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First Aired - 10/27/2009 02:00PM
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In Part II of Out To Pasture, Nelson Harvey reports on the shortage of slaughterhouses in New York State, a unique service that connects farmers to independent custom slaughterhouses, and the challenges facing small butchers struggling to make ends meet.
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Addressing The Slaughterhouse Shortage in NY State (9:10)
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butchery, meat economy, shortage of slaughterhouses in NY state, slaughtering and butchering animals for a living, transformation of Mulberry Street, Thomas DeVoe, in 1830's Mulberry Street was known as Slaughter House Street, until late 1800's you couldn't refrigerate meat, had to slaughter animal very near where it was being consumed, people were locavores by necessity, privatization of slaughterhouses, Gustavus Swift helped speed the departure of slaughterhouses in New York, Swift's prices were so low because he shipped dead animals as opposed to live animals, economies of scale, Henry Ford conceived of his idea for assembly lines from Swift's butchery lines, Swift pushed small slaughterhouses out of business, acceleration and consolidation of meat industry, in meat industry it pays to be big, number of federally certified slaughter houses fell by 200 between 2001 and 2005, wave of consolidation has left local slaughterhouse industry in tatters, wait times for a farmer to get a kill time in a NY slaughter house can be as long as six months,Kathleen Harris on the Northeast Livestock Processing Service Company (10:30)
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Kathleen Harris, Northeast Livestock Processing Service Company (NLPSC), Currytown Farms, USDA Certification, Kathleen decided to leave retail market because of absence of slaughterhouses and started selling live animals, NLPSC finds out where farmers are located and matches them up with the best fit processor, NLPSC takes and conveys a farmer's cutting instructions to the butcher, very few incidents of food born illness in small slaughterhouses, very high intensity of inspection when theres only a few animals to inspect as opposed to thousands, is a mobile slaughterhouse a possibility, farmers slaughterers and processors aren't getting rich, hard for small slaughterhouses to compete, Kathleen endorses the mobile slaughterhouse model, less travel for the animal more humane conditions,Report from the Slaughterhouse (13:05)
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Lowell Carson, Nicholls Meat Processing, fall busiest time of year for slaughterhouses, chain mail apron, Lowell stabbed himself in the thigh last year, same material used by shark divers, Lowell taught butcher at SUNY Cobbleskill, Lowell's plant has had some difficulty following USDA regulations, USDA regulations took out 1/3 of slaughterhouses in New York State, HACCP Plan, should New York State adopt its own set of standards?, USDA regulations incentivize slaughterhouses to become bigger rather than remain small custom plants, most farmers bring their animals in for processing in the fall, farmers' markets help spread farmers' harvesting time year round,To comment on this episode click here. There are currently Comments
First Aired - 08/17/2010 06:30PM
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This week on Why We Cook Erica goes on a quest for local peaches that do not suck, and ponders the morality and practicality of returning fruit from the store whence it came. This week is also a look at figs, and the figs' delicious step-sister, apricots. Tune in to get a firm grasp on the last few weeks of summer and the juicy ripe fruit therein. This episode was sponsored by Edwards of Surry Virginia.
Photo 1: "showing the fig", Photo 2: a good(?) apricot
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Why We Cook Introduction: Sucky Local Peaches (10:54)
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Why We Cook, Erica Wides, Heritage Radio Network, Edwards Ham, picking out the best fruit, fruit has such a huge risk attached to it!, who takes fruit back?, Kramer on Seinfeld, we should all start returning our fruit, fruit revolution, nectarines, A&P, local peaches, local doesn't always mean good, we need a fruit money back guarantee!, the last half of August is full of good fruit, Erica will be a guest on NPR's All Things Considered on August 26th, Last Chance Foods,The Eternal Quest For Apricot Nirvana (9:43)
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apricot nirvana, the apricot is often sucky, Santa Monica Farmers Market, fruit nirvana, don't believe the free samples they give you, seasonality, where are the exceptional apricots?, share your ideas with Erica, leave comments or find her on facebook, the iconic fig, ancient fruit of the Greeks and Romans, first clothing source for humans, Erica recently had a transformative fig experience,All About Figs (10:38)
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ham & figs, deep dark crimson interior of a fig, wine-like flavor, Italian fig tree traditions, Erica has always had fig tree envy of old Italian guys, figs are for adventurous fruit eaters, Wall Mart sells more bananas than any other item in the store, figs are not purely vegetarian fruits, they are slightly carnivorous, smyrna fig, mission fig, figs aren't really a true fruit, fig wasps, pollination cycle of the fig, figs have been seen as a metaphor for femininity, showing the fig, offensive gesture,To comment on this episode click here. There are currently Comments
First Aired - 06/08/2010 06:30PM
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Hear about the not-so illustrious reputation of Waldbaum's canned peas and their sulfurous opening scent, and where you can get the best fresh peas as a delicious alternative to the can.
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Why We Cook Introduction: The Sloan House & Shabbos (11:55)
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Why We Cook, Erica Wides, Heritage Radio Network, Institute of Culinary Education, School of Visual Arts, there used to be no dorms, Sloan House YMCA, residence on 34th st and 9th ave, the decline years of New York, mid to late 20th century, Far Rockaway, Erica lived there when she was born, moved the next year to Eastern Long Island, Orthodox Jewish Side, Sabbath, Shabbos,Peas Out! (9:15)
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laws of the sabbath, you cannot cook from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday, you have to separate meat and dairy meals, sliced meats, Empire Kosher, Erica's grandmother was an early adapter of convenience foods, cold sliced tongue, bowl of peas, cold canned peas, it's a miracle that Erica even likes food after suffering that abuse, Waldbaums, a lot of people grow up thinking they don't like peas because they've never had them fresh, when you pick them sugars convert to starch, Erica's family grew shelling peas, English peas, if you're gonna grow them use sugar snaps, you don't have to do any work but trim off the tough stem, you get to eat the pea and the pod,Sugar Snap Peas & A Bee Update (8:41)
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Julia Waldbaums, blanch sugar snap peas, whole wheat fettuccine, collard greens, sauteed with garlic, blanched sugar snaps, added old prosciutto and walnuts, mixed with ricotta, non fat ricotta is kind of grainy, sugar snaps are like two vegetables in one, eating the first peas of the years is one of the greatest joys in food, bee update!, www.whywecook.com,To comment on this episode click here. There are currently Comments
