Last Spring, a quest for fresh eggs brought my husband and me to a box of chirping chicks.  By late Spring, the chicks had taken up residence in a bright blue chicken coop in our yard in a North Seattle neighborhood.  They grew rapidly, and I dreamed of fresh eggs, shirred, scrambled and coddled. But there was a little problem. One of the hens turned out not to be a hen at all, but a loud, boisterous rooster.  My husband, a mild-mannered software engineer, first considered putting the rooster up for adoption.  But we soon realized that no one wants to keep a loud, menacing rooster around. As he crowed through our neighbor’s fourth of July BBQ party, we deliberated and came to the conclusion that the it would be best to kill and eat the rooster. Here is how we did it. (warning, graphic content below)

Jonathan the butcher, the Rhode Island “Not-a-Hen” Chicken, and our homemade kill station comprised of a ladder with an inverted traffic cone and a bucket.

Putting the bird in the cone, head first. The cone calms the bird and prevents it from bruising itself while struggling.

Guiding the head through the cone to expose the neck. Jonathan makes a swift slice at the jugular with a small paring knife and steadies the bird during its death spasms.

Done with the hardest part, Jonathan and his first kill.

Here, Jonathan scalds the bird in hot water and quickly plunges it into ice water to loosen the feathers. The feathers come out easily afterward. The bird should more or less resemble what you buy from the supermarkets at this point (plus a few parts).

For more information on how to butcher a chicken, click here.

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Categories:	Meat & Poultry • Technique • Uncategorized	2 Comments
Tags:	chicken butchering • sustainability

My father-in-law, Chuck, probably eats more sustainably and locally than the average person. He hunts, he fishes, he raises chickens and goats, and his wife grows a lively garden. When my husband and I visit we eat elk that he shot. In the morning it’s the most perfect omelets made of eggs from their chickens. They serve truly delicious and nutritious food. The fact that it’s all produced by their efforts makes it even better.

When my in-laws were newlyweds with a pair of twins on the way, one of them being my husband, times were tough. Chuck had a cast up to his thigh from a work accident, and the newlyweds were low on funds. So, the resourceful man that he is, Chuck took his rifle and a kitchen knife (he couldn’t locate his hunting knife) and had his 6 month pregnant wife drive him to the edge of a cabbage field. A farmer there had been complaining that moose were eating his cabbages.

For awhile Chuck attempted to hunt in his usual fashion, but with a leg in a cast and unable to bend his knee, it just wasn’t working. He took up watch in a dried up pond behind some saplings and waited. After a time, he heard a branch snap and caught a glimpse through the bushes—it was a bull moose! It was a difficult shot, the moose was hidden behind willows and his vitals behind a tree trunk. Through one of the luckiest shots he killed it cleanly, hitting the base of the neck and narrowly missing a nearby cow moose (which was illegal game). It’s a harrowing tale, only he can give it the justice it deserves.

That moose fed his family for a long time. A bull moose can produce anywhere from 300-600+ lbs. of mild, lean meat. My husband told me that growing up he and his brothers used to joke that the moose in the freezer somehow kept reproducing. That’s how long it can feed a family. Let’s just hope it wasn’t the same moose that their father shot before they were born.

If you can get game meat either yourself or through a friend, it would be an even better choice than buying a share of a cow. To quote Chuck, “There’s nothing more sustainable and local than taking your bow and arrow and harvesting a bull moose.” And yes, he often hunts with a bow and arrow, how awesome is that?

Oh and the plural is ‘moose’, I checked. I always hoped it was meese.

Photo by vigour

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Categories:	Meat & Poultry	1 Comment
Tags:	meat

I’m not a picky eater by any means, but for some reason I’ve never exclaimed, “Gee, I could really go for some goat tonight!” as I do with, say, lamb. Perhaps that’s because when I was twelve the farm that my parents moved us to came with a goat named Nanny. That shouldn’t have dissuaded me though – I also had a French Lop Ear rabbit named Nicholas, and I’ve eaten rabbit (albeit not too excitedly). We had chickens – I eat chicken. And I had a beloved horse named Pronto. You see where I’m going with this. In my defense, I had no idea I was eating horse. When I asked our waiter in Paris what kind of meat it was he made a sound I took more as a baaaa than a whinny. Sorry, Pronto, clearly I need tutelage in international animal sounds.

Back to the goat.

Barnaby finally convinced me to give it a try. I actually had tried goat once before and, though Nanny never won many points with me due to her frequent need to make hard contact with her horns and my rear end, I found it too gamey, a taste that always stayed with me. But he purchase some high-quality, grass fed goat from Thundering Hooves and I was won over. As with our other grass fed meats it was incredibly flavorful and tender.  We slow cooked a shank all day with white wine, rosemary, garlic and Alubia Criollo beans, a white Spanish runner bean with an amazing rich and creamy flavor. When we got home we were greeted with the heavenly aromas of wine, rosemary and garlic. The beans, a wonderful heirloom variety from Rancho Gordo (my new favorite bean purveyor), were perfectly cooked, the goat meat falling off the shank in delicate morsels.

A memorable meal indeed.

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Categories:	Meat & Poultry • Uncategorized	1 Comment
Tags:	alubia criollo beans • beans • easy dinner • flageolet beans • goat • goat shank • grass fed • meat • rancho gordo • slow cooking • stew • thundering hooves

Most people say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Barnaby apparently thought it was the other way around as he’s been feeding me delicious meal after meal for nearly nine years. Not that I would have packed it up and headed out if he didn’t feed me so well, for he had me at “paella” (the first dish he cooked for me).

One of the first I’ll-throw-something-together dinners he made me on a rainy Friday evening was this beef filled pita with lemony tahini, tomatoes, avocado and sprouts. An oh so tasty sandwich that combines the flavors of the Middle East with a bit of Berkeley (I always associate sprouts with the famous hippie city!), all wrapped up in a whole wheat pita. Great with an ice cold beer and a good movie.

Click below for the full recipe:

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Categories:	Meat & Poultry • Middle Eastern • condiments	2 Comments
Tags:	avocado • beef • easy • easy dinner • sandwich • sesame tahini • sprouts • tahini • tomato

This weekend I had the epitome of a “staycation.” No plans except to sleep in, cook good food and watch the second season of Mad Men with Mark. On Sunday night we decided to open up a great bottle of syrah and slow cook a pork belly with a homemade huckleberry sauce. We had gone to the Sunday farmers market earlier in the morning and purchased a pint of foraged huckleberries from Christina Choi at Foraged and Found Edibles. The berries were plump and glistening, looking like violet caviar, simply perfect for a thick piece of pork belly.

We roasted some golden beets and Ozette potatoes we had purchased from another vendor to add to our pork belly. After searing the pork belly on all sides, I removed it from the heat and set it aside. Next I added 1/4 cup of finely chopped shallots and sauteed them over medium-high heat with a good pinch of salt and pepper. I deglazed with some balsamic vinegar and syrah wine. Next I added 1 cup of wild huckleberries, 1/2 sprig of fresh rosemary, two fresh sage leaves, a fresh oregano sprig, two garlic cloves that were smashed only slightly and a sprinkling of brown sugar.

I brought the pan to a simmer and let the sauce work it’s magic for a couple minutes. Next I added the seared pork belly back to the sauce, covered it and let it cook at 300 F for almost two hours, turning the meat half way through cooking. Once the meat was more than fork-tender, I removed the pan from the oven and onto a plate. I covered the pork in the sauce and sprinkled on another handful of the uncooked huckleberries for color and a nice tang to balance flavors.

The result was rich, juicy and over the top indulgent; absolutely perfect for a weekend all to ourselves.

For the whole recipe for Pork Belly with Wild Huckleberry Sauce go here:

Can’t get enough of pork belly, check out these other recipes:

Cucina Rebecca

Cook it Simply

Wrightfood

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Categories:	American • Cooking tips • Entertaining • Meat & Poultry • Sauces • condiments • wine	2 Comments
Tags:	huckleberries • pork • pork belly • staycation • syrah

So much bacon, so little time. Why is the world obsessed with this greasy side of pork? Everything from Bacon Maple Bars to Baconnaise, bacon has found its way into our hearts and into a million and one recipes. What do you plan to make with bacon today?

One of my personal favorites, Bacon Vinaigrette, turning a very healthy salad into a flavor explosion!

Meatloaf Cupcakes with Bacon Sprinkles!

Need More Bacon?!
International Bacon Day Blog
Keep on Bacon on, with The Bacon Show, one bacon recipe per day, every day!
Bacon Ice Cream! By David Lebovitz
Maple Bacon Cupcakes, by Vanilla Garlic

Above photo by: Chotda

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Categories:	Entertaining • Meat & Poultry • breakfast	1 Comment
Tags:	bacon • international bacon day • national bacon day

Isn’t it apropos that the gateway meat has it’s own day? And that day is today. So to help you get your pork on we’ve compiled a list of the piggy-licious, the pork-tastic, and well, some things that just made us snort (and not in a good way)…

• Bacon Haikus (giggle!)
• Bacon Salt, the never ending quest to make everything taste like bacon
• Bacon Cupcakes from Buzz Bakery on Cupcakes Take The Cake
• Hardening of the arteries via Paula Deen: Lady’s Brunch Burger (snort!)
• The Bacon Show: One bacon recipe per day, every day, forever (bless you, Bacon Show, bless you)
• Homemade Bacon Vodka
• The Bacon Cocktail
• David Lebovitz’s Candied Bacon Ice Cream
• The Bacon Cookbook: More Than 150 Recipes from Around the World for Everyone’s Favorite Food
• Seduced By Bacon: Recipes and Lore about America’s Favorite Indulgence
• Forget that new car smell! Now there’s Bacon Air Freshener (snort!)
• But nothing beats a good old B.L.T

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Categories:	Meat & Poultry	6 Comments
Tags:	bacon • bacon cocktail • bacon ice cream • bacon recipe • bacon salt • BLT • international bacon day

Move over, Colonel Sanders, there’s a new fried chicken in town! Actually, it’s not new at all but it may be new to you. Chicken Karaage (or simply Karaage) is Japanese fried chicken. When I lived in Japan, every Saturday night after work I went to my favorite little izakaya (a Japanese pub that serves small bites) and ordered karaage – along with an assortment of yakitori, homemade tofu, and whatever fresh sashimi was on the menu.

Typically made with thigh meat, karaage are tender, juicy nuggets with a light and crispy exterior. The perfect pairing with this dish? A tall glass of ice cold beer. Give it a dash of Shichimi Togarashi spice (a blend of seven Japanese spices) and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and this chicken dish will surely become a family favorite.

Click below for the easy recipe:

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Categories:	Cooking tips • Japanese • Meat & Poultry	4 Comments
Tags:	chicken • easy dinner • fried chicken • Japanese • karaage • meat • poultry

I love a good sauce on my steak. A vinegary chimichurri, a freshly made pesto, even just a simple drizzle of truffle oil or citrus juice to finish it off. Last night we had a Sunday steak dinner that could not have been more lovely. We sailed up to Port Madison, a charming little spot on the northern edge of Bainbridge Island, and dropped anchor. We fired up the grill, threw our skirt steak on, opened a nice bottle of wine, and sat back to watch the sunset…

Though our delicious Thundering Hooves grass fed beef needed minimal seasoning, we mixed up a nice Lemon Scallion Butter Sauce to even further brighten up the flavors of the meat. We sautéed garlic, scallions, and the zest of a lemon in a bit of olive oil. Once the flavors had sufficiently infused the oil we blended in some butter, then spooned the tasty sauce on top of the steak (it would also be wonderful on grilled chicken or fish).

Darn it anyway that Monday came around! At 6:30 a.m. this morning we pulled anchor and set sail back to Seattle and the Foodista offices. (Note to self: get wireless Internet so we can work from boat).

Here’s our sauce recipe:

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Categories:	Meat & Poultry • Sauces • Uncategorized • condiments	Leave a Comment
Tags:	beef • butter • citurs • grass fed beef • lemon butter • lemon sauce • Lemons • sauce • skirt steak • thundering hooves

Normally I steer clear of chicken breasts as they all too often come out dry and boring. I’m a dark meat girl. Give me a hunky juicy thigh and I am in heaven. But I was pleasantly surprised by the tender juiciness of the chicken breasts my aunt made the other night.

As her sous chef I was instructed to do the stuffing. We made a paste with garlic and kosher salt and had a pile of fresh fragrant cilantro. I sliced the breasts almost through and liberally stuffed them with the garlic paste and freshly chopped cilantro (you could also substitute Italian parsley or basil if you aren’t a cilantro fan). Then we pan fried them in a bit of olive oil. To finish them off we squeezed fresh lemon juice on top and sprinkled on some lemon zest.

Easy. Delicious. And, yes, they were juicy! Dark meat girl was sold.

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Categories:	Cooking tips • Meat & Poultry	3 Comments
Tags:	chicken • chicken breasts • cilantro • garlic • lemon