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It was a sunny, yet brisk Thursday afternoon. We hadn't had high roasted chicken in quite some time, my mind turned towards gravy. Chicken fat, translucent minced shallot, flour, broffs & a dollup of creme fraiche. Oh yeah baby, chicken and gravy for dinner!

After hairs cut, off to El Cerrito Natural for some Rocky Jr. feel good chicken bodies. Tiny E wanted to come in too, he's a come-with kinda boy. At the meat counter he asked what was for dinner, roasted chicken of course. "Oh Papa, can't we have delicious pork chops instead?" Even at $10.50 a pound, I conceded.

Tell me why my heart sank when I saw these chops in the butcher's case?

Biggles

We moved in January of 2000 and have been here ever since. That's the most stable I've been since moving out in 1982 (gradiated high school). Watching a garden grow and change over the years hasn't been in my reality and am now in awe every year. More so this year because I haven't killed everything I planted. That and the sheer size of these 'mater plants is insane!

I snuck in to EC Nat today to find a little something for dinner tonight, made my way back to the meat counter pronto. As I was ordering my pound of ground chuck, I looked straight down and noticed the Rosie birds were only $2.55 a pound. That's nearly a buck off and only 14 cents more than the Rocky Jr. birdies. Aroo?

"Add a Rosie to that order, my good man!" Said Biggles.

The sale is going on until about the 16th of this mumf and could very well be going on at other markets. I didn't ask why the lower price, sorry. I'm such a naughty reporter, BAD BIGGLES !!! No chicken leg for you!

Go now.

The Natural Grocery Company
10367 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito, CA 94530
510-526-1155

Yes, you read that correctly. And no, this isn't some huge-ass corporate mass marketing deal I ran across on the net. Meathenge has been hand selected by Alejandro through a kind mention from Elise of Simply Recipes. And it looks as though you only have until December 15th to order your 100ml case! The deal is you pay for the shipping, ooOoOOOoO. Can you handle it? I'm off to get mine right now.

Please click HERE for your special page. I receive nothing by spreading the good word. Only the warm knowledge that I've helped a friend of a friend further the promotion of their small company. I wish Alejandro, Michelle & Elise good tidings and superb health in the coming year.

UPDATE December 12, 2006: Woot woot! All 800 cases are gone. That's it, all done in 48 hours. Jeez, that was a whirlwind, eh?

Biggles

Alejandro & Martin Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Chilebrown's adventure a while back has infected us all. This last weekend my sister and brother inlaw had their anniversary and decided to drive over a 900 mile round trip to buy bacon. Over the last two years you've gotten to know me, well? My sister is related and Meathead is right up there. This means having a Bacon Anniversary is okay. They got back in to town on Sunday evening, but it isn't until just a moment ago that our booty showed up. Here is the smoked/cured pork shoulder!
The taste was amazing, outstanding and as Chilebrown remarks, the gold standard in bacon. Not salty in the least, sweet to a point and purely meaty to the end. Then the smoky love shows up along with the pork stamina. My sister says they Hawaiian which explains the complex sweetness that isn't easily detectable for us mainlanders.
I'm calling in late for work tomorrow, I got eggs to scramble.

Hugs to you all,
Biggles

Alright class, settle down. I'm happy to see everyone made it because we have a special guest today. Let's see if we can spot this mysterious person by asking a few questions. Question #1, who here really loves bacon? Show hands please, excellent. Question #2, who here doesn't mind driving all over the darned place to buy special food treats? Show hands again, exellent. Yes Sam, I see ya. Question #3, who here would drive from the San Francisco Bay Area to Bend Oregon to buy bacon? Yup, that's right. Stand up Chilebrown.

Phew, what a weekend. My wife and I hosted a Meat Festival for some friends we hadn't seen in years and years, plus some new friends. The pie making started this last Friday evening and continued in to Saturday. Thus, my posting had lagged a bit. I was able to knock out a load of chicken stock in my new 16 qt pot though. And this is it.

The piri piri is done! Well, okay it was done a few days ago. At first I was excited to see how it would come out. Then, after seeing it stew in its own juices for those seven days I was a bit apprehensive. If I didn't do it right opening that jar could unleash some unholy brewness ...

A friend had an extra plate from a hog and thought I would want it to render. Well of course I did, but you can get yours from a butcher. Just ask. They love that kind of stuff, getting meat products for you.
You're going to want to partially freeze the meat. Otherwise it's too dang slimy and tough to deal with. Then cut off the top skin, you just want the juicy fat.

After cubing it up into approximately 1" cubes toss it into a large baking pan at 275 degrees for maybe two hours.

This batch went for maybe 1.75 hours and looks fine. A little toasty, but I like it that way.

Remove the puffy bits.

Oh my, don't they look puffy? They're puffy bits. I'm sure you could put salt on them and pop them into your mouth. But I chose not to.

Let it cool and strain it through something. I suppose you could use cheese cloff, but I used a wire strainer. Just to get the large bits, if any, out. Did I mention to let it cool? Yeah, do that. Then ladle it into smaller containers, one for the fridge, one for the freezer and THE REST FOR ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND LOVERS !!

HA !! Take a close look. That right there is a PORK BLISTER. Eh? What's a pork blister? It's a blister from slicing half frozen pork. Neat.

Grow the herbs, harvest the herbs, chop the bastards and make food!

Welcome to August, my favorite month. And what better way to welcome us all to August? A nice picture of Strawbeeries.

Yeah, you know it's one thing to let a loaf of bread go stale or get moldy. But it is quite another to do the same to a home made loaf. It seems a far higher shame. HA !!! Make crumbs! They good. Use for fried chicken man! Give that old stale bread new life. It's because you care.

Take a close look pal, those are nicely diced carrots, onions and celery brought to you by a carbon french knife and my hand. Get used to it ...

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If you are going to eat food, then you'll need this.

Did ya know carrots weren't always ORANGE ????