A Traditional Old-Styled Butcher
As owner of Heritage Meats, an artisan butcher shop that specializes in organic, locally grown and sustainable meat products and services, Tracy Smaciarz can also tell a lot about a particular animal by visiting them at the farm. “I can tell you when to slaughter them and why to slaughter them based on the portion sizes that you’re going to get out of those cuts of meat,” he says.
As we see in the video, Smaciarz also visits one of his clients, Tracey Baker of The Gleason Ranch, where he emphasizes the quality of care and treatment that she her grass fed cattle receive.
How to Make Homemade Sausage
Chef, butcher, and charcutier Eric Finley demonstrates how to make 3 different types of homemade sausages: Italian Chicken, Merguez Lamb and Chorizo. All the meat that Finley uses, including for sausage making, and charcuterie items, he carefully sources from farmers he knows and trusts. How an animal is raised, fed, and treated throughout their entire life is an important part of the story, as is how the slaughtered animal is processed by the butcher, both aspects are key determinants in the final taste and quality of the products that Finley makes.
Full Transparency in the Meat Buying Process
Artisan butcher Tracy Smaciarz and rancher Tracey Baker describe their philosophies on the care and treatment of livestock, and the importance of transparency throughout the entire process. To Smaciarz and Baker, livestock are living creatures deserving of respect, and humane treatment during their lifetime. Ultimately, the buyer should know where their meat comes from, and how the animal was raised.
Next Week: Sustainable Seafood
Tuesday
- How to Can Sardines
Sardines have many health benefits and what better way to have them on hand than to can them fresh yourself for an ample supply. Harriet Fasenfest and Marge Braker show step by step how to safely can sardines. Included in the process, is a brief refresher course on how to use a home pressure canner. Longtime friends (and home canners), these two will have you chuckling along the way.
Wednesday
- Albacore Tuna, Line Caught and Hand Packed
Running a small business has it’s own set of daily challenges, let alone one that depends so much on Mother Nature, as ocean fishing. Mark Kujala of Skipanon Brand Seafood, a micro-cannery in Warrenton, Ore., carries on the family tradition of buying directly from fisher families and canning seafood by hand in small batches. Join us on a seafood adventure as we observe a typical albacore day from the fishing wharf and into the can.
Thursday
- What about Mercury in Tuna?
We talk with Dr. Michael Morrissey, who completed a study in 2005 on the levels of mercury found in West Coast Albacore while affiliated with the Oregon State University Seafood Laboratory in Astoria, Oregon. In addition, the study looked at the levels of essential Omega 3 fatty acids in the same fresh-caught albacore samples. Those who may be concerned about eating albacore fillets or canned tuna because of concerns over mercury contamination won’t want to miss this episode.
The Weekly Roundup
- Container Gardening: Grow your own salad bowls (Cooking Up a Story)
- Portland company creates new, reusable take-out containers (NPR)
- How to freeze an entire apple pie (Seattle Seedling)
- Farmers market volunteers help harvest garlic in race against drought (Zester)
- Tour de Hives in Portland (Cooking Up a Story)
The annual self-guided backyard tour of Portland beehives is coming up soon. This video shows you what to expect; if you’d like tickets, go here. - Old ways help farmer survive drought (Voice of America) This Iowa farmer has been diversifying for decades, because “it’s just common sense.”
- Savory cones for supper (Pure Vege)
These delicious cones are perfect for Indian food, or roasted asparagus, or chickpeas… - What’s the real environmental impact of that cup of coffee? (EcoSalon)
- The great absence: Filling in the holes left by Chicago’s housing projects with gardens (Fringe Magazine)
Well-written exploration of what it means to rip down people’s homes, and what it means for Growing Power to try to fill in the gaps. - Beekeeping Basics (Cooking Up a Story) Thinking about backyard bees? These two videos will help you understand what you’re getting into.
- Restaurant barters with customers – (ANSA) You bring in the vegetables, the chef will cook them.
- How to make your own specialty marshmallows (Zester)
- Dr. Alan Kapuler: Man of Ideas, Science and Humanity (Cooking Up a Story)
Widely regarded as the founding father of the organic seed movement, Kapuler’s reverence of living things is embodied in his daily work-planting, breeding, and cataloging of seeds he has done for almost 40 years. You can also learn more about Kapuler in the article Ecological Sanity in an Era of Corporate Agriculture (Corvallis Advocate). - Chips (Punk Domestics)
Cucumber chips, beet chips, zucchini chips. Enjoy these recipes for chips that make good use of the bounty of your garden. - Beyond Farmers Markets: Making sure local food ends up on local shelves (The Atlantic)
- Know Your Butcher (Cooking Up a Story)
To understand where your meat comes from, you have to appreciate the process it went through from live animal to that lovely roast sitting in the display case.
Don’t miss our journeys of discovery connecting the dots between the earth, the farmers, and the food we eat. Join us throughout the week as we travel in the Kitchen, to the Field, and deep into Food Wisdoms on the “road to find out’ more about food, and the people behind our food. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for meaningful curated content.