O Woe is Meat

As I walked passed a woman in front of the Lifeline Farm’s stand last Saturday at the Farmer’s Market, I heard her say, “I can’t afford to eat quality meat”.  It’s hard not to agree with her.  The meat that I feel good about eating can be very expensive.  So I did some research and gathered some facts and I am now able to share some good reasons to spend a little more to eat high quality (which often equates to “local” meat). 

The first is nutrition.  The fact is that when we eat an animal we are also eating what that animal ate.  If a cow has spent the majority of it’s life in a CAFO or Concentrated Animal Food Operation or in simpler terms, a feedlot, that cow has been pumped with antibiotics to keep it healthy in incredibly cramped quarters, it has eaten off the ground which is covered in feces and it has often been fed an unnatural diet heavy in grains which makes the animal grow bigger faster.  Meat from cows, chickens, pigs and lambs that are raised on a diet of grass has a much higher level of vitamins, antioxidants and healthier fats such as omega-3s which is then passed on to you when you consume aforementioned meat. Proof is often in the color.  For instance, the high level of beta-carotene from fresh grass can be witnessed in the bright orange yolks of the eggs laid by grass-fed chickens.  



Can you tell which one is from Jerome at the Farmer's Market and which one is from Target?
(Hopefully you can because I just realized this picture is terrible!)



The second is taste.  That $2.50 per pound chicken at the big grocery stores may be cheap but frankly, it tastes funky.  Mass-produced beef really just acts as a filler in recipes whereas a locally raised steak only needs a little salt and pepper to help it shine. It’s hard to describe this with words.  Challenge yourself to a taste test sometime so you can taste the difference yourself.

So now that you know some reasons why you should buy local meat, how do you manage it?  I've found that the best way to add high quality expensive local meat to our diet is to eat less of it. I'm no nutritionist but I know that we Homo sapiens simply don’t need as much meat as we currently consume. It doesn’t always have to be the star of the dinner plate.  When I plan my meals, I try to stick to a mainly vegetarian diet with about three or four meals a week that use meat.  And I confess, that meat sometimes consists of decadent bacon or sausage, highly flavorful ingredients that I don’t need of great deal of to have a tasty meal.  Also, try making meat one small ingredient in a multi-ingredient dish.  Check out my recipe on the Recipe page for Steak and Potato Salad, a great example of meat adding just one of the many mouth-watering flavors in a meal.

For great resources on finding locally raised, grass fed meat visit www.eatwild.com or www.localharvest.org.

Season of My Content

O Happy Day! It's Farmers Market season!  Last week a plethora of towns around our great state opened their gates to this season's markets giving all us winter-weary local food loving Montanans a much needed taste of fresh produce.  I know what you're saying. Yes, there's not an abundance of fresh food yet this time of year but look closely and you can always find something.  Since the markets are slower this a great time to spend a little one-on-one with the vendors.  If you don't know how to prepare something, ask.  I've received great advice about how to use an unrecognized vegetable or how to preserve those thirty poblanos I couldn't resist buying but can't possibly eat in one summer. 

Everyone has their favorite market but I have to say you can always find me at the Clark Fork River Market on Saturday mornings under the Higgins Avenue Bridge.  The selection here is staggering and since you can find baked goods, meat, cheese and eggs you don't have to wait for the growing season to kick in to start savoring our fabulous local flavors. You don't need a wad of cash when you get there. Last year I discovered that you can use your credit or debit card to buy tokens which can then be used at each vendor.  The tokens are good all year (and I think year after year) so you don't have to carefully plan how much money you'll spend each visit. Vendors even accept WIC vouchers and senior nutrition vouchers encouraging everyone to each locally and eat healthy.

The market also host live music and plenty of food carts.  You simply must try the crepes! To find out more about the market, visit www.clarkforkrivermarket.com for the musical acts that will be playing each week, special events, a list of vendors and recipes posted by several vendors featuring their products as the main ingredient.

Hope to see you at the market! Just don't get in front of me at the heirloom tomato stand.  Things could get ugly.

This Is Too Easy

While recently doing research on a local farm, I came across the website www.eatwellguide.org.  This free online database helps you to find "local, sustainable, and organic food" in your own town or in an area you'll be traveling to.  The site lists family farms, grocery stores, restaurants and CSA's to help you in your effort to support local food.  It has a nifty travel guide and also a seasonal food guide that tells you what foods are in season in your area each month. Of course, nothing was listed for this time of year in Montana but soon, very soon! You can also become a member of the site and enjoy members-only benefits.  I'm not sure what those are yet but I'll look into it and let you know soon. In the meantime, check out this great site or use the link on my blog to start finding all things local.

A Perfect Example

While sitting at the counter at Biga Pizza the other night, stuffing our faces with our two favorite selections on their menu, Flathead Cherry and Sweet Potato Bacon, we were told a lovely tale by one of the chefs.  My question to him came about because this is April and Flathead cherries are in season during the summer months.  I was in awe of how, almost a year after the very cherries I was gorging on were picked from the tree, they could possibly taste so good.  His answer made me smile and think what a perfect example it is of local farmers, food producers and chefs work together to bring us Montanans this plate of pure bliss.  Here's how it works. 

Biga buys Flathead cherries from the growers late in the season and stores them in a seriously deep freeze at their friends' store, Big Dipper Ice Cream.  Then when they are ready to use the cherries, they make a chutney out of them which results in an almost candy-like concoction.  Mix that with a little sausage, gouda and Biga's tasty crust and you have one mighty fine pizza.  It all works so perfectly because the cherry growers are able to sell (and not waste) the remainder of their crops when the market for fresh cherries is winding down, Biga sells Big Dipper ice cream in their restaurant and Biga has a widely popular variety of pizza to add to their menu.  Everybody wins. 

Plus, now I cannot WAIT for cherry season!

Benefit #1 Taste, Taste, Taste

Now that I've blogged several times about a particular local food or drink, I wanted to begin to explore the question, "Why Local?".  I know that eating locally grown or produced foods gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling but besides that what are the actual benefits of doing so? Over the next several weeks, I'll figure this out and share my findings.

Benefit #1. Local (and seasonal) food tastes better.
The other day I attempted to eat a cherry tomato from some tropical location way south of Montana and I literally had to spit it out. My thoughts drifted back to those big beautiful heirloom tomatoes I got at the farmer's market last summer that I was happy to eat like an apple.  My entire life I thought I didn't care much for tomatoes then I had one of these beauties and realized I just didn't care for store-bought, pre-packaged, long distance tomatoes.  The superior taste stems from a few causes.

First, once a tomato or pear is picked or an egg is laid, the clock starts ticking. The longer it takes for the item to get from its source to your mouth, the more it will loose taste because of its age.  So if you're eating an orange from Florida that had to be shipped to Montana, you're not getting the full flavor as opposed to an apple that has been grown in the Bitterroot and picked within the last few days or even hours.  This is true not just for produce but cheese, eggs and sauces. 

Second, the giant mass-producing farms that provide Montanans blueberries in February have to grow varieties that have a long shelf-life which may not be the best varieties when it comes to taste.  Local growers can pick and choose what they grow based on how good they taste, not on how long they last. 

Color Me an Omelet

I try to avoid impulse buying at the grocery store but how could anyone resist these eggs?

Looking at them simply makes me happy.  These delightful eggs come from the Rocking RB Mountain Home Organics farm in Victor where Paula Raines weaves her poultry magic to produce not only these beauties but also duck and quail eggs along with ducks, quail and soon, Thanksgiving turkeys for consumption. 

In a true showing of my chicken ignorance I asked Paula why she decided to dye these eggs.  Silly me. They come out of the chicken that way! What gifted creature I queried can lay pastel pink eggs? The answer is the americauna breed shown below.  I may have changed my mind about having children if they came out a lovely shade of blue, olive, dark olive or pastel pink. 

Paula is a true testament to the dedication of Montana’s organic farmers.  According to Paula, “our chickens eat a well-balanced diet of certified organic mash that is corn free, with Alfalfa meal incorporated in it. They also get meal worms once a week during the winter.” And does Paula head on over to Petsmart for her meal worms? Surely you jest. Rocking RB has the only certified organic meal worms in all of the US! Her chickens also are fed Kelp, certified organic of course, and oyster shells which help make the eggs shells solid.  Paula says, “we love our birds” which is evident when I hear about the devotion she takes in their care. 

As I told Paula, I found it hard to bring myself to actually crack one of these eggs open since they were so perfect in their shell. This morning I finally gave in and made omelets for breakfast. As always, I found that if the main ingredient is good, simple is always better so all I added was a splash of milk, pepper and some shredded smoke Gouda cheese.  The result was divine! The eggs had a fresh taste to them that you don’t find in the mass produced brands. The yolks also seemed larger than what I was used to and had a beautiful pale yellow color.  Paula has provided her own recipe for a Duck Egg Omelet which I have included in the Recipes section. 

I could go on and on about Rocking RB’s organic practices but this post would be endless.  If you’re interested in learning more, you can contact Paula through http://www.localharvest.org/. Look for the eggs at the Good Food store in Missoula or the Bozeman Co-op.

Old 'Stache Whiskey Barrel Porter

For some, the coming of spring is signified by a Robin sighting or the sound of ice breaking up on the lake. For me, it’s Old ‘Stache Whiskey Barrel Porter at Tamarack Brewery.  I look forward to the day this fabulous concoction comes out with great anticipation during our dreary Montana winters. 

                                                    

I first discovered the wonderful combination of beer and bourbon at Magic Hat Brewery in Burlington, Vermont and I now seek it out like Dracula seeks blood.  While we're on the subject, the inability to get Magic Hat beer is really the only thing I dislike about living in the west. Well, that and the fact that I haven’t experience a decent thunderstorm since 1995.

But back to Old ‘Stache.  To make a whiskey infused beer, the beer must be aged in bourbon oak barrels for several months, obviously a time consuming process which is why, I would guess, it isn’t a common type of beer.  According to Tamarack’s website, this particular beer is an old-style Porter brewed inside bourbon barrels for over 100 days.  The result is an extremely flavorful drink with a beautiful dark caramel color. It tastes mostly like a Porter but there is strong hint of bourbon that slips in and thankfully lingers after the initial sip. Tamarack serves it in a snifter glass instead of the usual pint glass.  Not only is it fun to drink beer out of snifter but at 8.9% alcohol it packs a wallop and should be slowly sipped to experience all its deliciousness. 

During a quick chat with our extremely friendly and accommodating bartender at the Missoula taphouse, I learned that Old ‘Stache is so named because one of the owners of Tamarack is known for his formidable mustache and his birthday is in February which is also why it comes out this time of year. 

Run, don’t walk to Tamarack Brewery in Missoula or Lakeside.  This beer goes very fast. While you’re there, try their fabulous food, too.  I highly recommend the chicken enchiladas and Dave swears by their ribs.