Text 7050, 174 rader
Skriven 2006-10-29 05:32:24 av Ian Hoare (1:275/311)
Kommentar till en text av Dale Shipp
Ärende: Re: Misc. Commentary
============================
Hi again Dale,
on Sun, 29 Oct 2006 00:18:02 -0500, you said:-
> -=> On 10-28-06 11:36, Ian Hoare <=-
> And your comments on American chickens ... :-}}
Don't ask. I'll not say anything about the flavour. What _really_ makes me
see red on your behalf, is that chicken factories are so constructed and
organised that salmonella is to be expected in eggs in the USA, so much so
that there is a market for "egg beaters" and a whole raft of legislation
designed to "protect" the public from something that a) should never have
existed in the first place and b) could be cured tomorrow by inocculation.
And PETA gets their collective undergarments in a twist about Foie Gras!!!!!
> IH> We normally buy free range pork from a farm in the hills not far from
>
> Assuming that you like it (as is obvious), you are fortunate.
Yes we are. Very. In the UK in big towns the market for free range and
"Organic" food is such that it's easier to obtain there then here. Of
course, historically, things got far worse in the UK than it ever did here,
so the "bounce back" is more pronounced there. But you know, it's not just
us that prefer our pork like that. We pretty often do a sort of "pot roast"
(OK, I know the rules - it comes later) of pork taking a boneless joint from
the extension of the loin just behind the shoulder blade. We call that the
"Echine" here. When we serve that to our guests they nearly always exclaim
at how delicious the actual meat flavour is. "I'd forgotten how tasty pork
can be."
> wonder how common it is to have that available.
I think that most towns will have at least one shop where something of that
quality is available. However, it's more expensive, obviously. Sometimes
much more. As you know, my view is that it's not necessary to have a piece
of meat that's larger than the plate, and would prefer to have half the
quantity, but where the animal lived a decent life, died humanely and the
meat tastes wonderful. A successful democracy is - surely - not just about
the freedom of choice, but having reasonable access to the whole range of
possibilities.
> Just how free are they? Barn yard fence? Pasture? Completely free range?
(but then
> what would the neighbors say?)
They live in mixed woodland and pasture. Obviously fenced in, but their
origins are such that they do love a good rootle around in woodland.
> I suspect that some American pork is grown in the same sort of
> confined quarters that battery chickens are
95% of French pork is grown like that too. Don't get me wrong. I'm not
saying that everything here is wonderful and healthy, and everything chez
vous is foul and exploitative. Far from it. A technique developed in one
part of the world that allows factories to increase income and have a
product that's acceptable to 90% of the public there, will find enthusiastic
converts elsewhere.
> but I also have a sense of a farm with a few pigs rumaging around in a wallow
outside
> the barn, with shelter available when they want it. No way of knowing which
is the dominant scenario.
I think in all industrialised countries, it's from 70-90% the "battery"
scenario, though that said, in the UK, there's a significant revolt against
it. You might like to look at http://forum.rivercottage.net/ where there's a
level of knowledge about growing and producing ones own food that's
positively amazing. And that includes talking about pigs. Actually I may be
maligning the US in saying you're that different. I mustn't forget that
there are huge tracts of rural USA. When we were in Tennessee, we were
present at the "hog killing" on Thanksgiving Day.
> IH> but not the dark purply-red as properly hung beef. In flavour I'd
>
> The phrase "properly hung beef" wonders me. I can recall seeing
> poultry hanging in the open air of a butcher shop in England -- and
> being somewhat put off by the thought. Do you mean something like
> that?
You may have seen Glen & I sort of skirting round the subject. Most meats
improve by being hung for a time after slaughter. The more intact the animal
can be, the better the flavour - within reason. So the best flavoured beef
comes when the animals are hung as quarters. There's a trend towards "aging"
under vacuum. I don't like the results it gives. Certainly the meat is
tender, but it doesn't develop the flavour properly and it also doesn't lose
excess moisture.
What happens in an abattoir is that the steers - after being stunned - are
hung by their hind legs, and then have their throats cut, to ensure that
they're bled while still alive. They are then skinned and gutted and the
cavity washed by high pressure hoses (a bad thing actually) and then after
their heads are removed, they are split along the spine, with a special saw
(nowadays the spinal cord is immediately removed - prions).
In Europe, each half carcase is then split to give forequarters and
hindquarters, and these are hung, by hooks that go between the achilles
tendon and the bone, in cold rooms. In the USA, I think you hang half or
whole carcases. Ideally, beef carcases will be left alone for 3 weeks before
being cut down further and sold. The important point to note is that this
hanging is done in cold rooms under temperature control and away from flies.
Before the UK joined the EU, yes, we used to hang poultry in its feathers
undrawn for quite a while outside butchers' shops. This is in winter, of
course and the air temperature wouldn't be too high. This hanging greatly
improved the flavour, and because the birds were neither drawn nor plucked,
there was no path for bacteria to enter the meat. Nowadays, with birds
plucked immediately after bleeding (hot water bath) and then drawn
immediately again, they can't be safely hung as long.
Game birds, if well killed, are still hung undrawn and unplucked. Furred
game is also almost always hung properly, because it's inedibly tough
otherwise. If it's not hing then it certainly has to be marinated. Depending
upon the age of the animal, you may need to do both!!
> Now that I think about it, for what species is the male smaller than
> the female?
Quite a few - but not all - birds, many reptiles, most insects, I think, and
quite a few fishes.
> However, I'd be more interested in examples among things I might
> consider eating.
err. Frogs?
Here's the pork recipe
@@@@@ Now You're Cooking! Export Format
Pork In The Vosges Style (Porc a La Vosgienne)
casseroles, french, fruits, main dish, pork
1 1/2 kg loin of pork; boneless
120 gm butter; divided
250 ml white wine
3 large onions; sliced
500 gm mirabelles
100 ml beef or veal stock
1 salt & pepper
Skin, bone and roll the loin of pork. Brown it very gently on all sides in
a casserole in a quarter of the butter. Pour off excess fat, and add the
white wine, bring to the boil, boil a couple of minutes to eliminate the
alcohol, then season lightly, cover and simmer, either on top of the stove,
or in a pre-heated moderate oven (300F 150C Gas 2) for 40 mins per pound
oven ready weight.
Meanwhile, stew the onions in half of the butter without browning them,
until very soft. Season lightly. Set aside. Remove the stalks from the
mirabelles, wash them and cook them in a minimum of water with a sprinkling
of sugar until soft (around 2-3 mins). Drain, retaining the cooking
liquor. When the pork is cooked, skim surplus fat from the cooking juices.
Add the mirabelle cooking liquor and the stock. Boil up hard and reduce
well.
Just before dishing, reheat mirabelles and onion. Make a bed of onion in
the centre of a large dish, slice the pork and lay it on the onion bed, and
surround with the mirabelles. Keep warm. Finish the sauce by seasoning it
(plenty of pepper) and off the heat, whisking in the remaining quarter of
the butter. Pour some over the meat, dish the rest separately, although
there should not be a lot.
Yield: 6 servings
** Exported from Now You're Cooking! v5.74 **
Bon appetit
Ian in Forges
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