FRIENDS & FAMILY IN THE KNOW…

As you know, I’ve been trying to eat local sustainable and organic foods. So I think that buying food from Farmer’s Markets is better and that buying Rosie’s free range organic chickens are better, etc. I’ve been deceived!!!

My nephew is a graduate of the California Culinary Institute and has worked for several Bay Area restaurants. He now works at Whole Foods and was educating me about fish and chicken, as well as Farmer’s Markets. I was also tailgating with some friends, one of whom used to work for Consolidated Grocers, who was telling me even more info those huge food conglomerates!!

1. Don’t buy your fish from your local Farmer’s Markets unless you KNOW the fisherman or fish monger. Most of the time, the people who are selling the fish are not the persons who caught the fish. They are paid a commission for the fish they sell and will TELL you the fish was caught in Half Moon Bay, for example, when it was not. Also, the handling conditions, i.e. ice chests, are not regulated and you have no idea how the fish was stored. If you are buying a whole fish, you can use the typical guide to seeing if the fish is fresh but if it’s been filleted and packaged, it’s too hard to determine freshness.
   
2. I’ve always used the Monterey Bay Aquarium Endangered Fish Guide to buy fish and I asked my nephew about the Chilean Sea Bass that Whole Foods sells, since it’s on the list. He said that’s his issue with the list. It’s not detailed enough to be a reliable guide. For example: the Sea Bass that they sell at Whole Foods is line caught and from the Argentinian waters where the fish is not endangered. So he recommends that I talk the to fish monger about any fish in their cases that I am worried about.
   
3. We also talked about Farmed Fish. Some Fish Farms are run sustainably and where the waters are filtered and the current is strong. So not all farmed fish are bad to eat and it’s a better option than depleting our oceans.
   
4. And, now, on to CHICKENS. Did you know that Rocky and Rosie chickens are Foster Farm Chickens? I thought I was buying chickens from the “little guy” and not a huge conglomerate. BUT what we should be buying are local, free range and organic AIR CHILLED CHICKEN. I went online to research his advice and here is a blog that explains what air chilled chickens are: Scott's Chicken Blog and here is a source of local air chilled chicken so maybe I’ll start looking for “Mary’s” Chickens instead of “Rosie’s” chickens! . Whole Foods does sell air-chilled chicken but I don’t know where it’s from….I’ll have to ask the next time I go shopping there.
   
5. I’ve also been buying the organic kosher chickens from Trader Joe’s but I don’t think they are air chilled either.
   
6. And, lastly, the produce from Farmer’s Markets are not always grown by local family-owned farms. Some are and some are just venders from the huge conglomerates who sell at Farmer’s Markets as well as your local grocery stores. I know that Happy Boy Farms are local and family-owned but I think some of the others where I can see the same packing boxes that I see at the grocery stores are not…AND I pay MORE at the farmer’s Market than at our grocery store sometimes!!! Not simple is it?
   

So now you know what I know. . .which seems to be less and less as I get older. Like “Local Knowledge,” it helps to have friends and family “in the know!”

P.S. For thanksgiving we had 2 BBQ Turkeys and I prepared a green bean side dish that had a simple EVO/Butter garlic drizzle and sprinkled with meyer lemon zest bread crumbs, Trader Joe’s fried onions, Hawaiian salt & fresh ground pepper. I was going to use a recipe from Bon Appétit that had a dressing of meyer lemon juice, heavy cream, EVO and S&P but found, after I made it, that it was too tangy and made the beans taste more like a salad.

I also made the traditional Candied Yams but deep-fried the yam skins to sprinkle on the top with some salt to add some salty contrast to the sweet instead of the marshmallow topping that was called for. And, for dessert, I made Baklava. This recipe created 3 layers of nuts instead of one fat layer in the middle. It came out much more flakier this way. I followed the recipe but next time would make more of the simple syrup to pour over it. It didn’t quite stick together like I think baklava should. This recipe didn’t use honey either and I think I’ll add some honey next time. It was delicious though and very simple to make. Much more simple than I was expecting it to be!

Our annual Cookbook Club Holiday Dinner is coming up next Saturday so you will get a blow by blow account of the dishes as well as Willie’s fabulous photos of what was prepared. Each dish will be from one of the cookbooks that we used this past year. Start salivating!!