Q&A: Chloe Stygall

“I HAD LITERALLY NO EXPERIENCE OF BUTCHERY. BUT NOW THAT I’M DOING IT, I REALLY LOVE IT”

Interview: Mark Riddaway / Portrait: Orlando Gili

Of all the food-related professions, butchery is among the most conspicuously male. With its knives and saws, blood and viscera, it has for hundreds of years been deemed the domain of men, and it mostly remains that way. There is, of course, no logical reason why a woman can’t become as accomplished a butcher as any burly bloke, but not many consider this ancient craft as a potential career. Chloe Stygall, assistant manager of Borough Market’s Ginger Pig butcher’s shop, certainly didn’t. “This wasn’t necessarily something I ever thought I’d be doing!” she says with a laugh.

For several years, Chloe had been working as a server for one of the Market’s continental food importers. In that time, she’d become friendly with Isaac, the manager of the Ginger Pig stand, and it was he who suggested she make a new start. “I’d reached a point where I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with my life,” she recalls. “He said: ‘Well, why don’t you come here and try this for a little while, just to see if you like it?’” And like it she most certainly did. “Obviously, I really love and care about food – that’s one of the reasons I wanted to work in the market in the first place – but it was still a bit of a swerve! I had literally no experience of butchery. But now that I’m doing it, I really love it.”

What is it about the work that appeals to you so much?

I hope this doesn’t sound too weird, but I love how tactile it is. I love how much you rely on touch and feel. I really enjoy working with my hands and doing something physical and skilled. I also love the sense of achievement you get at doing it well. When you’re breaking down a carcass and getting the different joints out, then tying it all up for the window, making it look good and seeing the end product of your work, it’s such a satisfying feeling. Also, I love the amount I’ve learnt about cooking. I didn’t really eat much meat before I started working here, but that’s completely changed now!

So, have you learnt your craft on the job rather than through formal training?

Yes – and I’m still learning, every single day. I started by just trimming out the offcuts for mince and then worked my way up to the bigger cuts, eventually all the way up to the whole carcass stuff. I’m not doing a qualification or anything like that, I’m just meeting the demands of the job and learning from the experienced people around me. We sell quite specific things in the shop, because of its location and clientele, so while I’m now good with those cuts, there’s an awful lot I still have to learn. It never ends, but that’s one of the great things about it.

To be the best possible butcher, do you need to have people skills as well as knife skills?

I think you do. A big part of working in a butcher’s shop is that people are always asking you how to prepare and cook things. They want recipes, timings, temperatures and lots of other advice, so being able to figure it all out for so many different cuts of meat and then relay that knowledge in a way that’s easy to understand is really important. I enjoy that aspect a lot, and it’s made me a much better cook along the way.

What do you do if people come in asking for unusual cuts that you don’t have out on the counter?

We’ll always endeavour to get stuff in for people if they’re looking for something specific, although there will be times where we’re not able to do that. A lot of international customers will come in asking for a specific cut that I’ve got no idea about. That’s when you do a bit of googling to see if it translates into something more familiar. That does happen quite often. Again, I’m always learning!

Even in this day and age, it’s unusual to see a female butcher. Do you ever feel judged on the basis of your sex?

Yes, absolutely, 100 percent. Quite often I’ll start serving someone, and they’ll ignore me and begin talking to one of the men, because it’s the men who fit their image of a what a proper butcher should be. There are two female butchers in our shop, and I’m actually the assistant manager, but some customers will always gravitate to one of the guys.

There is a flip side, though. Isaac, the manager here, has tried really hard to change the dynamics of the shop by taking chances on people who you wouldn’t traditionally find in a butcher’s shop. I know for a fact that certain customers are more comfortable coming here as a result. Personally, before working here, I would have felt a bit intimidated by the thought of going into a butcher’s shop and not really knowing what to ask for, and a lot of people are the same. I’ve had quite a lot of female customers tell me how refreshing it is to see a woman behind the block and how much more relaxed they feel about coming in and asking questions. I think that’s great.

At Ginger Pig, you spend your days working with high-quality meat from animals that have been raised with care. Has that changed your own shopping and eating habits?

Totally. Working here has given me much more of an understanding of how animals are raised and what impact that has, on them and on the meat. Here, you can see and feel the quality. We know where everything has come from, who’s produced it and the conditions it was produced in. I just wouldn’t buy meat from a supermarket now. To be honest, it’s just a completely different thing.

What are some of the more unusual meats you enjoy that you would encourage other people to seek out?

The pigeons – we get these really nice farmed pigeons. I don’t think enough people realise quite how delicious pigeon can be. The other thing I’ve discovered is onglet, which is a cut of beef. It’s a skirt steak, but it hangs internally, so it’s got a richer, more iron-y flavour to it. Kind of offal-y. That’s really good. You have to sear it very quickly on a very high heat. It can be slightly unforgiving if you get it wrong, but if you cook it quickly and then cut it against the grain it’s so tender and so delicious.

You’ve been working at the market for many years now. What is it about the environment that keeps you coming back?

It’s just a really lovely community, a really lovely vibe. Everyone looks after each other. I’ve met lots of friends working here. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

IWD