duck shopping.

"You came here for duck breast?" The butcher's eyes twinkled from behind the counter at Puritan Poultry.

"Yep!" I said confidently. This is the response I always hope for when standing at the meat counter. Up until this point, I had only received it when inquiring about different types of intestines or insisting on grinding my own meats. "Got any tips for me?"

Grinning, he ushered me and my wrapped pair of duck breasts to the end of the market stall and told me precisely how to prepare my Christmas eve feast.

I'll be following his animated step-by-step instructions.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and place a heavy-bottomed non-stick pan on stovetop over high heat.

While oven and pan are warming, score the skin of the breasts in a cross-hatched pattern, taking care to not cut score the fat. (He illustrates the pattern on the back of a ticket.)

Season with salt, pepper, and a bit of oil.

When the pan is good and hot, place breasts on bottom, skin side down. (Him: "Tsssss!" with explosive hand movement.)

Sear for 3-4 minutes or until the skin starts to curl up around the edges.

Turn and immediately slide pan into oven.

Cook for 10 minutes for medium rare and remove from pan to rest.

While breasts are in the oven, thinly slice onions or shallots, garlic, and rosemary.

As duck is resting, cook above in pan until soft.

Then, add 1/2 cup of red wine to pan (Him: "You have red wine, right?" Me: "Obviously.")

Reduce wine, then at the last second, add a tablespoon of butter (Him: "Shhh...")

And you're ready to go. (He smacks his lips. "Voila!")

Serve with your choice of sides. (Him: "Ratatouille, perhaps? You know that just means roasted vegetables.")

And, the rest of the wine.

Obviously.

That's my plan for tonight. Wish me luck. And a Merry Christmas to all!

my first turkey: part one.

My emotions range from excitement to complete terror at the idea of cooking my first Thanksgiving turkey.

I know what you're thinking.
"You say you're a meat lady and have never cooked a turkey??? Just cook the damn bird already!"
This will actually only be my second Thanksgiving back on meat and last year, we were traveling. So no more excuses. This year, I'm gonna do it.
Otherwise, the weight of the 18-pound bird will forever be on my shoulders. And in my refrigerator.

I suppose it is a right of passage; cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the in-laws and expecting sister-and brother-in law.

On Saturday, in lieu of my birthday trip to Catalina to see (and hopefully eat) buffalo, the man and I did a bit of turkey homework. At first, I was discouraged because we didn't have the opportunity to plan ahead and order a special heritage bird, but we found we could get something nice and tasty. Our butcher friends at the 3rd and Fairfax Farmers' Market helped us out and we purchased an all-natural* free-range Willie Bird from Puritan Poultry.

My only real objective is that the bird not kill anyone.
But preferably, it will be perfectly seasoned, moist, have a lovely brown crispy skin, and supply us with piles of leftovers to feast on for days.

I'm not completely settled on my prep and cooking methods. All I know is that the dressing will not be stuffed into the bird. Our guests will be told that it is purely to keep the meat juicy, but my real reason will be to keep the bread and meat separate so that I can enjoy it free of wheat-worries. I'm also thinking that a brine will be happening, if I can find a suitable bucket. The brine "recipes" I've found are widely varied, so I think I'll be going with water-kosher salt-brown sugar-apple cider-and whatever herbs I have on hand, perhaps followed by a light dry rub.

We even spent the last $25 Bed Bath & Beyond gift card from our wedding on an inexpensive roasting pan.

I'm ready.

Wish me luck!

*Why not organic? Honestly, we were told that these were the best. Willie Bird does raise and sell organic birds, but not at our source. And really, it would have been pushing it price-wise.

so you're going to eat red meat...

(source)

I know, red meat consumption has taken a lot of flack recently, what with all of the food documentaries, pop authors putting in their two cents, and the general fatness of our country. If you've read my blog at all, you know that my vote is for eating smaller amounts of the best quality meats you can afford. (Please don't mistake this with the "best cuts" of meat; I recommend a cheaper cut of grass fed beef over a filet from the supermarket any day.) For this purpose, "best quality" refers to organic, grass-fed beef.

Here's a cheat sheet for the benefits of grass-fed.

And here are my shopping picks. Just my opinion, of course.

Best choices:
Farmers' markets. Unless you decide to pick up your life and raise your own herd of cattle, this is the closest you'll get to the source. Small farms sell all sorts of fantastic cuts of local, organic, grass-fed beef and are more than willing to share with you exactly how their animals are raised and what the health benefits of their particular methods are. This option requires planning ahead, as jetting to a market on the way home from work usually isn't realistic. Also, be prepared to pay for what you're getting.
Check out localharvest to find a market in your area. You can search by zip code or product.

Online ordering. So you don't live in an area with excellent farmers' markets? Gosh, move to Los Angeles already! Or explore online ordering options. There are heaps of websites that ship top quality meats-- and we're not just talking beef. Bet you'll never be asked to host Thanksgiving again if you serve kangaroo or rattlesnake. Again, doesn't really work for last minute meal planning, but can save time in the long run.
Eatwild is a good place to start. Farms are listed by state and most give great product and shipping details.

Pretty good options:
Your local butcher. Butchers are just wonderful people. Don't you agree? Those white jackets and sharp knives... don't get me started! Butchers are are ideal because they do their meat processing on-site, greatly reducing contamination risks. But do your homework-- not all butchers sell the best quality meats. If they don't sell grass fed, ask why! They are often willing to go the extra mile to make your meat fantasies come true.
Try searching on forums such as yelp, chowhound, and citysearch for local butchers and reviews.

Whole Foods. Afraid of the whole paycheck stereotype? Although their price tags can be daunting, sales are frequent and make purchases more reasonable. Whole Foods carries a range of meats, from "natural" to organic-local-free-range-grass-fed, so watch your labels. Stock up when your favorites go on sale and fill your freezer! Like stand-alone butchers, they grind their meats on-site, and often make their own sausages and dry age beef in-house, so quality is consistent and dependable.

Okay, but you could try harder:
Trader Joe's. Why isn't this higher on my list, you ask? Well, not just because of that darned ground beef recall last week... Okay, maybe because of that a little bit. Trader Joe's (or any local supermarket, these days) sells a decent range of organic meat and occasionally has grass-fed options, but their meats typically come from central processing facilities that are often to blame for large scale contaminations. Just be wary, and cook ground meat thoroughly. Or, buy cuts of beef and grind it yourself! Invite your friends and have a meat grinding party.

Where do you buy your meats? Any tips?

sometimes, it's the little things...

...or, the not so little things that bring me joy.

Like this, a four-pound pork roast looking so much at home on my counter. At $1.98 a pound from the happy butcher man at Marconda's, I couldn't resist.
I hacked it up into twelve beautiful 1/3 pound steaks; now they wait patiently, Ziplocked, labeled, and neatly tucked away in the freezer.
In case you're doing the math, that's six (substantial!) meaty meals for two for $7.92.
Plus tax, of course.
But I'll let you add that on yourself.

farmers' market finds

yesterday, we visited the santa monica farmers' market to check out the fresh-from-the-farm meats. we arrived right before closing time so things were winding down, but i did get the chance to briefly talk to a couple of the meat-vendors.

the first vendor we came across was a farmer for rocky canyon. he had a pretty wide selection of grass-fed beef and humanely raised pork, along with fresh eggs, homemade sausages, juice, sweet potatoes, pomegranates, apples, eggplant, onions, melons, tomatoes, and cucumbers (in season, of course).

my excitement came from kathy lindner of lindner bison. she is incredibly warm and helpful; you could tell she really had a passion for bringing her customers top-notch, tasty products. their story is great-- kathy tried bison meat and loved it so much that her and her husband decided they had to leave their jobs and dedicate their lives to raising bison! their backgrounds helped out of course, him having a lifelong passions for farming and her being a descendant of margaret carlston, the "cattle queen of montana," but now they commute between their southern california home (and farmers' markets!) and the ranch in northern california. how inspiring! i'd like a 20-lb. assortment please, with bison tenderloin, some burgers, meaty soup bones, and jerky... and toss in a few bones for the pooch, please!

here's a picture from their ranch--

also, i learned a new buffalo (or should i say "bison bison") fact from their website:

"Is bison the same as buffalo? It should be. When America's pioneers saw bison for the very first time, they had no name for it. Because it looked similar to a European animal called "buffalo", that's the original term that stuck. For years the word "buffalo" has been used interchangeably with the species name, "bison bison". But when it comes to food labeling, it's another story.As it turns out, labeling laws are so loose in our country, if we were to label our meat "buffalo" we could be selling water buffalo, cape buffalo or North American buffalo. Even if it were North American buffalo, we legally can add up to 49% beef to the ground meat product, still call it buffalo, and not tell you. It's all perfectly legal. Because of this, Lindner Bison from the beginning decided to label our meat by the species name (bison bison). That way, our customers will never have to wonder what they are actually getting from us."

weekend plans?

i'm going to try to make my first journey to the butchers at the farmers market at 3rd and fairfax. hopefully, i will be able to hit huntington's meats and marconda's and report back.
i am particularly excited about huntington's exotic meats!