Meat+Poultry - October 2019 - 83

just to see if she could pull them off. She
usually did. But she never thought of cooking
or being a butcher as a career option. Ever
practical, Cauthen chose to major in aerospace
engineering at the Univ. of Virginia. But the
pull of cooking was strong, and she took a
semester off from her studies as a Cavalier. She
landed a journeyman chef's position in Bern,
Switzerland. The eatery had its own in-house
butcher shop. "There were Germans working
in the butcher department," she recalls. "They
didn't speak English and I didn't know German.
Luckily, cleavers have no language barrier. I
was learning culinary arts but knew that meats
were the centerpiece of most meals."
Even after her stint in Switzerland, Cauthen
kept learning and traveling. At the age of 22
she landed back in Virginia and she opened a
catering business, Capers Catering Inc., with
her sister, Karen Cauthen Ellsworth. They ran
that venture together for three years. Cauthen
went on to work as a restaurant chef, catering
chef, culinary instructor, consultant and
freelance food writer.
"Many years later," she says, "I was on a
'walkabout' trip to Australia where I spent
some time helping in a butcher shop in
Melbourne. That's when I heard that Julia
Child had died. I was crushed. Julia Child is
my culinary hero." After returning home a
few months later, Cauthen was working as
a freelance chef and food writer, when she
had an epiphany. "I was past deadline on an
article and had the Food Network on in the
background. I heard Alton Brown advise
viewers to 'ask their local butcher'... That
was a light-bulb moment for me. Richmond
needed a local butcher, and I wanted to be
Richmond's butcher."

BEFORE 'LOCAL' WAS COOL
Inspired, Cauthen wrote her own business
plan and leased a 700-sq.-ft. shop with a
European-style storefront on North Belmont
Street in Richmond. Six months later in
October of 2006, she opened Belmont
Butchery. During the construction, her sister
gave her a copy of Julia Child's memoir My
Life in France, for her birthday. It was a
huge inspiration. "Child was a war hero who
learned to cook at the age of 37 and went on
to become a culinary icon. I had just turned
37 myself," Cauthen explains. "I figured all I

wanted to do was to open a little butcher shop."
Starting with an 8-ft. raw meat display case
and a 4-ft. case for charcuterie items, her wares
now include about 70 percent locally sourced
meats. "When Belmont Butchery opened, 13
years ago, 'local' wasn't a thing. We started
with restaurant quality meats and evolved from
there." She believes firmly in being a nose-totail meat provisioner, leaving little waste but
educating customers rather than limiting them
to only local options. Belmont Butchery prides
itself on having the best local meat options,
but maintains a line of non-local, humanely
raised meats with no added hormones or
antibiotics as more budget friendly options.
Cauthen explains that "in the beginning,
farmers and processors weren't really sure of
the regulations pertaining to selling to a retail
shop. Complicate that with being a female
butcher; local abattoirs were very confused."
"I want to sell everyone something,"
Cauthen explains. "But I need to have some
understanding of what they really need or
want. If they want grass-fed meats, I go to my
role as an educator and let them know the
difference in taste, texture and cooking. If they
want four slices of bacon or one sausage link,

Belmont Butchery prides
itself on having the best
local meat options.

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