The magnificent prime rib with bones as thick as hammer heads has been ousted from the meat counter by a compliant rolled roast as soft as a cheese log. The stunning crown roast of pork, whose ribs arch into a circle, the tips of its bones decked with frills, is missing in action, replaced in the vast refrigerated aisles of markets with pale, flabby blobs of vacuum-packed tenderloins. Even the mighty ham is now just a shaft around which are draped spiral-sliced and honey-glazed pieces, sawed by some machine so that no buffet goer will ever have to struggle or encounter any resistance.

You can cut this world with a fork.

It's a convenient world, a quick world, a less-encumbered world. What's so wrong with that? Well, along come the holidays and into many lives a big slab of meat — the turkey for Thanksgiving, the prime rib for Christmas, the duck for New Year's Day — lands like an alien spacecraft on the carving board. Hmm, let's see: Knee bone connected to the thigh bone?

"How distressing it is when guests see a host hack and slash across one bone after another and besplatter the table with odds and ends," wrote Duncan Hines, an influential food and travel writer in the 1930s, '40s and '50s who then lent his name to a popular line of food products. "Such performance always dampens the appetite of those present."

So how can a host learn better carving skills? Look for books, magazines and Web sites that offer detailed photos; videos and television cooking shows can be very helpful by precisely depicting the anatomy of the meat that you are carving.

Still, experience is the best teacher. Only when a knife is in your hand can you really learn how to cut through the joint between a drumstick and a thigh.

For starters: Get a sharp knife and a big cutting board. Most people find it easier to stand while carving. Stabilize the meat with a fork, but don't pierce the skin; you don't want to lose precious juices.

For more advice, we asked some experts.

Francois Dionot, founder of L'Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda, Md., and Gaithersburg, Md.: "What you need to carve: confidence, understanding of bone structure and practice. Get a good sharp knife ... Do it on a cutting board, not a platter. If you want to learn how to carve a chicken or a turkey, every night, for five nights in a row, take a chicken and practice. Don't do five in one night. Spread it across five nights, and by the end you will have learned. And don't waste the chicken. Save the meat for chicken salad and the bones for stock."

Greg Preast, butcher and owner of Partlow's Market in Ashburn, Va.: "How to learn to carve? I'd start on the Internet because if you're not prepared you could be standing at the head of table and you've got this 20-pound bird and 18 people standing around, and the bird may not make it all the way around the table.

"Equally important is having a relationship with the guy on the back side of the counter. He can show you what to do and how to do it. I'm a butcher. If I walk down the meat case in many supermarkets, I see cuts of meat, and I think that there is no way in the world that people know what to do with (them). I see things I don't recognize. For big meals, if you're afraid to carve, replace a prime rib with a tenderloin, a safe piece of meat that is tender even if you overcook it. Or try a rolled rib roast — a boneless Delmonico roast that is a better value since the shopper is not paying for bones."

Norman Wade, executive chef at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.: "The most important thing? Be confident, but that takes practice. I also recommend putting a kitchen towel under the carving platter to secure it."

Wade works with Marvin Diaz ("Carvin' Marvin"), a carver for more than three years at the Carvery Buffet in the Town & Country Lounge at the Mayflower. Diaz recommends a long and lightly serrated carving knife and long fork.