Podchef's Gastrocast Podcast

Welcome to the Podchef's Gastrocast!
The podcast about cooking, food, and the politics of what we eat.

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Gastrocast Cookbook

Best Gift Ever

I got one of these for Christmas and it is the best thing ever!



Use the link and go buy yourself one now! You won't regret it.

Also, check out my basic kitchen equipment list, and let me know if I am missing anything vital--I am working on a project for a client. .  . .Thanks!

by: ChefNeal at 12/30/05 19:41 | link | comments |
cooking, le creuset, panini grill

Almost forgot. . . .

From wherever I am to wherever you are--Merry Christmas!

by: ChefNeal at 12/25/05 15:45 | link | comments |

Gastrocast #39

2005's final show is here. In Gastrocast #39 I make a rolled stuffed rack of pork and talk about heading off in to the hinterland to cook for a week. This week's Ingredient of the Week is the Juniper Berry.

You can find the Flickr Set here

Music:   
    Intro: Christmastime Again by Fats Plenty and the Have Nots
    First break: Walk A Thousand Miles by Matthew Ebel
    Second Break: Christmas With the Paperboy by Lee Harris
    Outro: Merry Christmas Wherever You Are by  Lee Harris


Have a great holiday everybody and I'll see you in 2006!

by: ChefNeal at 12/20/05 22:59 | link | comments (2)|
cooking, podchef, gastrocast, pork

Sing it once again. . .

Raw milk in and of itself is not bad. Well, okay, it can carry TB and a few other PREVENTABLE diseases. But it is a closed system, generated from within the cow. The problem enters when Raw Milk comes out into the world--the domain of the Farmer.

It saddens me that kids are hurting because farmers--not even farmers, but opportunistic cow-share selling profiteers--are trying to skirt the laws while giving people what they want. But, as always with shortcuts, it has backfired and the Bad Press given Raw MIlk is extreem. These two articles on the latest problem, are fanning the flames of a rapidly spreading fire. You know what will come next--even stricter laws against Raw Milk, or an altogether ban. Sure, that's the easy way out because IDIOCY is too hard to prevent.

The key to this latest outbreak is that the so-called "dairy" is UNLICENSED.  Hello? I'm no big friend of the government telling us what to do and collecting our money for doing sweet fuck all about most things. But certain things are there for our own protection and the common good of all. I am, for one, opposed to the necessity of a fully licensed commercial kitchen when people want to sell jams, etc at farmer's markets. I think it is perfectly acceptible to make indiviudals who want to sell a good product to recieve some training in food safety and handling--the same things restaurant workers need to recieve before working--and then inspect their home kitchens, or a simpler modified version, say a specific canning kitchen in  shed or laundry room area of their house. Training plus knowledge and pride should lead to safety without the need for a fully implimented and costly, regulated commercial kitchen. That is a waste of resources and drives people underground.

So, dairy licensing for the smallholder. Okay--those wishing to sell cow shares, or milk from a cow which other people are paying to maintain--it all amounts to a sale of some sort. . . .should have to undergo training in health, safety and diesase just like any other FOOD professional. They should have a minimal set-up. (See, it takes a license and training to serve food to the public, but any half-wit can call themselves a farmer and sell a cow-share). Proper faclilities don't come at a heavy cost--milking only one cow? Then a simple, and small concrete slab with a stantion for the cow's head, a hay box, roof and source of fresh water. A place to hold udder washing supplies like a cabinet. Simple and inexpensive shed. This should be near an indoor room with at least a double sink for rinsing and sanitizing and there should be a large enough refridgerator to hold both unprocessed milk and filtered and processed milks to keep them separate.  There should also be a dishwasher capable of a sanitizing cycle to wash containers for the milk. Then the smallholder wishing to sell raw milk should recieve some training in handling raw milk--like raw meat--and using their simple facility.  Then, the milk-seller NEEDS--for the cow's safety and everyone elses--to have the milk and the facility inspected regularly. It is called ACCOUNTABILITY, somethine sorely lacking in society today.  Anyone wishing to buy Raw Milk should read a disclaimer about the nature of raw milk and sign a waiver --just so everyone understands the risks. . . .Raw Milk already has to carry a warning label about all the evil things it is supposed to do to you. And this I feel strongly about--The milk must be picked up ON THE FARM.

People involved in cow-share programs are walking a thin line. Often a group of shareholders will rotate picking up the milk for everyone. Imagine that--you are relying on your neighbor to transport milk, sometimes from the farm or sometimes from a midway point where they meet the farmer--to where you are. They only way to do this safely and make sure the milk does not spoil or get contaminated in any other way is by refridgeration, or ice chests and the shorted route possible. What if that doesn't happen exactly to plan everytime? Who's taking responsability for the quality of the milk then? No, a trip to the farm once or twice, or three times a week not only places reponsability on the purchaser of the dairy products, but also gives them a chance to inspect the farm, visit and get to know the farmer and be involved in something wonderful.

I've said it before and it cannot be stressed enough. If a farmer or cow-share seller won't let you visit their facility or doesn't speak with pride about their product and want to show it off, then run and run  fast. Find someone who will. Oh, and before you begin whinging about all that licensing and inspections and equipment costing money--which is cheaper shelling out a bit of money for safety or paying multiple lawsuits or fines for negligence? I'd raise the cost of a gallon of milk a dollar and get the proper stuff.

by: ChefNeal at 12/16/05 14:50 | link | comments (2)|
food contamination, raw milk, self sufficiency, food safety, foodborne illness, idiot farmers, cow shares

Gastrocast #38

A slightly unpolished, and frumpy Gastrocast is here. I attempt to make a perennial favorite around here--the Zucatto and almost turn the whipping cream into butter--don't think I admit this in the show. . . .I also review a book (see the blatant ad below) and read a chapter and we talk cheese. I'm also ask about glassblowers--does any one know one? And cabinet makers--I've got a great idea about cheese safes.

Things are hotting up here, but I am hoping to get one more show in before the Holidays. I could take a break, but I have a dish I've just got to share.

Music: Rabbi From Texas - A Waltz for Harmonica by Uncle Seth

Flickr set

This is a great  cheese and a great book:

by: ChefNeal at 12/15/05 23:12 | link | comments (2)|
cheese, podchef, gastrocast, dessert, glassblower, cloche, cheese safe

Ban Idiots, Not Raw Milk

This really boiled my bunions when I read it. And the sad fact is that because of farmers like the one in the article, and articles like this one Raw Milk will earn another hash mark on the wall of ill-fame. It is the farmer, however, not the milk that is at fault here.

Raw Milk is safe. Period. It is the morons who think they know better, or are too cheap to pay for proper facilities or proper testing (to not only make sure their milk is safe, but their valuable cow too), and that they can skirt around all the laws by saying they're not selling the milk because the owner of a cow share "owns" the milk. Hey, bucko it still doesn't excuse you from washing your hands, the cows udder and everything else between the grass and your consumer's mouth to make sure your reputation, the milk drinker's health and the reputation of Raw Milk in general don't get wiped out by e coli, the food police or any other nasty business going around.

If only there was a better way to inform the consumers that they have to not only buy local, but INSPECT locally--if it don't look good, if the farmer won't show you around, turn around and vote with your feet. Find someone who has pride in their product and values your health, their health, the health of their animals and the health of the environment.

God I feel like I'm beating my head against an unyeilding wall when I read this stuff. Excuse me while I have a glass of milk--Raw Milk. No death wish involved. I know the cow, the farmer and the farm, come over and I'll pour you a glass too.

by: ChefNeal at 12/15/05 04:55 | link | comments (2)|
raw milk, food safety, e coli, foodborne illness

Work

It's a working day today, travelling on the mainland. I wrote this about it earlier--in answer to my comment in the upcoming Gastrocast I recorded yesterday. . .How can I convey travel to the mainland. . . .I'm posting this from Penguin Coffee--great java and of course, free wifi. Perhaps more later.

by: ChefNeal at 12/14/05 15:52 | link | comments |
travel, work, mainland

RSS to email

I'm just checking out a service from Feedblitz which allows readers to subscribe to blog posts via email if they don't do RSS. I'm not too sure how much of the feed they pick up, but I thought it's worth a shot--the basic service is free! I'm testing it with my email address right now.

 

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by: ChefNeal at 12/14/05 00:06 | link | comments |
rss, feedblitz, email, subscription