'Good meat' makes for delicious dinners
It's getting harder these days to ignore the conditions under which much of our meat and poultry is raised, and the resulting impacts on our health and our environment. My response has been to buy as much local meat and poultry as possible, and — because it is often more expensive than supermarket meat — to eat less of it. This seems like a reasonable approach and has led to several good outcomes: encounters at our local farmers market with previously unknown-to-me cuts (pork belly, lamb ribs, goat sausage); less waste; and diet truly varied with more vegetables, grains, legumes and fruit.
I've also met more local farmers, and much of my food, while it is still foraging in the pasture. We call the locally grown, pasture-fed pigs, cattle, lambs and chickens in our freezer “happy meat.” Cookbook author Deborah Krasner calls it “Good Meat” in her new book of the same name (2010 Stewart, Tabori & Chang).
This is not a book for the faint of heart. Omnivores raised on sanitized, shrink-wrapped cuts of meat displayed in the supermarket may quail at the juxtaposition of a pair of pigs nuzzling together on one page and a side of raw pork on another. Even hardened carnivores might feel squeamish about recipes for pork heart, beef testicles and rabbit kidneys.
When you think about it, this is what the dinner plate looked like in the past, and what it may look like in the future, too. If we want meat that can be raised sustainably — animals raised on pasture, producing manure that feeds the soil and helps nurture a diverse ecosystem — we should learn to use all of it.
You may opine that it is not possible to find sources for “good meat” in your area. You may be right; but try looking a little harder. Check out farmers' markets, specialty stores, CSAs (community-supported agriculture) and other farm-to-plate programs. Think about growing your own. Even in places like Brooklyn, N.Y., The New York Times reports, residents are raising chickens.
As for the affordability, you may have to rethink your food budget. Consider what it is worth to you to feed your family meat that has been raised humanely, and ecologically, without unnecessary antibiotics or growth hormones. Consider eating less meat.
Because nearly everyone, it seems, lives within spitting distance of someone who is raising chickens, and because environmentally friendly chicken-friendly farms are springing up thither and yon, I have chosen a recipe for a simple chicken dish from Krasner's book. If you can't get true pasture-raised chickens, buy organic chickens — not the same as pasture-raised but Krasner calls them “reasonable quality birds.”
But if you really want to get into the nitty-gritty, you'll buy the book and experiment with pig ears and tails, beef suet, goose fat and chicken feet. Remember, it's all “happy meat.”
• Marialisa Calta is the author of “Barbarians at the Plate: Taming and Feeding the American Family” (2005 Perigee). More at marialisacalta.com.