of the most interesting aspects of Vogt’s work is that he experiments with new things and sticks to his goal of producing the best steak.
The meat quality and special cuts from Michael Vogt's New Age backyard butchery.
When the right cut has a decisive influence on enjoyment at the table.
Cattle breeds and the special grazing of old cows. Over the last 70 years, cattle breeds have been bred primarily for specific purposes. The focus was either on bone and lean meat content or high milk yields. The regional characteristics of the location were also always a clear requirement.
The Holstein cow breed just doesn’t feel so at home in the Alps. This is not due to the linguistic environment; communication between cows seems to be internationally understandable. No, it is rather the anatomical characteristics of various breeds that are perfectly adapted to the environment.
Vogt has recognized that animals that have already reached their normal productive life cycle can eat the right fat on a lush meadow for a few more months and thus deliver a taste and meat quality that is second to none, producing the perfect steak is not an unrealistic approach.
The world of special cuts, the flavorful discovery of special cuts.
As a layman, the first thing to understand is that when an animal is cut up, different pieces of muscle meat are separated. In a leg, for example, this would be the fricandeau, the large and small nut, the false fillet as only a fraction of the available muscle meat pieces.
Each muscle has its own typical characteristics, such as large, long muscle fibrils or a more delicate grain, for example. The proportion of enclosed fat in the fibre or the proportion of tendon fibres to stabilize function and movement anatomy.
This means that every piece of muscle meat in a kitchen has a different preparation option. Some cuts are only suitable for braising, while others are also ideal for eating raw.
If you are under the misconception that a fillet is the best part of an animal, you should be proven wrong and book a table with your friends at the Hinterhofmetzgerei.
Slaughter on the farm.
A long-forgotten and recurring tradition for the best quality.
Slaughtering on the farm used to be a matter of course. The butcher came to the farmer in the countryside and the animals were cut up and processed together in the slaughterhouses of the village community is back in vogue today and a guarantee of the best quality.
The animal is sent for further processing in its familiar surroundings in a farm slaughterhouse. No transportation, no stress hormones are released. This makes maturing meat in a dry cold store the perfect prerequisite for the finest meat enjoyment.
Michael Vogt's backyard butcher's shop in Staad. Much more than a sales counter for first-class meat.
The butcher’s shop, the place at Lake Constance harbor Staad and your ambience to the pleasure pilgrimage site
If you turn right from the village street into the alley leading to the harbor, the first thing you see is Lake Constance and the adjacent Staad harbor. Not exactly the place where you would expect to find a butcher’s shop, but the location could not be more fitting for a gourmet butcher’s shop. The dolce vita at Staad harbor can be perfectly combined with the exclusive offerings of Michael Vogt’s backyard butcher’s shop.
When you enter the store, you immediately notice the large dry ager cold room, where the prime cuts await their maturation as a whole leg, shoulder or loin.
The perfect piece of meat is presented to the visitor behind a large pane of glass.
Directly adjacent is the glass production area where his team of two professional butchers produce the finest specialties and exquisite sausage products.
The sale of fine meat products is always open on Saturday mornings.
Not forgetting the Tavolata, the central place for enjoyment
The tavolata, the table as impressive as the chef himself.
You can buy sausage and meat in a butcher’s shop, so far so inspiring.
Having a tavolata in the room and being able to eat the finest steak cuts in a large group right next to the production and the dry ager is something very special that Michael Vogt offers in his backyard butcher’s shop.
This is where gourmets, lovers of authentic taste and the finest precision craftsmanship meet. Of course, many professionals from Michelin-starred kitchens are also present as guests, who can then be instructed in the secrets of various fine cuts when carving.
If the table is rented for an evening, then the group is among themselves. Enjoy the impressive ambience and indulge in various beef cuts undisturbed.
The fact that a tavolata has always been a place for good conversation and the exchange of culinary secrets is celebrated here as a fair.
The backyard knife design by TYPEMYKNIFE®
We at TYPEMYKNIFE® are developing a special personalized knife series for Michael Vogt and the Hinterhofmetzgerei. The blog story about the design and the choice of Michael Vogt’s knife manufactory in blog story no. 2.
The 3D engraving configurator for your personal knife design by TYPEMYKNIFE®
The 3D engraving configurator from TYPEMYKNIFE is an innovative tool that allows customers to create personalized engravings on knife blades according to their own ideas. With this configurator, customers can customize their knife with unique and individual engravings to make it a very special and personal piece.
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TYPEMYKNIFE attaches great importance to quality and precision, and this is also reflected in the engraving. The 3D engraving configurator ensures a precise and detailed engraving on the knife blade, which gives the knife a personal touch and makes it a unique gift or collector’s item.
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