Is there a difference between calf's liver and veal liver? Where can you get a lamb neck? Do you roast a goat leg? Is bison really leaner? What is caul sausage? Your butcher can answer these questions* (or see the answers, below) and help you navigate the possibilities for meat-eating adventures. Richmond and its surrounding areas have a wealth of meat options from the delicious but ubiquitous to the delectable and unusual. Here are some standouts:
Belmont Butchery
15 N. Belmont Ave.
422-8519
http://www.belmontbutchery.com
Beef: local, grass-fed, pasture-raised; certified Angus
Pork: natural; Ossabaw, Tamworth and Duroc hogs locally raised
Wild boar
Kangaroo
Veal
Goat
Venison: imported, loin, leg
Rabbit: local
Big Apple Market
2916 Jefferson Davis Highway, 23234-1742
233-6891
Its primary business is in whole animal.
Beef
Lamb
Veal
Pig, entirety
Duck
Rabbit
Quail
Goat, entirety
The Butcher at Bon Air
2720 Tinsley Drive
323-6328
http://www.thebutcheratbonair.com
Beef: local grass-fed, hot dogs
Lamb: loins, ribs, leg chops
Veal: top round, loin chop
Pork: tenderloin: chops, loin, chops, butts, house-made sausage
Rabbit: whole rabbits
Venison: tenderloin (special order)
Dragonfly Farms
16259 Trainham Road
Beaverdam 23015
449-2339
http://dragonflyfarmsbvdm.blogspot.com
Beef: grass-fed
Lamb: grass-fed
25-pound family pack; 80-plus pound side of beef
Green Bay Open Air Market
140 Green Bay Road
Green Bay 23942
434-321-3674
http://greenbaymkt.weebly.com
Bison cuts: local from Kenbridge's Crooked Creek Bison, bison sausage, ground, tenderloin, T-bone, brisket, soup bones and liver
Beef: Ask for anything, literally. Sausage, flank, cube
Elk: farm-raised, shipped-in, ground, small steaks
Keenbell Farm
18437 Vontay Road
Rockville 23146
767-0530
http://www.keenbellfarm.com
Pork: local pasture-raised
Beef: grass-fed
Nadolski's
2913 River Road West
Goochland
556-4888
http://www.nadolskisbutchershop.com
Beef: Galloway, local Beechwood Farms grass-fed black Angus, red Angus
Lamb: legs, rack, whole lambs in spring
Veal: rack
Venison: loin, rack
Squab
Wild boar: whole, leg, rack, tenderloin
Pork: house-made sausage
Petra Food International
9207 Midlothian Turnpike
272-7132
Halal lamb and beef
(Halal meats are slaughtered within Muslim law, drained of blood)
Simply Abundant Farm
Henrico 23075
506-4015
http://www.simply-abundant.com
Lamb shipped by pounds or picked out on-site.
Virginia Meat Market
1201 Atlantic St.
Hopewell 23860
458-2589
Since 1928, conventional meat cuts and snout-to-tail cuts
Cow heads, ox tails, turkey tails
Tripe (bleached)
Hog maws (stomach)
Pork and beef neck bones
Pig feet and brain
*Answers: There's no difference between veal liver and calf's liver. You can get a lamb neck from most any place that butchers lamb. Roasted goat leg is delicious. Bison is leaner than most meats and some fish. Caul sausage is sausage wrapped in the fatty membrane of an intestine.
