The following is an extended version of the interview published in our May issue, heading to newsstands soon.
Photo by Jay Paul
Butcher Adam Musselman’s knife collection is 70 deep, and when he’s not keeping the craft alive in Bon Air at Cardinal State Butchers with co-owners Melville Johnson IV and Joshua Franklin, the 36-year-old Ohio native is slinging Cobra Burgers or drinking IPAs, the higher the ABV the better. Musselman has a diverse mix of talents, and the self-proclaimed metalhead is trying to educate and engage customers, one cut at a time.
Richmond magazine: How did you get into butchering?
Adam Musselman: I was living in Portland and had gotten hired at Laurelhurst Market. I helped run the butcher shop for three years and learned charcuterie, whole-animal butchery and just f--king loved it — the whole specialized thing. There wasn’t a whole lot of it going on, I was learning a new set of skills, and I also wasn’t line-dogging until 3 a.m.
RM: Do you enjoy exposing people to butchery?
Musselman: Yes, it 100 percent makes you appreciate the whole animal and how much more there is that’s delicious on an animal than most people realize. It’s not just New York strip, rib-eye and tenderloin. It was a whole living thing, and you start to think about using the whole animal and respecting where it came from.
RM: Is there a particular animal you really enjoy butchering?
Musselman: I mean, pig is king. It’s a pretty quick breakdown, and I love utilizing every part of it.
RM: Do you have a favorite knife?
Musselman: For butchering specifically, I have two. One is a Foster Bros., a defunct knife company, probably from 1960. It’s carbon steel, just beautiful. These are really well-made knives and harder to find but f--king awesome. I found this breaking knife at Diversity Thrift for 25 cents.
RM: Do you find that the shop presents an opportunity to educate customers?
Musselman: Absolutely. This is not the same as going to a grocery store. They’ll [customers] be hard-pressed to come by a case of pork ribs. There’s [only] two racks per animal, and that [mindset] is a symptom of commodity farming. Beyond that, it’s a lot of answering questions — it’s not stuff you’ll find in a lot of places. It intimidates some people, but mostly people are stoked. I think it helps that we're not a--holes. You see that way too much — you start getting specialized, and people are real quick to turn their noses up in the air. It says “good conversations” on that sign right over there. We want to keep it lighthearted, and we want to engage people.
RM: What kind of music do you listen to in the shop?
Musselman: Well, that depends on who is here. If it’s me, it could be Black Sabbath, Sleep or Cadaver, could also be T. Rex or Thin Lizzy. If Josh is here, it could be Kenny G or weird noise stuff that he likes or Blood Orange, we play that a lot. If Mel’s here we would probably hear Hank Sr., Buck Owens or Conway Twitty.
RM: If you weren’t a butcher, what would you be doing? Any other dream jobs?
Musselman: I have a kitchen background and the skill set, so I could go to a kitchen. Originally, the goal before I left college was zoology, specifically herpetology, the study of amphibians. I loved Steve Irwin as a kid and all through high school, but unless you’re going to be Steve Irwin, it’s a tricky field to get into.
RM: Do you have any pets?
Musselman: I have two ball pythons [Dennis Reynolds and Spot], a red-footed tortoise [named Mortimer], and two dogs [Puukko and Clementine] and two cats [Carl Undergard and Charlie Kelly]. Mortimer will live about 70 years.
RM: You’d better include him in your will.
Musselman: Oh, I am — he’ll get everything.
