Eating Local: Day 2
July 6, 2009
My first consideration was beer.
If you’re going to eat, drink and feed your dog from local sources — yeah, the beer was my first consideration. Could a girl live on Surly alone? Yes, there are other people brewing beer in this state but I’m picky. I like very, very good beer. And then there’s the question of where the ingredients to make the beer come from. By and large, they aren’t local. Now what do I do?
I get the engineer types on the job. They say, “well, are you doing this by weight or by number of ingredients?” I giggle in return. Well, now, looks like I’m doing it by weight, aren’t I? This is the very first time in human history that water weight works in a woman’s favor.
So, I’m all good. This works particularly well when it came to my 70/20/10 breakdown. My biggest concern was getting my favorite beer – Goose Island’s Pere Jacques. If it was in the 10% or not allowed at all I would suffer. And by suffer I mean I would be irritated and make sure everyone around me knew about it. I’m awesome at solving problems creatively, like, figuring out how one incorporates 100 days of local sustainable foods into their lives, but I totally suck at deprivation. I won’t stand for it. Which would make this whole project unsustainable – and sustainability is the point.
For me, I love that sustainability is something that people are thinking about. See, we all have systems that we travel through in our lives. Some of them work and some of them don’t. The ones that work are generally sustainable. In order to have a system that works, all parts of the system have to have an equal footing as the rest. They have to be fed what they need and to be productive members of the system. Then the system itself needs to be able to keep rolling along each step in it’s system without intervention. This is true with everything from relationships to the environment. (And frankly, should be the goal of any design project, but that’s a blog for another day!)
Let’s take relationships as an example. Lets say two people come together and there’s an instant spark between them that grows with their interplay, creating energy from the finely running system that they naturally have. Of course, for various reasons, mostly human, perfect systems move away from being whole and natural. So then our relationship turns into one where he does everything for her and she is totally indifferent and condesending. That relationship is unsustainable because both people are not being fed and working as a part of the system. It will die, hopefully sooner rather than later so that these poor people can just move on with their lives.
So, let’s say our Mr. Doormat goes and finds a woman who is genuinely appreciative of his efforts to please her and she in turn gives him what he needs, effortlessly. Thus she feeds him and he her and they can fit their system into other systems and can create more good. Yea!
Anything within nature has to work like that or things just fall apart in really big ways.
I don’t want this to fall apart in a really big way. I have to figure out a system here that I can maintain. I have to have the flexibility to eat the way I want and support food systems that I can believe in.
Can I do it? I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.
Before I got it in my head to take on this challenge, I bought 1/2 a pig from a farmer who is in my cooking group. By the time it got to me, I was two days away from starting this challenge and very happy to have the pork.
So, this was my day 2 lunch. Ribs from Mike and Michelle at Highview Pastures with sweet peas from my CSA pan steamed and then drizzled with some olive oil and sprinkled with grey salt. (The rest of the day 2 meals were leftovers and cake.)
The ribs were cooked for about an hour and a half over low heat in a smoker, brushed with some bbq sauce with about 10 minutes left.
They were perfect.
And then they were gone.
But the big questions remain: With our food system so depleted of diversity and given that we’re all so spoiled with getting whatever we want when we want – can one reasonably expect only consume what is locally available?
I hope so, because I like buying products from people I believe in.
Eating Local: Day 1
June 28, 2009
7:33 am
Kris is in the kitchen. She has been searching through the pantry for 8 minutes.
I’m kidding. (There were, like, 2 people who got that BBUK joke.) Alright, I didn’t get up until 8:20. Which is when I jumped out of bed throwing my clothes on, stuffed a handful of almonds in my mouth and ran off to kettlebells.
Not a particularly auspicious start to my 100 days of eating, drinking and feeding my dog with local stuff.* First off, almonds aren’t grown locally and secondly it’s one of my normal breakfasts. I put exactly no thought into it. Might seem like I’m just going about life as usual rather than making a life changing decision to affect my life and body. But, for me, that’s sorta the point.
This dog has no idea the bone he’s enjoying with such fervor is from a local cow 20x his size. (Sorry about the focus – he moves about a lot.)
Hey! Look at us gettin’ all inspired.
June 24, 2009
I am probably the luckiest girl in the world. I don’t mean to be, I just am. I’m friends with several of the best chefs in Minnesota. Not only are they great cooks, but they have created philosophies and ways of doing thing which makes each them completely unique and wonderful. To top that off they even love to teach, which means that I get to call them up and say, “Hey, what’s on your mind? Anything you want to share with some of my favorite cooks?”
When I asked my friend Scott Graden, owner/chef of the award winning New Scenic Cafe in Duluth that question and he answered, “Inspiration is everywhere and it’s so much more important than recipes and ingredients. I’d like to talk about that.” In my head I shouted, “woo hoo!” Then we chatted and brainstormed on how to go about doing a workshop on inspiration, came up with a plan and that he promptly forgot.
I, however, did not. It turns out that the things that inspire him most are the people and the land around him. Hence, on our weekend in Duluth we got to meet with Stephen Dahl his herring fisherman and David Rogotzke his maple syrup maker and salmon fisherman.
It really was the best adult field trip for cooks ever.
We started off the day at the New Scenic Cafe where Scott was kind enough to talk to us about his experiences as a restaurant owner and chef. He went over where everything came from, how it happened and why he made the decisions he did. He gave us an amazing insight into the tenacity and drive he had to bring the Cafe to what it is today. (This included living in the garage for 5 years.)
Butternut Squash Lasagna
February 24, 2009
I married a lasagna genius. I’m not kidding. It was one of those things that won me over 18 years ago – the man can make a lasagna out of anything and it’s always amazing. (Not only has it always been amazing, but since in the beginning we lived together in this semi-legal loft space, he did it in a toaster oven from the 70s.) It takes everything we have + the knowledge that it will be better the next day to not to just gobble it down.
Recently, on a particularly cold and miserable day, Marv announced that he felt like cooking something and asked me what to make. I yelled, “LASAGNA!” He asked what should be in it and after thinking about it for a second I said, “butternut squash.” He informed me that I was crazy and wandered down his own road making a more traditional lasagna.
But I can not be deterred. On New Year’s Eve a friend of mine compared me to Letitia Cropley and I intend to live up to that! (Or, rather, just short of that.) Besides, I want butternut squash lasagna – substituting squash slices for pasta. First I was thinking gorgonzola for cheese – but I’m mellowing it to aged gouda.
I love a taqueria… and their tacos.
January 26, 2009
It’s one of those quirky things about me; I am just not capable of passing by a flea market that boasts that it’s the largest in Georgia. There is just no way to do it. And when at the end of that flea market you find a taqueria that sells lengua tacos… Oh my. I swoon.
So I present to you, my day at the flea market (with tacos + lengua and salsa recipes at the end!):
Oh, how could you possibly drive by this one a beautiful fall day?
Ah, look at it. Isn’t it just lovely? Granted the lengua one is a bit obscured by the steak taco, but you get the idea. (YUM! That’s the idea.)
Wildpepper Salsa 3 ways
September 7, 2008
Harvest time around here means that it’s the perfect time to make up some Wildpepper salsa. We use it in a bunch of different ways – and since it is so perfect for harvest time I figure I may as well share with you. (Aren’t you glad you’re you? If you were anyone else, I totally wouldn’t do it!)
I’ll warn you straight off, I don’t really remember what was in the original recipe. Which is to say – that this salsa has become such a staple in our house that I can’t be sure where it started (nor can I seem to find it on my computer – but I’m sure you could find it online.) I do know it was a recipe posted by Jim Campbell of Mild to Wild Pepper and Herb company. If you’ve never tried his bbq or hot sauces I highly recommend them. They’re really good and he seems like a really good guy.
Salsa
6 tomatillos
4 roma tomatoes
4 jalepeno peppers
3 aniheim peppers
2 yellow onions, quartered
2 ears corn
juice from 1 lime
1 bunch cilantro, coarsely chopped
salt to taste
Put all ingredients except lime, cilantro and salt on the smoker or grill. Grill over medium heat until veggies are tender, pulling them off the heat as they’re done. Deseeded remove stems and outer skins of all veggies. Put all veggies except corn in the blender. Blend until they’re the consistency you want. Cut kernals off corn. Put in a large container. Add in the blended veggies. Add in lime, cilantro and salt.
Confetti Nachos
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Pork part 3: Chorizo
August 10, 2008
“Just because it can kill you doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Just feed it to your spouse… You can always get a new one.” The love of my life says, with a smirk. (His eyes, at this point, are a stormy blue, but when we go back outside they will turn back to sage green. He’s lucky for those eyes, keeps me from smacking him when he says things like this. I’m not that frickin’ replaceable.)
Then again, there’s the subject matter. He was talking about making chorizo for me. That’s a seriously beautiful thing. How many people have made you chorizo? I thought so. Besides, he’s a good guy. I trust him with my life.
I re-fell in love with chorizo while we were in Portugal. It was a beautiful thing to be able to walk into grocery stores that were filled with cured sausages and artisanal cheeses. I continually had to keep myself from doing happy dances as we gathered up both to pair with fresh baked bread and cold beer for our impromptu picnics. When we got home Marv decided that it was time for him to start playing with cold cured and fermented meats.
Cold curing is basically meat or fish that’s been cured with salt rather than heat and that’s more often than not smoked. Wikipedia says:
Salt inhibits the growth of spoilage, killing microorganisms by drawing water out of microbial cells through osmosis. As the unwanted bacterial population decreases, other beneficial bacteria, primarily of the Lactobacillus genus, come to the fore and generate an acidic environment (around 4.5 pH). The sugar included in the cure is used as food by the lactobacilli; generally dextrose is preferred over sucrose, or table sugar, because it seems to be more thoroughly consumed by the bacteria. This process is in fact a form of fermentation, and, in addition to reducing further the ability of the spoilage bacteria to grow, accounts for the tangy flavor of some cured products. Concentrations of salt up to 20% are required to kill most species of unwanted bacteria.
You can probably see where this all could go wrong. But really, it’s pretty simple; salt draws the water out of the cells, which the bad bacteria needs to live and grow, therefore killing them off. Then they get replaced by good bacteria which likes to eat sugar and leave behind a bit of an acidic taste.
Happily, my boy is brilliant, so it didn’t go wrong. Could have been a bit spicier (particularly if he had listened to me) but it was really good. He did his research and then decided to (mostly) follow a recipe for Cold Smoked Chorizo from Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing by Michael Rhulman and Brian Polcyn. Tis a good book, explains a lot without getting overly techie for those of us who don’t really care about the life and mating habits of lactobacilli. I mean, I’d like to know enough not to kill folks, but I also have enough common sense to know when meat doesn’t look or smell right. As well as enough common sense to not eat it.
5# fatty pork shoulder
2.5 T salt
3/4 – 1 t pink salt
1 t pepper
2 T cumin
3 T chili powder
1/2 c milk powder
1/4 c apple jack brandy
3/4 c green onions, thinly sliced mostly white parts
sausage casings
Combine the dry ingredients and set aside.
Grind the meat in a grinder set with large die. Add in the spices, brandy and onions and mix until liquid is absorbed. Saute up a small patty for tasting. Taste. Adjust spices as needed. (At the time I said it needed more heat, again, he’s not so big on the listening.) Stuff the sausage into casings and tie off into links.
Refrigerate uncovered over night.
And now we get to the other bit of silliness; the smoking. For under $15 in parts Marv made himself a ghetto cold smoker.
Ghetto Cold Smoker
Wikipedia says, “Smoking adds chemicals to the surface of an item which affect the ability of bacteria to grow, inhibit oxidation (and thus rancidity), and improve flavor.”
Since summer is midway though summer stuff is on sale en masse. He picked himself up a hibachi for $8 and some heating duct parts. He removed the handle, popped off the little slidey vent cover and bent a duct wall connector to fit the hibachi and rivited it on. Then he took a duct that was the right size to fit to the wall connector and voila; a place to make the smoke. The other side of the duct then fits on his upright smoker’s vent and voila; a place to hang the sausage to be smoked.
Smoke for 2 – 4 hours, until they’re deeply colored.
Hang your sausage up in a cool, dry place for 3 – 5 days until the casings are a deep redish-brown color and have sunken in.
This is about 2 days in. You can see how they’re starting to get bumpy from sinking in.
Just as an aside here, thus far this sausage isn’t cooked. While it’s probably safe, you may as well cook it before consuming it just to be sure. Will last in the refrigerator for quite awhile, and in your freezer for longer. (How was that for a specific timeframe?)
Have fun. Eat meat.
Pork Part 2: Tamales
July 27, 2008
I’m probably about the worst person in the world to be writing about making tamales. I’ve never had one prepared by anyone other than Marv or myself that I’ve liked. Seems like every time I get them made by someone else, they’re either too wet, too dry, lacking flavor or just generally lackluster.
And yet, when Marv started making them at home several years ago, I loved them. Of course, Marv was playing with making sauces from smoked and dried chilies. He’s insanely good at these things. (He is also a lasagna genius. Two excellent reasons to marry a person, in my opinion.) The only problem is that once he figures out how to do something really well, he stops. It’s very unfortunate. But there’s not challenge for him, so he’s just done.
Then I have to take over. Oh well. I decided to do a little research. Turns out tamales aren’t even called that, they’re tamals, but we’ll go with it. The gist is they’re little sandwiches. Fillings can change, be different kinds of meat or veg, or they can go sweet filled with nuts and raisins. (I’m psyched to try this.) Seems war parties used to carry them a road food. I’ll have to remember this for our next road trip. (Hopefully, this won’t make me attack statues of war heroes. Oh, me and my warmongering ways.)
Anyhoo. Back to the tragic loss of my tamale maker. I am not he. I don’t feel the need to grind up re-hydrated chiles and whatnot. I opted for chile gravy more or less making a roux with powdered spices instead. Then I just cooked the meat over low heat for a couple of hours until it was falling apart. Rather than actually pulling it apart, I then chopped it up with a cleaver.
The only other thing that I do that may (or may not) raise eyebrows is that I really like the taste that comes from steaming the tamales in banana leaves rather than corn husks. They seem a bit brighter in flavor for some reason. Banana leaves are super cheap and you can get them frozen at Asian markets.
Pork Tamales
Filling
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Pork, Pork & Pork: Beer Braised
July 7, 2008
Every now and again there’s a bunch of pork in the house. Then stuff needs to be made from it or it goes bad. (Bad pork, bad, bad pork!)
Sometimes, we even work at making it go bad. If you make things go bad in the right way, bad is really tasty. That’s where half of the pork went: chorizo. (You’re going to have to wait for that as it’s still curing.)
In the meantime, you get pulled pork. But not the pulled pork you would expect in the summer. No grills or smoke are in use. It’s been rainy and cold here – so I just braised it in the oven. (Although, you could easily braise on a grill.) But in an effort to try to pretend that it’s summer, I decided to play with one of my favorite sauces for pork made from equal parts of vinegar, yellow mustard and brown sugar. To work the sweet/tang taste, I braised braised in beer and mustard. Yummy. A bit of a taste of summer even if there’s no proof of it outside.
Pulled Pork Braised in Beer & Mustard
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Sausages! Sausages! Sausages! Yum.
March 24, 2008
I love making sausage. I know, I’m an odd duck. But there’s just something about all that squelching that makes me happy. I love the way it feels under my fingertips, the way it looks when it’s being ground, the way it smells when it’s being cooked and of course how it tastes (most of the time.)
Even though you might think that making sausage at home, from scratch, is quirky at best, it really is a lot easier and tastier than you might think. Look at it this way; pretty much anything you could make with any other meat could be replicated in a sausage, cheaper, easier and don’t forget; portable. Alright, take these sausages for example; I decided that I really wanted to try to make a chicken curry type thing in a sausage. I had grandiose plans of using coconut milk and fresh ground spices, but ended up using a spice mix and upping the ginger and garlic. Then I got the sweet coconut flavor it was missing by using ground up raisins. Granted this isn’t a literal translation, but it sure is good. It’s also pretty economical, I got at least couple dozen sausages for under $10.* I know exactly what’s in them. And I enjoyed making them every step of the way.
Thai Spiced Chicken Sausage
Feed me! 
