Friday Fast Ones

Fast One: Store-purchased organic eggs may not live up to all they’re cracked up to be. Those in the local food movement pretty much already know this, but it’s worth getting out there. Most organic eggs from supermarkets are produced in glorified (and often not so glorified) factory farms with very little difference from non-organic eggs, except for the price tag. Supermarket brands, including Whole Foods, rank lowest on the list of quality. What it  means to you: If you’re buying Certified Organic eggs at the supermarket, you’re probably being shafted. Find a local farmer, and get your money’s worth. And, honestly, it’ll probably be less money; though, it’s still a far better value even if it’s the same price or more expensive.  Ask around at your local farmer’s market, or go to localharvest.org to find real eggs.

Fast One: PA rejected regulation 2777, which would have effectively banned any an all ways of selling raw milk in PA! What it means to you: Well, if you’re in PA it means you can still get raw milk. If you’re anywhere else in the country, it means that some politicians are hearing those of us who are being active about wanting choices in our food. If you want the ability to decide if you should drink raw milk, eat pastured eggs and chickens from a small farm, or any other kind of food freedom, you need to get active.  Monsanto, the Corn Refiners Association, The Dairy Council…all of these companies spend millions of dollars a year lobbying to control your food.

Fast One: Speaking of the Corn Refiner’s Association, they’re now actively pushing their “educational” agenda about HFCS on blogs, and paying or otherwise compensating “mommy bloggers” to push their product as healthy. Essentially, they give money, gifts, or other compensation to people for listening to a presentation, and they blogging the positives. CRA reps are popping up on negative-HFCS blogs everywhere, and disappear when pushed about their agenda, whether or not the CRA is paying them to comment, etc. What this means to you: Buyer beware. Take a critical look at the blogs you read, and do some digging into their integrity. Taking money or other gifts to post positively about a product or service isn’t something I consider ethical, do you? There’s a large amount of money being spent here. People are becoming more aware of  HFCS and choosing to eschew it, which is starting to hurt the profits of Corporate Agriculture. They’re fighting back, and doing it in a fairly sneaky way, which writes a story all it’s own. There’s a whole post here in and of itself, one I’ve done before in some respects; but, really, just go read the link and the comments. It’s worth it.

And, last but not least:

Friday Fast One: It’s VA Wine month! There are 180 wineries in VA, many of them using grapes grown either on their estate or in close proximity.  What this means to you: Well, a very good weekend, if you plan it right! It also means, however, that all of those locavores (I hate that word, btw) out there need to hop on this bandwagon. Supporting local includes beverages, and there are some amazing wines coming out of VA. Several wineries are competing for international awards, and holding their own. For some insights, visit Swirl, Sip Snark, Dezel at MyVineSpot.Com, Drink What YOU Like, or  VA Wine Time to check out The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, and plan a trip!

To Celebrate VA Wine Month, I’ll be splashing (which means pouring wine tastings) for Wintergreen Winery at Rebec’s Garlic Fest this Saturday. Swing through, say hello, see my New Hair, and try some great local wines! I’m the short blond with the short ‘do at the tasting station!

Related Articles

• Rebranding High Fructose Corn Syrup: Good or Bad Idea? (mpdailyfix.com)
• New York hopes to ban spending food stamps on soda (salon.com)
• Brands and blog tours – not always so sweet. (mom-101.com)
• Not a Sweet Idea: Rebranding HFCS to Corn Sugar (triplepundit.com)

Illustrated Astyk

Okay, so I’ve had no communication with Sharon Astyk about illustrating her book or anything, but I really liked the alliteration of the title.  She didn’t have any photos in her book, (which I actually prefer, since it’s not supposed to be a photo book), so I thought I’d take some photos while I worked.  And, I mentioned I’d be doing some more blogs about preservation, which this is.

Ms. Astyk talks about a lot of things in her book, and I highly recommend it. She’s witty, pragmatic,  and straightforward.  One of the things she talks about is salting as a form of preservation, and the various pros and cons of the method. With a background in food history, I’ve seen salting through a different lens, but the pros and cons remain similar through most of history.

There are many forms of salting, from soaking things in brine to just rubbing foods liberally with salt and hoping for the best. What works depends on a lot of things, including climate and the foods itself. In some cases, salting is intended to limit bacterial growth to “good bacteria,” as is the case with lacto-fermenting and the process of making certain types of fish sauce (this is not a process you want to hear about, trust me). In other instances, it’s to dry the food out and make it uninhabitable for any kind of bacteria, as with salt pork and dried fish.

This recipe, which I’m not going to give in detail because I want you to go buy Ms. Astyk’s book so she can keep writing books, is for preserved lemons. It’s closest, I think, to salting to prevent any bacterial growth, and is what I suppose I’d consider a brine (though Lord’s Sauce is supposed to do the same thing with a salt and vinegar combo, and I don’t consider that a brine; so, this is a pretty arbitrary decision on my part).  It’s up for discussion if anyone’s interested, though that’s not the point. The point is, it looked yummy, and I wanted to try it even though lemons aren’t local to us.

It’s pretty simple, really.  Start by cutting some lemons to the appropriate size:

Toss them with sea salt:

Weigh them down to press out the juices:

Layer with salt and alternating layers of bay leaf, peppercorns, and cinnamon:

And fill with appropriate amount of lemon juice:

Put on lid, shake a bit, and then turn every few days. In theory, that’s it. I am still at the turning phase, so I can’t tell you how these have turned out aside from the fact that they are very pretty. I’ll give you an update on them as soon as they’re ready to be tasted, in about 3 or 4 weeks.

Now that I’ve done this, and given that I’ve been thinking a lot more about the possibility of having no electricity at some point (seriously, I have no idea how we kept power last winter given the snow, and we’re kind of prone to hurricane throwoffs here, too), I am considering tossing together a batch of Lord’s Sauce, or at least making sure I’ve got everything on hand and a printed copy, in case I need to preserve meat without canning or refrigeration. I’m hoping to post this here, too, once I get the permission of Chef Channon (my mentor and friend), who came up with the recipe I’ll be using.

Related Articles

• Understanding Food Preservation (gomestic.com)

Swai Did You Say?

While shopping for whitefish for a client’s menu this week, I noticed a new fish on ice at the local fish market. It was called “Swai,” and the little sign they stuck into it said it was sustainable and eco-friendly, and tasted a lot like catfish. And, it was only $3.99/lb. Since I had to buy a LOT of it for this large family, the price was a bonus, but I was worried about the “sustainable,” thing. That means different things to different people (read: Monsanto considers GMO, Round-Up-Ready to be sustainable. I don’t).

So, I checked out a site I trust, the Monteray Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch site. If you’ve never been there, it’s a great resource, and they have a little pocket guide you can print out to help you select fish that are eco-friendly. I was pleasantly surprised that they list Swai as a “Good Alternative” fish.

I got a filet for myself to try, too, and it’s delicious! We’re having it tonight, and I suspect once a week from now on until Thadd gets tired of it.

Thanksgiving Bounty

One of the dishes for my Ready-To-Go meals mentioned in the post below is Roasted Cranberries. I saw this recipe in Saveur magazine courtesy of Peg at The Frenchman’s, who pointed it out to me when I was in one day. It sounded great, and so it went on the menu. I changed up the recipe a bit, but it’s generally the same one you’ll find here, just sans the jalepeno (the folks who ordered the meals are not ones for a lot of heat).

Also, please excuse the crappy pics. Still using the webcam, but the other camera (I am told) is on it’s way!

Above: Cranberries mixed with fresh orange peels, sugar, and spices, then put on a parchment-covered baking sheet to go into the oven. Below: The finished product, post Port addition and refrigeration time.

The verdict: This recipe is a definite winner. It’s got a wide range of complex flavors that both remind you of childhood, and remind you that you’ve grown up. It’s tart, tangy, sweet, and will hit you in those little ticklish spots right at the back of your mouth. It’s great, and I definitely plan on making it again.

If all goes well, I may try to post some of my Fig and Chestnut stuffing pictures tomorrow. We’ll see if I have time. If not, have a wonderful holiday!

This Week in Foodie & Frugal

Local U-pick & farm market: $50.00

Farmer’s Market: $15.00

Local Grocery Store: $70.00

This is a bit higher than last week’s bills, because we added some long-term items to be used over the next several weeks/months. We went back out to our favorite U-pick & Farm market Friday, and picked up a bunch of goodies, including some lovely fresh-cut flowers. Fine, I know that’s not frugal; but, it was a treat and we’re allowed those occasionally. Saturday, as usual, we finished our weekly fresh shopping at the market. Got home, cleaned the refrigerator, and logged the items needing to be used this week. We made our meal plan accordingly, then the shopping list, then went to the store and finished up today. UC made whole wheat and white (with germ) organic bread for this week. I made vegetable and chicken stock, some for this week and some frozen.

On the topic of chicken stock: there’s really nothing like organic, pastured chicken from start to finish. This stock is by far the richest I’ve ever had, needing no salt. I added 1 bay leaf and about a tsp. of oregano, and that’s it. I did break the bones for the marrow, which I always do when making meat stock. I could easily get twice the soup out of this stock as “commercial” chicken, and still have better flavor. It’s worth the $3/lb price because we get so much more for the dollar that we actually end up either breaking even or spending less than we’d have done buying Tysons.

On the menu this week is behind the cut.

Upside Down Update

Some of you may remember the upside-down planter experiment (if not, you can read it here), and I thought I’d give you an update. I know there are some other folks trying out similar things, so hopefully we can all find out what works best.

So far:

I think they’re doing really well! And the smell is heavenly. I am not sure if it’s because they are in this type of planter (there are two plants here), because they’re being grown organically, or for some other reason, but these are the most fragrant vines I’ve ever grown. The smell of tomato wafts through our porch windows occasionally.

Tomatoes, of course, are not the only thing growing in my planters:

Lovely, peppery nasturtiums. This is the first one, today there are two more, and by tomorrow we’ll have enough for salad. I am hoping to use these for my clients, as well.

The baskets are beautiful, fragrant, and something I am likely to carry on even when I move to a place with space for gardening.

Glorious Cheese

Yesterday, I went on a cheese tour with the owner of The Frenchman’s Cellar. I am taking over the running of their cheese counter (part time, it’ll be a secondary business to my Personal Cheffing), and we wanted to go talk with our supplier. We also wanted to see some other cheese-related businesses, and sample some things we hope to bring into our shop.

I came home with these:

The white ball wrapped in leaves is burratta, a mozzarella cheese I’ve wanted to sample for literally years. I cut into it today, and it’s beautifully soft. The yellow, somewhat cake-textured wedge next to that is baked lemon ricotta. Technically, this isn’t a cheese–it’s a cheese with Stuff (the stuff being eggs, lemon, and a couple other items). Frankly, who cares?! It’s amazing. We topped it with some macerated strawberries and ate it like cheesecake. I’m going to push for this as a summer item, mostly because I want to be able to buy it all myself. The red-waxed wedge in the back is Red Dragon, a domestic cheese made with vegetable rennet and studded with spicy mustard seeds. It’s a sharp, bold taste that both UC and I immediately decided is going to become a staple in the house. Forget the mustard, just slice some of this onto your sandwich.

The weird and wonderful part about all of this is that I got paid to do this. Really, is there a better life?

There’ll be some changes in the store soon: we’re doing some new things with the cheese counter itself, and putting up some more in-depth signage. Come in and visit, and taste some cheese.

For the Love of Spice

UC and I were lucky enough to run into a gourmet spice purveyor at a little event we went to this weekend, and we stocked up. These will be for home use, of course, but also for my clients.

The picture isn’t great courtesy of my lousy kitchen lighting, but above are vanilla beans, long pepper, pink peppercorns, star anise, cardamom pods, and cinnamon. We bought more, but most of them are powders like spicy paprika, and I don’t want to take them out of the containers just to photograph them. The smell in the kitchen is pungent, tickling my nose with a heat and sweetness I can almost taste.

This fella has some of the absolute freshest spices I’ve ever run across, and lovely loose leaf teas. His prices are very reasonable, and he ships. He carries a lot of exotics, as well. He even makes his own salts, including a hickory salt that is divine. He makes his own hickory powder over the course of several days, then mixes the powder with gourmet natural salts. Divine.

If you want to order your own, email Sands of Thyme at Troy at Comcast dot net. Tell him Shawn sent you.

Nothing makes a meal like fresh spices.

A New Feature

For a while now, UC and I’ve wanted to keep track of what wines we purchase, what we think of them, what we pair them with, and their value. Finally, I’ve gotten around to starting that feature up here, calling it “By the Bottle.”

It’s in the early stages, and I am sick so not in the best place to be doing this; but, it’s up, and that means it’ll be easier to update as we go. So, sit back with a glass of your favorite vino, and let me know what you think.