What part of the animal is this?

When served meat, Lil often asks "What part of the aminal is this?"

'Aminal' is one of Lil's last toddlerisms, meaning animal.  I am not ready for her to be all grown up and pronounce everything correctly!

My heart gushes a little and not just because her pronunciation is cute.

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In northwestern Ohio this weekend, Lil and I went to Sauder Village with my grandmother, aunt, cousins, mother, and sister.  It was the last weekend of the season and butchering weekend.

Lil and I were interested in the butchering.  Truly.  I do not eat meat but I am fascinated by all types of food production.  I have never seen a pig slaughter.

Certain relatives to remain nameless were sickened by the thought of witnessing the kill.  "I might never eat pork again!" said one.

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A friend who moved to Atlanta last year just went to Farm School.  She and twenty some other adults helped slaughter 125 chickens.  They killed, plucked, and butchered the poultry.

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A few weeks ago we cooked dinner for a friend.  I made stuffed squash and baked kale; Alex made bison short ribs.  Our friend could only finish one short rib because she was unable to stomach the idea of eating meat from the bone.

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It wasn't too long ago that most people slaughtered their own animals or at least shopped from a butcher who knew the producer himself.  It is mystifying that Americans have so quickly come to the point where 'meat' is de-boned protein packaged in plastic and butchering is a tourist attraction.

I am proud of my little girl for her questions because she is showing genuine interest in her food.  We talk about the breasts of birds, the sides of fish, and the bellies of pigs.  She eats the skin, flesh, and fat of the animals.  She has seen animals being raised for meat at the farm and the next time we have a chance she will witness their slaughter.

Knowing all the details allows true appreciation of a meal.  Savoring every part of an ingredient (vegetable or animal) gives justice to the life ended for consumption.

2Silos Meat CSA Discount - act now!

Last year we were members of the 2Silos winter meat CSA. It was a great experience. Alex and Lil enjoyed local eggs, chicken, beef, lamb, and more all winter long. Alex wrote a review of his experience in mid winter. Owner Denise Beno is trying out a new method for CSA signup called the Point. Because this is her first experience with this online program, she is offering a $99 discount on the regularly priced $499 winter meat CSA price if 25 shares are purchased through the Point program. That's a 20% discount, folks!

All you need to do is visit her blog and click on the signup link. 2Silos is only offering this CSA discount until October 1, so act now!

---- Sorry the blog is still looking a bit wonky. I am working on updating the photos and colors. I just wanted you to have this 2Silos information now so you don't miss the discount deadline if you do want to sign up.

2009 Ohio Fish & Shrimp Festival

When I first heard about the Ohio Fish and Shrimp Festival a few years ago (it has been running for 8 years), I thought it was too weird to be true.  This year our schedule aligned with my father's band, Bunty Station, being booked at the show and we had to go see for ourselves.

The festival is held at Freshwater Farms of Ohio in Urbana.  After an out-of-cellphone-service induced series of misdirections, we made it to the small farm.  The first person we saw was an elderly man who handed us a brochure and told us excitedly about the sturgeon petting in the fish barn.  Sturgeon petting?!?

The next thing we walked by was this menu:

What to do?  Touch a fish I never knew I wanted to pet or eat Michael's local potatos?

Lil made the decision for us as she ran towards the fish barn.

Entering the small door to the very large one story metal barn, we were first drawn to the tanks upon tanks of Ohio freshwater species.  The blue gill, catfish, snapping turtles, crayfish, and more were in neatly labeled tanks for demonstration and research.  The farm welcomes individuals to tour the farm and shop their farm market Monday - Saturday.

After touching a painted turtle and frog, we finally came to the sturgeon tank.  Lil dove in and pet one of the five foot, seventeen year old fish right between the eyes.  Not a fan of slippery things, but still curious, I touched one as well.  It was slimy and hard.  I mentioned that the sturgeon's strange face reminded me of the Dunkleosteus head at the Ohio State University's Orton Hall Museum.

Talking to the well informed fishery keeper and some Wikipedia research revealed that I wasn't far off.  (I do hold a degree in Geology.) Sturgeon first appear in the fossil record about 200 million years ago and still very much resemble their ancestors.  Unlike most modern fish, the sturgeon has bony plates as a skull and a host of other unusual characteristics.  The can live up to a hundred years and grow to enormous size.

First spawning between 20 - 25 years of age, sturgeon population increases slowly.  Due to humans' huge appetite for caviar (sturgeon roe, harvested by killing the mother fish), the sturgeon population is endangered throughout the world.  Fresh Water Farms keeps their sturgeon specimins alive to see if they might be able to induce captive spawning to help repopulate Ohio.

The rest of the farm's large tanks are populated with catfish, trout and pond fry.  Fish can be purchased as stock for your own pond.  They sell a variety of retail fillets and smoked fish products available for pickup in Urbana.  Freshwater Farms supplies a large portion of Ohio restaurants with Ohio trout as well.

After all the fishy excitement, I was hungry and convinced the family to walk back towards the food.  In addition to the big menu served by Freshwater, there were several other food vendors.  We came for the Ohio foods and happened to be gifted my father's comp meal ticket, so we stuck with Freshwater.

The food line was long because everything was hand cut or battered and fried just before service.  By the time our fried catfish, hand cut chips, au gratin potatos, cole slaw, green beans, and hot dog arrived, I was so hungry I forgot to take pictures!  Bad food blogger!

Everything was tasty and obviously home made.  The chips were the clear winners of the night.  Alex watched them double fry each batch and you could tell: perfectly cooked, crispy, and salted.

Lil and I explored some of the ample kids activities while waiting for Dad's band to play.  They had a large sand pit, balls, and a ball catapult for kids to play with.  Earlier in the day were some organized activities.  Finally Bunty Station went on and we enjoyed the show.

I have to admit that my expectations for the Fish and Shrimp Festival were low.  I was prepared for smelly fish barns, troublesome waste, and/or that corporate farm feel.

Happily we found only a wholesome business.  I can recommend Freshwater Farm's as a local, sustainable fish source.  The festival, an easy hour's drive from Columbus, was great free entertainment on a perfect early fall evening.  Even if Bunty Station is not invited back, we will return to pet the sturgeon again!

Camp Food

This weekend we went to our annual Labor Day Camp with family and friends.  Every year we have a theme night with costumes and related food.  This year our friend Leonard went all out on the theme, Hawaii. I could write about the tiki hut trike, our chant to counter the hellfire and brimstone preaching group across the way, the 25 mile bike tour including a confederate prisoner of war camp, or the bald eagles we saw fly over East Harbor State Park many times.  But since this is largely a gardening and eating blog, I will focus on the food.

We started our drive early Saturday morning.  With some extra pizza dough as inspiration on Friday night, I made a pear and mozzarella pie to take on the road.  I chilled the cooked pie overnight in the fridge.  It was filling, yummy, and easy to eat in the car.

The camp stove saw heavy use in the mornings at camp.  Breakfasts are my favorite because someone else (usually my dad or grandfather) always does the cooking!  Being that I have food and only food on my mind early in the morning, I took no pictures of our actual breakfasts.

It is harvest time here in Ohio, so the food table was laden with seasonal fruits and vegetables.  My grandmother brought some delicious yellow melon pictured below.

Camp lunches for us are simple sandwiches, fruits and veggies, and chips.

For the Hawaiian themed meal, Alex braised a pork shoulder with pineapple and cinnamon.

Other theme dishes included mai tais, beanie weanies with cocktail umbrellas, and a poi substitute: mashed potatoes with a beet adding color.

The next night we had grilled meats, salads, fork mashed guacamole and roasted corn.

Grandma brought her famous gingersnap cookies, my favorite of the snacks.

And there were s'mores, of course.

What do you eat when you are car camping?

Make it Yourself: Meat Jerky

We are posting this for Labor Day weekend in honor of all the people like us enjoying a family camp out this weekend.  We will spend 3 days at East Harbor State Park on the Lake Erie shore.  Expect another camp food post when we get home! So in line with all of our efforts to preserve/store food, Rachel had the idea that I should write a short post on making jerky.  The advantage to jerky is that it helps preserve meat for longer term storage than if it were fresh.  And, it tastes delicious!

Meat will still spoil eventually in jerky form but it will take much longer than raw meat.  Simple refrigeration will serve to keep jerky for an extended period of time (6 months +).

So what do you need to make jerky?  There are really only three elements: meat, seasoning/cure/marinade, and a drying device.

To start, what meat should you use?  Really you can use anything.  I have successfully used beef, bison, turkey, chicken, pork and even salmon.  I find I have the best luck with beef/bison and turkey.  You can use most any cut, but I would suggest something cheap as it is simply not necessary to buy a good, tender cut of meat and then process the crap out of it to make jerky.  For beef/bison, use round roast, rump roast, sirloin or the like.  For turkey, I just use plain turkey breast.  I like to cut the meat into thin strips prior to the marinating step so that the meat can get full exposure to the flavorings.   Cut the strips as thin as possible to aid drying later on.

For the seasoning or marinade there are two schools of thought.  You can either use a dry rub with lots of salt and or use a wet marinade.  Either way, you need to ensure that the salt content is high to promote preservation and drying of the meat (salt helps remove moisture content from meat).  My preference is a wet marinade made with equal parts oil and soy sauce, 1/4 part of lemon juice and then whatever herbs or spices I have around.  Sometimes I use cayenne pepper for an extra kick or just thyme/oregano for a more savory flavor.  Marinate or let it sit in the rub in the refrigerator until the meat feels firm rather than tender and you are ready to go.  This should usually be 2-7 days.

For drying, you can use a dehydrator, oven on lowest setting, racks in the sun and smoking with low heat.  Currently we use a dehydrator as it is the easiest method and causes the least mess.

Smoking is especially good if you want to impart extra flavor, but be warned that meats like chicken and turkey can really absorb the smoky flavor to an extent that they may become unpleasant to eat.

The oven is simple as most people have one.  Keep the temperature low enough (less than 200 deg F) to avoid cooking the meat, which can be achieved by keep oven at lowest setting with the door open or leaving the pilot light of a gas stove lit.

Sun drying can be contentious as many people are wary of leaving meat outside in the warm air for that long.  I find it works fine, you just have to figure out some way to keep critters off your product.

The meat must be thoroughly dry before you consider it done, usually 12 - 18 hours.  Try splitting a piece in half.  It should release no moisture and feel tough.

When it is finished, jerky can be stored in a container in the fridge for months.  Also, it can be taken hiking or outdoors with no refrigeration for multiple days at a time with no problem.  The salt combined with moisture removal does an excellent job of keeping the meat preserved.

Shellfish

I have always loved shellfish. Both sides of my family originated in New England, so maybe it runs in the blood. Growing up my family regularly visited the northeast coast every summer to see relatives and relax on the beach. At a young age I had already begun digging up razor clams and quahogs on the sand flats of Cape Cod Bay. I loved the clam chowder we could make from quahogs, but the razor clams always tasted rubbery to me. I was to later find out that we were simply not cooking them properly.

I am writing this post on our way back from another summer vacation in Massachusetts, and I thought it should be about my shellfish experience this year. For me, part of the fun of shellfish has always been harvesting them myself. Of course I like a good fried clam platter from Turks in Mattapoisett, but there is something very satisfying about digging up my own clams and mussels. As a general rule, shellfish are much more prevalent in sheltered waters versus open ocean. Let’s look at the different types of shellfish and where they can be harvested.

Mussels

Mussels can be found attached to most anything in the inter-tidal zone, but are most easily harvested from beds in flat sandy/muddy areas with plentiful sea grass growing.

These mussels are at Planting Island in Marion, MA. The mussels will be submerged ½ to 2/3 in the muck and need to be firmly pulled out. They will still have their ‘beard’ attached and may have seaweed stuck to their shells. Don’t clean off the beard until you are ready to cook them. Mussels are best prepared by steaming in a pot with wine or broth and plenty of aromatics. They are delicious and staple seafood of the Portuguese communities on Massachusetts’s south coast.

Clams

Clams in New England come in two main varieties in Massachusetts. Quahogs or littlenecks (cherrystone) are a thick shelled clam that is only differentiated by their size upon harvesting. They are delicious when eaten raw, but are the primary ingredient in traditional New England clam chowder (unlike Manhattan clam chowder, this is a creamy milk-based soup). The other variety is softshell clams (steamers). These clams are primarily consumed like mussels after they are steamed in an aromatic broth and dipped in butter prior to eating. These clams are also the clams used for fried clams or clam strips. Both varieties are found in sandy or muddy flats at low tide. The send up small siphons and can be spotted by the holes in the sand. Sometimes stepping near the hole will cause the clam to squirt water into the air. Quahogs reside very close to the surface, but softshell clams are much deeper dwellers and must be dug for vigorously as they will try to escape by burrowing deeper.

Oysters

In New England, oysters are present, but not as common as in warmer southern waters. They are usually found at low tide having washed off of theirs beds and ending up in the inter-tidal zone. They can be collected laying on the surface, but are not too frequent. Usually enough can be gathered for a small appetizer. A proper shucking knife, hand protection and a good demonstration is recommended before attempting to open oysters.

Scallops

Scallops are not usually encountered as they generally live far out to sea and dwell on the bottom. Occasionally, they will be washed into the inter-tidal zone and can be collected on the beach.

So what other issues surround shellfishing?  Like most types of hunting/fishing, every state regulates the practice to one degree or another.  Do you need a license to shellfish? The answer varies from state to state. Generally, most states allow a limited amount of harvesting for personal use with no license required. Additionally, you should always pay attention to fishery postings in a particular area prior to shellfishing. Conditions such as red tide or pollution can lead to serious sickness or death if warnings are not heeded. Also as a rule any shellfish that cannot hold its shell closed should be discarded out of hand as it could be diseased or dead and not fit for consumption.

So next time you are at the beach, look around and see what you can find. Dinner might be as simple as a few minutes work of gathering. Your efforts will be rewarded by a delicious meal fresh from the sea.

Pork Loin Sucks. Try pork shoulder instead.

Wow, two posts in one week.  And I'm not even drunk. So as the title says, pork loin sucks.  Modern pigs are bred for loin that has very little fat or other objectionable texture.  The end result is a flavorless chunk of meat that takes alot of work to make it taste good.  This can be done, such as when making canadian bacon.  But usually, people end up with a dry flavorless roast that is an affront to cuisine.

Want a better cut of pork?  Try cooking pork shoulder instead.  Pork shoulder has a couple of advantages over pork loin.  First, it is marbled heavily with fat and is an amazingly flavorful cut of meat.  Secondly, it costs about half as much or less than pork loin due to its lesser popularity among shoppers. I paid $12 for this 5.5 pound roast from Weilands.  I expect at least 8 servings of meat.

Wait, it has lots of fat?  How can that be a good thing?  Well, the fat leads to a heightened flavor and moist quality of the meat.  When you cook it, it is cooked for long lengths of time at a low temperature.  As such, most of the fat drains away in the cooking process.  You're not left with something unpalatable and greasy.  The only downside to pork shoulder is that you have to have a long time in which to cook it.

The inspiration for this blog post is that I am cooking dinner for the in-laws tonight.  We often eat together and I jump at the chance to cook for fellow omnivores, since Rachel does not eat meat.  Here is my general recipe, but this is just a guideline.  As long as you cook a pork shoulder for a long time at low temperatures, the shoulder will be delicious:

1 bunch celery

2 medium onions

1 head garlic

4 - 6 pound pork shoulder roast

salt, pepper and olive oil

Preheat your oven to 300 F

Roughly chop the onion and celery then place it in the bottom of a cast iron pan. You could substitute any other aromatic vegetable here you happen to have on hand.  Pour some liquid into the pan (maybe 1/2-1 cup). This can be anything from wine to water or even beer.

Score the top of the roast (fat side up) with a sharp knife in a cross-hatch pattern.  Place the roast (score side up) on top of the vegetables in the pan.

Mince the garlic and press it into the cross-hatches of the roast.  Next sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper and then finish with drizzles of olive oil.

The prep up to this point took about 15 minutes.

Toss the roast in the oven and leave it until the meat pulls apart with a fork (at least five hours - maybe more depending on the size of the roast).  If you want to cheat and get it going faster, let it roast dry for a while then add more liquid to the pan and cover so it braises.

So what techniques can you take away from this?  First, pork shoulder takes a long time to cook.  It is a tough cut of meat but extremely flavorful.  Cook it at a lower temperature for a long length of time and you will be well rewarded.  This idea can be directly transfered to smoking it outdoors in the summer. Secondly, aromatic vegetables are a nice addition to roast meat.  They help build a depth of flavor in whatever you are cooking.  Lastly, cheap cuts of meat are a great idea for the home cook.  They taste spectacular, are often simple to cook, and are easy on the pocketbook.