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| Mike Smollon of My Butcher & More |
Meats from My Butcher & More. Mike Smollon knows his stuff. Over the length of our conversation, he
serves up information in great gobs and platters. Juicy tidbits. Sophisticated entrées. Surprising little amuse-bouches.
Interesting asides that are a meal unto themselves. And every course of our discourse is meat. Wet-aged versus dry-aged. The demands of prime.
Breeds of beef: Angus, Hereford, Whitepark. Pasturing and cornfeeding. Texture and grain and marbling. The “monkey hand”
of the loin, and peach butcher paper with vitamin E.
It is too much! “No, no. An educated customer is a good customer,” says
Mike. Indeed, Mike’s patrons that afternoon are there for something special, and are happy to talk about it. “Great
strip steaks last week, Mike!” “Good.”
Before he opened My Butcher & More in 2006, Mike was a
meat salesman, learning the trade. Today, in addition to managing the store, he’s also a meat consultant, advising restaurants
interested in working with the region’s best producers.
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| The meat case at My Butcher & More |
That’s what he appears to have gathered here in his store. The locals also
know it for its deli; they serve serious sandwiches there — and have earned awards for best customer service and best
lunch. “Mom” Freda Archer is his partner. His wife, Alicia, helps out on her off-hours from lawyering.
But the meat case is what draws the afficionado’s eye. While not huge, it is mighty. Free range duckling, dry-aged
steaks, rabbit for heaven’s sake, Gunpowder bison, beef and more beef. In the back, Mike trims out a beautiful dry-aged strip
steak as he talks to us. “I have to have the best here. Otherwise, why would people come here? You have to know and
want the difference between a cut of meat from my shop and what you can pick up from Safeway.” He tells us about Roseda
beef. It’s local certified Black Angus from Roseda Farms in Monkton, Md.
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| Jessica preparing the turducken. |
Someone else sends back an order for a tenderloin steak. All-natural Hereford tenderloin
is $33.99 a pound. As Mike preps the steak, he talks about USDA grading, trials and tribulations. “Sometimes I have
to send back meat that’s stamped ‘prime.’ I don’t know what happened, but you can look at it and see
that it’s not. I’ve been in this business for 20 years. It kills me to go into a weekend without a good supply,
but my customers will know.”
Across the room, Jessica Peterson is putting together a turducken for a customer. The turducken is a monument
of meat, a paean to poultry. It’s fascinating and somewhat alarming to watch in its construction. She begins by boning
a chicken in about five minutes flat. And partially bones a turkey in about 15 minutes, leaving only bones in the legs.
To assemble this beast, first the chicken is laid open and covered with bread
stuffing. Then two duck breasts are scored and laid fat side down on the stuffing. Same treatment for the turkey – a
layer of stuffing is spread across it, and the whole chicken-duck construction is set on top. Jessica then rolls up the turkey
and trusses it, so that it once again resembles the bird it was. At My Butcher & More, you can choose from cranberry, fruit and cornbread stuffing, or stuffing made
with maple sausage, if you need more meat. Oh, and the roast is dotted inside with clarified duck fat, to keep the bird moist.
“Have you ever had turducken?”
asks Mike. We shake our heads. “Well, you probably should, once in your life.”
It’s that time of year for serious gourmands; a time to impress and feed the invading hordes. And
if you want some of Mike’s superb offerings, you’d better get on the stick. The prime rib loin that Mike assembles
— frenching the rack and retying it to the boneless loin — is also in high demand for the season. He’ll
make only 120 or so.
The “My Butcher & More” store takes
a bit of hunting, but it’s well worth it. The shop is tucked away in a cluster of stores situated between Davidsonville
and Gambrills, at the corner of Rt. 424 and 450 (Defense Highway). Look for the red truck outside with the license plate,
“MEATHED.”
My Butcher & More
1334 Defense Highway, Suite E
Gambrills, Maryland
410.451.3296
Tuesday – Friday, 11 AM to 7 PM.
Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM.
Sunday 11AM to 4PM
P.S. That day, we took home two rib steaks to blind taste-test, certified
Black Angus and Hereford. The Angus, more tender and well-marbled. The Hereford had more “bite” and was “beefier”
tasting. Both were delicious. The Angus delivered up more meat, with its
consistent marbling (vs. pockets of fat on the Hereford). But overall, our group of four preferred the the flavor of the Hereford.
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