McCullough Kelly-Willis

McCullough moved to Chicago in 2013 and immediately started apprenticing at the Butcher & Larder. Having lived in Italy and France as a student and grown up with professional chef for a father, McCullough was always interested in food and cooking. The Butcher & Larder provided her with an excellent hands-on classroom to learn whole animal butchery and sausage and charcuterie making from some of Chicago's best cooks and butchers. After becoming a full-time employee in 2014, McCullough continued developing the charcuterie program as the company grew to join the new retail complex opened by Local Foods (1427 W Willow Street). There, she continued honing her skills as a butcher and began working on a dry curing program, eventually creating a unique and diverse array of dried salami and cured whole muscle salumi. Having moved on from the Butcher & Larder, McCullough is now excited to share her excitement about charcuterie and to make the skills and techniques she's learned accessible to home cooks.