Bay Area Bites: What’s the biggest challenge in your work at Fatted Calf?
Bailie: In my position, I’m dealing with people, products and things changing all the time. Examples: a pig that I ordered two weeks ago will arrive thirty pounds smaller. Or a lamb I need is one day late. Or someone forgets to communicate a special order. There’s also business stuff and situations like staff turnover to handle. I try to deal with things, be a leader, not get pissed off and act with a level of coolness.

Bay Area Bites: You’ve taught classes for Fatted Calf and CUESA, work the Fatted Calf Butcher’s Happy Hour and do butchery demos at both locations. Did Pig + Woman + Knife grow out of those experiences?
Bailie: It is a passion of mine teaching women. There are a lot of women in the industry who will come to me and say things like, “The guys don’t let me break down lamb.” So I will show them how. As much as I can, I give back. There are women who taught me all that stuff and it’s fun.

Bailie (center) working on a whole pig with class guests Photo: Ryan Harris

Bay Area Bites: The Fatted Calf has a cookbook coming out in September. What’s that like?
Bailie: It’s been a good ride. There will be a book tour in the East Bay, in California and New York. We’re all really excited about that.

Bay Area Bites: You have mentors that have helped you. Teaching classes for others, have you become a mentor yourself?
Bailie: It’s been fun and I’ve mentored Ren. I don’t just help females, I’ll help any employee or person who may not have known they have a flair for knives and butchery. When that shows up, it means they’ve got a knack for breaking things down.

It can be the opposite, too—when people are not good behind the knife, we find something else for them.

Bay Area Bites: Like what?
Bailie: Usually it means they are good at talking with the customers and describing the product, or passionate about farms and sustainability. It could be that they can be the person who wraps the beef jerky (laughs). Or that sign you’re looking at, that details the specials, I could never do that. But someone who is an art major is good at that.

Bay Area Bites: Do you find that someone who is good with butchery has a certain strength, or maybe height? Or some sort of personality skill set?
Bailie: You’ll see they have a natural intuition and an understanding of how to look at muscles and seams. Ren was really good at watching what we did. People like that do well because they are perceptive. We can train and show them. When people come here from somewhere else, they may have training, so we’ll need to show them our way of doing things. That transition is fairly easy.

Bailie (R) doing knife work for a butchery class. Photo: Ryan Harris

Bay Area Bites: What is it like to make salumi at Fatted Calf?
Bailie: A lot of the salumi has been here two to six months. The small guys in the middle usually cure in two months. The larger ones usually take anywhere from three to four months. It all depends on temperature and humidity. When it’s hotter, we notice a fluctuation. The process is monitored day by day. I come in here and I spray and move things around and feel it. If it’s too dry, I’ll spray with water to get moisture. Or if it’s too moist in here, I’ll open the door. We do have it regulated with a machine but sometimes I like to be in here and know what’s going on -- feel it, taste it, know what’s going on.

There has to be quality control and mold has a distinct flavor. You can sometimes smell if there’s something ‘not awesome’ going on -- a bad mold or ammonia smell, something like that. You want to stop that when it happens. You have to smell it, taste it and see it and use your olfactory senses to keep everything going.

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Pig + Woman + Knife: Butchery with Bailie at Fatted Calf