CADE (Part 2): The Good Slaughter: A Proud Meat Cutter Shares His Processing Floor from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.

 
The piece that Food Curated has done about Upstate New York butcher, Larry Althiser, is probably the best piece of meat journalism we’ve ever seen. Althiser has been a butcher for more than thirty years and Food Curated made the trip to his newly-opened slaughterhouse in an open-minded effort to really understand and appreciate what it means when a steak lands on a plate in front of you.

Even for inveterate meat-eaters like ourselves, standing in front of the butcher’s case at the local store gives us pause. Knowing that an animal was raised and slaughtered humanely is a bit of comfort and informs the appreciation of the meal that we’re about to enjoy. So in a world of processed and packed food, this is the kind of story that really brings to light what food means, how it got to you and why you should appreciate it. And the passion and humility that Althiser displays—for doing his job well and humanely—is a credit to artisan butchers and slaughterhouses.

Food Curated also spent some time with Chris Harmon, the director of The Center for Agricultural Development and Entrepreneurship (CADE) and did a great piece about the support that CADE is giving to farmers in Upstate New York.

Definitely check out Food Curated’s site for the full story and let’s hope we see more meat journalism like this.

The folks at NJ.com have gathered some really valuable Halloween costume advice from their local butchers: don’t wear a meat dress like Lady Gaga. Among the concerns: sanitary issues, sewing challenges, hypothermia risks and more…

That said, please let us know if you’re planning a meat related Halloween costume. If you do go the Gaga meat dress route, we’d recommend appropriate cuts of skirt and/or flank steaks. And remember that less is more. Think Vogue cover, not VMAs. Those boots Gaga wore at the awards were the meat dress equivalent of double denim.

We get a little rambunctious in the test kitchen on Monday nights sometimes. Wondering what to do with some Long Meadow Ranch Chateaubriand steaks, for some reason we thought of caffeine. Maybe it was our sleep deprived state, but it seemed like a good idea to rub the grass-fed beef with fresh-ground coffee.

Long Meadow Ranch meat has a nice full-flavor. All of the ranch’s herds graze on grassy hills in Northern California (and no doubt, would be happier than Kobe cattle with the nearby dispensaries, but that is not the grass they are eating). The purebred Highland cattle are a might more diminutive than the monsters of Omaha, and so, most cuts are on the smaller side, but the meat is rich and tender (you can get yours here if you’d like to sample) and has been featured at the likes of Chez Panisse.

One thing Alice Waters likely never did with the beef is rub it with coffee. And this is probably for good reason, we found. (Again, we blame sleep deprivation for our thinking this was a good idea.) Obliviously on we sailed, spooning about about a tablespoon of course ground dark roast onto our cutting board. We swirled in some cumin and sea salt with a knife (the steak had already been treated with kosher salt and coarse ground pepper), and then rubbed the mixture into the meat sparingly (for we already realized this was a bad idea).

The resulting steaks had a nice crust, but suffice to say, the charred grinds did not, to our tastes, do much for the beef. There was a zippy tang that could have been nice in come circumstances (we’ll try a little with honey on a burger at some point), but distracted from the wood smoke and, we must admit, was a bit nauseating. Not extremely nauseating mind you, but even moderately nauseating is not the reaction we were going for.

GIPSA (The Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration), reacting to the 2008 Farm Bill that required it to clarify the nearly 90-year-old Packers and Stockyards Act, has proposed new rules that will affect producers.

The proposal now puts strict limitations on packer-to-packer sales and institutes guidelines on preferential pricing. Proponents say this will increase competition and create a more transparent marketplace.

Some opponents claim the rule could lead to a litigious industry and make an argument that might sound familiar to anyone who’s ever heard the rhetoric at a Tea Party rally. It’s about big government coming in and telling you what to do with your cattle, they say. Funny how these same folks aren’t as concerned when large industrial farms get fat government subsidies allowing them to keep prices low.

GIPSA has extended the comments period on this matter until November 23. Producers may submit comments to comments.gipsa@usda.gov.

Thursday, two senators from Idaho, Mike Crapo (R) and James E. Risch (R) filed a letter (below and PDF here) urging the Department of Agriculture to reconsider the GIPSA rule. The two charge the rule goes beyond what was required by the Farm Bill. Incredibly, the senators, while conceding the rules are designed to target large producers, make the argument that they will “detrimentally affect the small to medium sized vertically integrated packers across the nation.”

We are sure that these two are not beholden to agri-business at all and that they are sincerely looking out for the little guy. Now let us wipe the placenta out of our eyes because we were just born.

Manhattan meat temple Maloney & Porcelli has devised an ingenious recession-proof way to continue eating white-tablecloth lunches on your company, while your company will merely believe you’re just buying glue sticks. Type the cost of your lunch into their Expense-a-Steak generator and the site will pull receipts from innocuous spots like Staples and taxi cabs that add up to the cost of your lunch and compile them into an easy to print PDF. This is the kind of meat innovation we like to see.

Well, here is a newsflash: Eating red meat every day decreases your life expectancy. Thank you, doctors. A new study, which followed more than 500,000 middle-age and elderly people for 10 years, found that the meat eaters were 30 percent more likely to die over the course of the study. We have a reaction: They died happy. We also can’t help but marvel at the time and expense put into a study to tell people something they probably already knew and also probably don’t care about anyway. If you want to eat red meat, you are going to eat red meat. Or you can live a life of quiet desperation, picking at sprouts and hoping that you’ve earned a couple of extra years of hobbling around on your frail bones and shitting in your pants.

Then there is this asshole Barry M. Popkin, a professor of global nutrition at the University of North Carolina, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study. He said, “This is a slam-dunk to say that, ‘Yes, indeed, if people want to be healthy and live longer, consume less red and processed meat.’ ” Since when are processed meat and red meat the same fucking thing?

When reached for comment The American Meat Institute’s James H. Hodges said, basically, “Fuck you, study.”

OK. In all fairness. The study encourages eating more chicken and white meat (pork doesn’t count in their book—sorry Pork Council and SaskPork—but fish is good). Nonetheless, it’s still patently absurd. Eating quality red meat in moderation is part of a healthy diet

The methodology of the study, as reported by the Washington Post was thus:

For the study, researchers analyzed data from 545,653 predominantly white volunteers, ages 50 to 71, participating in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. In 1995, the subjects filled out detailed questionnaires about their diets, including meat consumption. Over the next 10 years, 47,976 men and 23,276 women died.

The eating habits of participants in the study were self-reported, and as such unreliable. How many of the 30 percent who died counted a Big Mac as red meat? Maybe the meat eaters were just more adventurous and engaged in more risky behavior in general — honestly, what sort of person doesn’t eat any red meat? — and that’s why they were more likely to die. Maybe older participants were more likely to eat meat. Also, if you are dumb enough to eat red meat every day, you deserve to die.

One passage in the forthcoming book from Taschen “A History of Advertising” tells the story of the meat heroes from Leo Burnett. In 1940 the company won the account of The American Meat Institute. After the win (it’s first with a million-dollar budget), three of the agency’s staffers drove coast-to-coast in the LB truck to determine the best way to get their countrymen to sharpen their incisors. With the nation distracted by war, Leo Burnett launched a courageous print campaign aiming to win the hearts and stomaches of Americans. Placing images taken by legendary food photographer Harney Isham Willaims against a deep red background the campaign even coined a now common printing term. “What would happen if you put a piece of red meat on a red background?” asked Leo Burnett. “This was inherent drama,” he said. “It just intensified the red concept and the virility we were trying to express about meat.” While the above ad showing a standing rib roast of prime beef from the effort is a looker, it’s one of the more restrained spots from the campaign. Others again and again repeated the word “Meat” as a headline, with feverish obsession. From 1944 to 1947 Burnett ran the ads, printed “full-bleed” (this is the origin of the term) in all their scarlet glory with no white frame around them, in newspapers and magazines.

Wouldn’t life be even more awesome if you could eat your way up the creamy gorgonzola capped peaks of a Tri Tip, base-jump from the summit with a tortilla for a chute and make a splash in the savory juices of a gravy river? Then perhaps it’s time you took a lesson in nutritional geography from the fine folks at The National Cattleman’s Beef Association who proudly present “Powerful Beefscapes,” six breathtaking vistas made almost entirely of meat. In this magical “Land of Lean Beef” you can have your ground with a side of rocks and maybe a tree or two while relishing – according to the press release – “the qualities unique to beef: passion, protein and strength.” Think flavor country, but for your feedbag and here, the only thing being smoked is the whole goddamn landscape – if that’s your thing anyway. For in this vast terrain of beef, there’s more than enough room for grilled, pan-seared and roasted, too. So go on, loosen your belt and indulge your bottomless appetite with your newfound freedom from the scourges of fat. It’s the American Dream airbrushed and larger than life. Meat porn to make you suck back a line of spittle and gnash your teeth with anticipation. Evocative full color spreads awakening a hunger that no ordinary meal can ever hope to sate. Give me a coastline of rare steak and don’t even think of putting it on a plate. When I’m finished I’m going to swallow the sun for dessert then sink into my couch, the very picture of health. And if you’re still searching for more fodder to arouse your carnal-ivorous desires, contact the aptly named Meghan Pusey (mpusey@beef.org) for hi-res images (suitable for framing or wallpapering your den) and recipes so you can create small-scale replicas to enjoy in the privacy of your home. Just don’t get any on you. Some stains are impossible to get out. -Scott J Lachut

More beefy vistas and the Butcher speaks after the jump.

Some in the media industry see this as just another food industry fiasco. They might not be quite as susceptible to the dulcet tones of Matthew Mcconaughey’s voice as are the stocky well-fed women of middle America.

Chick-fil-A, a purveyor of pressed and processed chicken parts, has been trying to take down purveyors of pressed and processed beef with its “Cows” campaign since 1995 — when it ran an outdoor campaign featuring two cows painting the words “Eat Mor Chikin” on billboards. Ever since, they’ve adopted the Holstein cows (typically milk cows which are used for low-grade beef when they run dry) as company mascots. Ten years and going strong, but the anthropomorphic bovines are reaching new levels of disturbing with a give-away calender modeled after “Rolling Stone” and featuring cows in guises as various rock acts such as the white-suited Brisket Inferno or the glam metal Slaughterhaus crooning “Every Chicken Has Its Bun.” Perhaps the most atrocious is the alluringly big-uttered Spicy Skirtsteak singing “Gimme Chicken One More Time.” The whole thing sort of makes us lose our appetites, so we’re just going to ogle the grill-on-grill porn accompanying Josh Ozersky’s truly illuminating “What a Grill Wants” guide in “New York” magazine this week (complete with a thought-provoking heat vs. time comment debate–seriously people, let the man do his job). There could be few better tributes to Clay Felker than being on the cover of an issue with such an insightful (but still really simple, as grilling should be) hot charcoal tips. That’s how we’d like to be remembered.

This is how the butcher does up some dogs for the fourth. Of course, this is just the tip of the Titanic iceberg, the way to wash down a few starter dogs and the preamble to some late-night dogs. Pictured: Boar’s Head all beef dogs with the nice snap, some fresh black and tans (pork and beef blend) carrying a decent char, turkey dogs and ball park franks as well as the Bubba Burger chaser. The gourmet German black and tans from the butcher’s counter at Schiavoni’e in Sag Harbor, as usual, represent a highlight of this Dogaganza. An all-beef hot dog is one thing, but the blend of beef of pork really takes the dog somewhere special — a harmonious convergence of flavor, texture and color achieved in no other frankfurter combination. This mighty culinary creation very nearly excuses the abomination that occurred later that night. After winding down the evening Wolfie’s style, something massive was called for. Something understated. Something tasteful. Something that showcased a bit of creativity and lent some variety to the 4 a.m. all-beef reinforcements: Turkey dogs wrapped in turkey bacon and slow grilled, of course. So it was awful, but ladies and gentlemen, we nonetheless present you with the Turdogen.