In the early 2000s, Don Roden was looking to leave his internet marketing gig and do something different with his life. Craving a healthier lifestyle and curious to learn more about where our food comes from, he started getting to know organic farmers in Virginia. In 2005, he opened The Organic Butcher of McLean, a purveyor of premium quality meats, poultry, fish and seafood, with some produce and specialty goods thrown in. Want to make your holiday table extra-dazzling this year? We asked Roden to share his five favorite mains from the shop.
1. Standing rib roast. The options include 100 percent grass-fed beef; pasture-raised Angus beef; Piedmontese beef; or American Wagyu beef. ($20.99 and up per pound)
2. Porchetta. A boned, butterflied, skin-on pork loin, it’s belly seasoned with fennel, garlic, red wine, thyme and rosemary, and comes rolled and tied, ready for the oven. The average weight is 3 to 5 pounds. Or, for a command performance, you can get a whole loin of about 15 pounds. ($14.99 per pound)
3. Swedish potato sausage. The Organic Butcher makes all of its own sausages. This one, made with beef, pork and russet potatoes, is available only around Christmas. It’s a versatile sausage, which can be served with a holiday dinner or on the breakfast table. ($9.99 per pound)
4. Wild Isles salmon. This organic, farm-raised salmon from Scotland is sold whole or by the fillet. If you want a whole fish for a party, the butcher will scale and gut it, and dress it with herbs and lemon slices. ($20.99 per pound)
5. KellyBronze turkey. A British heritage breed, it was introduced to the U.S. in 2011 by farmers Judd and Cari Culver, who raise the slow-growing birds on a 100-acre farm near Crozet, Virginia. The turkeys are pasture-raised, antibiotic- and hormone-free, hand-plucked and hung for dry-aging. “This is the way you’d expect to see a turkey years ago, before they got to be so big,” Roden says. “They taste as different as they look. You’ll be hooked.” ($11.99 per pound)