Meat That Tastes Like Meat

Hi all,

I feel like I’m starting all of my posts lately with “sorry I’ve been away so long”, but my schedule as an apprentice is starting to fill up quite a bit and I only have time for the intarwebs on what I have dubbed “Media Friday”.  Today is, of course, not Friday, but I have a bit of time off this morning to talk to you, lovely people, before running off to bake some beautiful profiteroles and make ice cream base at Cuisine en Locale.

Today, I’m inspired to talk about the real price of meat that tastes like meat.  At Cuisine en Locale, I’m fortunate enough to work with local farms like Stillman’s, Misty Knoll, and Signal Rock, preparing meat that I am proud to serve not only for its taste, but also for how it was raised and slaughtered.  This meat, compared to what you’ll see in your neighborhood supermarket is expensive!  Why buy chicken for $5 a pound when you can find it in the grocery store for less than $1 per pound?  Why buy a pound of bacon for $10 when you can find it for $3 on sale?

The foodie in me says duh – because the chicken tastes like chicken (and the snozzberries taste like snozzberries).  The bacon is the singlemost delicious piece of heavenly goodness I have had the pleasure of trying as of late (thank you, Stillman’s Farm).  Grass-fed and free range meat and poultry just taste better.  They taste like.. they’re supposed to.

The health nut in me says that they’re healthier.  I recently read an article comparing grass-fed beef to grain-fed and, among other health benefits, grass-fed beef is higher in Omega-3s, higher in vitamins, and lower in overall fat and calories. 

The pragmatist in me says that paying the true price of meat will also keep us healthier, as, for most, buying large cuts of meat for everyday consumption would be prohibitively expensive.  Therefore we would be forced to supplement our meals with grains and vegetables, keeping our serving sizes for meat where they should be – around six ounces for a portion – AND improving our overall health. 

The environmentalist in me says that cheap meat costs us in other ways – in soil erosion, water pollution, and climate change.  If we eat less meat – and we demand that the meat we do eat be raised in an environmentally friendlier way than factory farmed – we can make a dent in the damage that eating meat causes.

The cheapskate in me thinks we can do it, even if this meat is more expensive.  We need to get back to the kitchen, y’all, and learn some basics.  We need to use meat as a flavoring agent instead of the main dish.  Soups, casseroles, pasta dishes, biryanis… these all have something in common – they’re relatively cheap to generate and they use a minimum amount of meat to give flavor to vegetables and grains.  I’ll keep posting recipes up here for meat and veg dishes to give you some ideas.  I’d love to hear your ideas too!

The idealist in me says that if we’re all willing to make a change, big changes come along with it.  I’m off to bake profiteroles now, but think about what I’ve said and let me know what you think.

Be well,

Jen

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