Putting Some Pasture Into Organic Milk

Okay, another off-beef post. According to the Washington Post, the USDA may be closing an unfortunate loophole / gray area in the organic regulations for milk.

The new requirement, in the proposal phase, would require that dairy cows be allowed to graze on pasture for about 1/3 of the year. Now, presumably, that pasture must be technically organic.

Sam Fromartz seems on board, which sounds good. A step in the right direction (think: not all climates can support year-round pasture grazing).

Okay, on a beef-related topic, Mac Magruder and now Amazin' Grazin' in Florida seem to be onto something. They are selling younger cattle finished on pasture on a combination of cow's milk and pasture or cow's milk only and selling the beef as (genuinely) naturally raised veal. I am trying to learn more about this as I will not eat veal unless it's served to me in such a situation where refusing would be very rude. I can't abide with crate-constrained, anemic calves being served up as a specialty food. But maybe I can support Vitellone, Vitello, and Vitellini, raised with care.

Know what's on your plate.

Okay, Let's Talk Pork!

No, not pork barrel. The good and tasty kind.

I don't know nearly as much about how to properly raise pork but I do know enough to be at least a little dangerous. And it's fun to find good stories, such as this one about the Flaherty family in Iowa.

Same as with raising beef cattle, breed, growing conditions, diet, and generally low-stress husbandry and proper slaughter can make a huge difference in taste and texture. Indeed, because of the way pigs digest their food (only one stomach vs. a cattle's four), the finishing diet can have an even stronger influence than with cattle.

Some key things to look for when buying pork.

• Outdoor raised.


• Appropriate breed/crossbreed for growing region.


• Pink meat. Sorry, pork is not the other white meat, that was engineered.


• All vegetarian diet. And no weird stuff e.g. human leftovers, garbage, cookies.


• Certified humane. Not a must but preferred. I prefer AWI standards (Animal Welfare Institute).

And talk to the farmer or brand folks and find out if anything special was added to the finishing diet. For instance, some of the world's most famous pork forages acorns in the forests in Spain.

Finally, give your farmer feedback, good and bad, so they can continue to improve.

Dear Supermarket Manager

Mexico, Canada, or the United States" is not a helpful answer when I ask where your beef comes from.

C'mon, give me a break.

Are your inventory systems (and those of your suppliers) really that lame?

Melamine On A Plate Near You?

What won't we stop at in the pursuit of cheap food?

Experts are now worried that melamine, a "toxic industrial chemical," may have been used in a wide spectrum of Chinese-produced foods shipped to consumers across the world.

Recap: food and chemical industry folks in China have been found to have knowingly included melamine as a protein-booster in pet food and in feed for dairy cows. While scientists can't fully explain why, the chemical can cause kidney failure - oh, and death - in humans and pets.

At minimum these actions were morally bankrupt. But does it stop there?

Apparently not. According to the New York Times article (free subscription required), local officials are said to have commented that melamine "has been used for years in fish feed." Now, there are investigations into whether it's also being used to supplement feed for livestock including pigs and chicken. And in vitamins.

Okay, that means I've probably eaten melamine-laced food from China. You, too.

Now, I suppose it's possible that the source of this information is not unbiased. For instance, maybe some other food company would benefit if the spigot of cheap food from China were turned off or slowed.

And if you talk to enough people in the meat production industry in North America you know that lots of disturbing things go into animal feed here in a desperate attempt to keep prices low.

But I for one have stopped buying any food items from China. That is, at least I think I have. Come to think of it, manufacturers are not required to list the source of the multitude of ingredients that go into our packaged goods and probably livestock feed, too.

At minimum, no more edamame (that's right, look at the label).

Know what's on your plate.

A Welcome Headline

Looks as if a lot of very large and influential companies (including Hain, Smithfield, and Campbells) are saying NO to meat from cloned animals.

This is great!

Though why is it I'm learning this from an Australian food news source?

Hmmmmmm.

The FDA annouces a new "legal framework" with regard to genetically engineered animals and their use in food or to incubate/develop medicines for humans.

The framework is meant to "resolve such questions as whether the altered animals are safe for human consumption and pose no serious environmental risks."

According to the New York Times (free suscription required), examples include cattle that can resist mad cow disease.

What, so we can go back to feeding them cattle?

The Provenance of Beef - Let The Steak Tastings Begin!

Sometimes dreams do come true, and this one was mine.

60 people were on hand - we sold out twice! - as we formally launched our Artisan Beef Institute to the public in tandem with the highly regarded Commonwealth Club of California's 3rd Annual "How We Eat" series.

In the planning for nearly 3 years, The Artisan Beef Institute's(r) "Provenance of Beef(tm)" series combines an interactive expert panel discussion and comparison steak tasting.

Now mind you, this wasn't about tasting different cuts of "Choice" or "Prime" steaks. Designed to appeal to those seeking to support great ranchers and sustainability, this was something entirely new, was one heck of a lot of fun, and as one guest commented, "made me smarter about beef than anyone else I know, how cool is that?!"

The evening began with an interactive expert panel discussing how individual ranchers, butchers, and chefs influence the taste and texture of beef to create connoisseur quality on the plate.

Then, participants were taken through a blind taste test of four different “styles” of beef from different natural ranches, each representing a different breed, region, diet, and aging technique. Guests were encouraged to use a brand new tasting guide developed by ABI (let's face it, meaty, beefy, juicy, and tender pretty much sums up our vocabulary when it comes to beef).

Q&A with members of the panel follows along with a full four-course meal, including wine pairings from Napa’s Atalon Vineyards.

Importantly, panelists stressed how low stress management techniques and sustainable land management aren't just the right things to do, they contribute directly to beef flavor, quality, and texture. (I argue that connoisseur quality beef is by definition raised with care and respect.)

The main takeaway? Relying on USDA Grade or labels such as organic or grass-fed is not enough. No different than with wine, to enjoy genuinely natural or organic, connoisseur quality beef, you need to know the source and to know the details of what is on the plate: the breed, diet, growing region and the husbandry, harvesting, processing and aging techniques.

The other fun takeaway? I just love this as I’ve seen it anecdotally over three years of blind steak tastings but this was a big enough crowd to gauge the statistical probabilities.

When asked to vote for their favorite, the scores were evenly distributed between the four ranches / beef styles.

So there you have it: There is no such thing as the perfect steak!

But there IS a perfect steak for you.

Here are the styles we tasted. Three are in our marketplace www.oliverranch.com and the other, from the fabulous Mac Magruder in Potter Valley, CA, can be found at Café Rouge in Berkeley, Woodlands Market in Kentfield, and on the menu at Oliveto in Berkeley.

• Dry-Aged Charolais, grain-finished, Elliott & Ferris Families, Front Range Region, CO


• Dry-Aged Black Angus-Shorthorn Cross, grass-only, Mac Magruder, Potter Valley, CA


• Wet-Aged Wagyu-Angus Cross, grain-finished, Kobe Beef America, finished in Holdrege, NE


• Wet-Aged Holstein-Friesian, grain-finished, Bob Beechinor, Bakersfield, CA

Equity in Humane Treatment

Meating Place (free registration required) annouces today that the USDA is expected to announce new (draft) regulations requiring those vendors who participate in the federal commodity purchase program (e.g. National school Lunch Program) to be able to prove they treat livestock humanely.

Shouldn't this apply to all USDA approved facilities? Does it already?

Yes, But How Does It Impact Flavor?

This probably isn't fair but I'm going to say it anyways.

Now that higher grain prices have make it more expensive to finish beef cattle on corn and other grains, The University of Arkansas has a new facility dedicated to R&D (research and demonstration in this case) on alternative feed ingredients for cattle. According to a press release from the Southwest Research and Extension Center, ingredients being evaluated include "distiller's grain and other byproducts of bio-fuels production, corn gluten, rice bran, cotton seed cake, soybean hulls and hominy from corn milling." They are testing the ingredients in feedyard environments and as feed supplements for cattle on pasture.

I am all for efficiency.

But if they're not already doing so, I really encourage the team to consider the impact on flavor and texture, not just weight gain, marbling, yield and costs. All these things matter but they are not the only drivers of taste and quality and sometimes, other factors should come into play.

At minimum, let's start thinking about beef as food, not throughput.

When The Beef Crumbles

Sorry, it's been a while since my last update. But then today I see this headline in Meating Place: "Chatel Farms launches new beef crumbles." (free subscription required)

Apparently, "beef crumbles" are flash frozen ground beef pieces that come in resealable packages. They are ready-to-use, you don't need to thaw them before using the crumbles in your favorite dish.

At first pass, my thought was, are we really that pushed for time that we can't crumble our own ground beef when making, say, Hamburger Helper or even a scratch recipe?

Wearing my industry hat, I also thought, are these simply the scraps left over in the machinery when ground beef bricks or patties are made? An efficient use of otherwise unusable beef? Or yet another potential food safety hazard from mixing together meat from many different cattle?

I dunno, one would certainly save time using these "crumbles." (Cute name, BTW.) Defrosting ground beef can take some time. Also, unless it was professional blast frozen before it made it to your freezer, ground beef doesn't freeze particularly well at home; ice can form during the slow freezing process and lead to watery meat when thawed.

A quick search shows beef crumbles have been around for a few years (Tyson had them in 2004, proving I still have a lot to learn about beef!). Will have to reach out to others and learn the scoop as to how these came about. Intriguing.

Chatel Farms is a brand name for a privately held beef processor in Augusta, Georgia (the company's site says it's the largest privately held fully-integrated beef processing facility in the Southeast.)

The Song Has Begun

Can you see it? Look closely.


Hint: It's THE harbinger of Spring.














Okay, here's a close up.

Indeed, it's a beautiful Robin, the very first of spring, seen on Monday, March 24th in the tree outside my home. While there are still several feet of snow on the ground, this happy bird was telling us, look, spring has arrived, get out and celebrate!

What a cruel irony that the weather today looks like this! (Yes, that is snow falling.)



ps We're grilling up some beautiful Ontario spring lamb, anyways.

Too Much Anxiety

Because I read a lot of blogs on food and occasionally write a related one myself, just about every day I learn about someone anxiously trying to make intelligent decisions about what food to feed him or herself and family. Buy local? Organic? Grass-Fed? Vegan? What is my carbon footprint?

I am personally thrilled that this conversation is taking place and believe it will eventually lead to a more balanced playing field, resulting in better tasting, better quality, even personalized food for consumers, recognition and more equitable financial rewards for top-notch producers, and a cleaner environment.

What troubles me is the tone I see emerging from all sides of the debate, a sometimes subtle and sometimes overt air of self-righteousness or moral superiority.

Most of us are pretty new at this and many haven’t yet entered the discussion. People need to feel safe while they learn and make decisions. Plus, there is so much information about food and health, much of it conflicting or emphasized at the the expense of others by one group or another to support their own bias.

Let’s cut people a little slack and act as mentors to each other rather than critics. Transparency and courtesy are a great place to start.

Jay from TheLinkery in San Diego set a perfect example in his response, titled "The Opposite of Universal" to a blog by the founder of WoolyPigs, farmer Heath Putnam, in a blog titled "The Opposite of Universal." Heath had expressed a few counterpoints to the local food movement that proved relatively, er, unpopular. In short, he expressed disappointment that his hand-crafted heritage pork had been turned away from some restaurants or markets because it wasn't deemed "local" enough (he is from Washington, he speaks of some restauranteurs in California).

In my view, what's inane is eating raspberries from California in Toronto and then seeing raspberries from Toronto for sale in California later the same week. Jay takes the conversation to a new level by providing a definition of local that transcends geography and instead supports the idea that eating local means eating food that "comes from somewhere, that introduces you to someone." I like that kind of thinking.

Anyone Know How To Fix That Image?

Why won't the photo in our logo area above align to the left? It used to look just fine but now, well, it's off to the right. If you can help, I'd be grateful :-)

Here's the original photo - 75% Black Angus, 25% Limousin (pregnant) cows from Peace Valley Ranch.

Aren't they gorgeous?

What's The Point If You Can't Have Fun?

Well, I'm going to be a bit honest here... While my friends in the San Francisco area were enjoying 75 degree weather and enjoying their local farmers' markets, we were busy digging ourselves out from yet another snow storm. Working on breaking a 1939 record or so I hear. We had a blast with our neighbors, who called to say we were all snowed in (thanks to a mean-spirited plowman who left a 3 1/2 foot ridge of ice at the foot of our driveways), let's get together an eat whatever's in our refrigerators. It was hilarious. They brought two pasta appetizers (gnocchi with blue cheese sauce, spaghetti al forno), we had wet-aged Black Angus NY steaks with a balsamic thyme shallot sauce topped with buttermilk battered onion rings plus a green salad with toasted pecans and avocado. For dessert, we had homemade caramel-poached pears on vanilla ice cream. Not bad, eh?

The problem was that we also drank 4 bottles of wine and half a bottle of Grey Goose vodka (neighbor Ron's favorite). Somewhere into the second bottle (and after a lovely shaken martini), I was deep fat frying the onion rings. Unfortunately, I was apparently using a pot that wasn't deep enough for the festivities. Peanut oil spewed out of the pan and onto the stove and floor (and our clothes). Ever the calm one in an emergency, I simply stated "I'll go get the fire extinguisher" to which my husband said, "It's not going to catch on fire." Two seconds go by and.... Whooof. The whole stovetop is aflame. We tamped it down without the extinguisher, what a mess. We're still laughing about it today (while we all shoveled out yet again after another foot of snow).

Tonight, I think we'll have, hmmmm....

Bananas Foster!

Great Steak - Even When Your Grill is Buried in Snow

Okay, a bit of a departure, let's have a little fun.

The problem? A friend in the San Francisco area said it was raining this winter "like he should build an ark....".

In the meantime, we had a related problem. (Yes, I was the one that left the cover off overnight. Found 2 weeks later and 20 feet away after a thaw.)

The Solution? The cast iron pan and this fabulous recipe.


Sugar and Ancho Rubbed Steak with Blue Cheese Tossed Salad



2 NY Strip Loin or Rib-Eye Steaks, at least 1" thick, preferably Dry-Aged*
4 T Demerara or finely ground Turbinado (brown) sugar
1 1/2 t. fresh cracked Black Pepper (Tellicherry if you have it)
1 t. Kosher or Sea Salt (medium to heavy grind)
1/4 t. ground dried Ancho or Chipotle Chili (optional)

Bring steaks to room temperature and pat dry with paper towel. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Combine the sugar, pepper, salt, and ground chili and press onto both sides of each steak. Do this right before cooking to prevent the sugar from turning syrupy.

Heat cast iron pan on medium high. (An ovenproof non-stick pan will also work, though you may not get as good a crust on the steaks.) Sear the steaks on one side until you get a nice brown crust, about 5 minutes. Flip the steaks to brown the other side, about 2 minutes. If steaks are thicker than 1" thick, finish them in the oven using the same pan. Best served rare (120 degrees F).

Note: Turn on your fan, the steaks can smoke quite a bit. Also, do not touch the brown sugar coating as it gets very hot as it caramelizes.

Remove steaks from oven and let rest on plate or carving board for 5 minutes. Angle slice. Serve with a tossed green salad ideally topped with good quality blue cheese, red or yellow grape tomatoes, and a warmed olive oil, red wine vinegar vinaigrette.

* Of course I recommend steaks from The Oliver Ranch Company marketplace, but no matter, look for a genuinely natural (esp. no growth stimulants) or organic steak from any trusted source. We find this recipe particularly sublime with dry-aged beef but it's also great with beef that's been wet-aged at least 14 days.