Posts Tagged ‘Ayrshire Farm’
Beef (Heritage Breed and Humanely Raised). It’s What’s for Dinner.
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
Several years ago my husband called me from Mendoza, Argentina and exclaimed, “I’ve just eaten the best beef I’ve ever had in my entire life!” The phone call was a bit muffled not because of the distance the phone signal was traveling, but because I could still hear him chewing on a mouthful of sinewy flesh with the delight of a small child stuffing himself on Easter morning with chocolate bunnies and jelly beans.
Well, yesterday I got the chance to make my own phone call about resplendent beef, albeit from a much closer locale in Upperville, Virginia where the Second Annual What’s the Beef? Tasting sponsored by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy occurred yesterday at Ayrshire Farm.
Would be tasters ran the gamut from fellow farmers, to press, to a professor from the University of Virginia, as well as a celebrity tasting panel including Nora Pouillon of Restaurant Nora, Jordan Wright (The Georgetowner) and Akiko Katayama (a food consultant who also moonlights as an Iron Chef judge). We all put our tongues to the test as everyone got the chance to assess ten different heritage breeds of beef.
The top two winners were the Ancient White Park and the furry-fringed Scottish Highland. Both displayed good flavor and texture but the Ancient White Park pulled ahead as the judges’ favorite due to a more resilient texture that provided a little more mouthfeel. The Scottish Highland’s mouthfeel was a tad flimsier, though it was my personal favorite of the ten. The beef this breed produced had a taste I classified as “retro” because it sparked memories of family cook outs in the backyard on special summer occasions; a base flavor of muted grass, which finished with a balsamic tang.
But more than the beef was on display at yesterday’s tasting. Tasters were as eager to know as much about the beef as the farms’ practices as a designated sustainable, humane-certified farm. The fact that they raise heritage breeds on the farm is not just mere preference for a specific color of animal or the wish to achieve a desired meat taste. The use of heritage breeds represents a reclaiming of sustainable farming methods. Whereas hybridized beef cattle on industrialized farms mature at twice the rate and are fed a diet of corn or grain-based feed filled with antibiotics, the heritage breeds at Ayrshire mature at a normal rate and eat a grass diet where they are finished with grain in the last 100 days before slaughter.
Heritage breeds also provide a genetically diversified gene pool that has been critically depleted in the scramble for factory farms to process ever increasing quantities of cows at a faster and faster clip.
An Ancient White Park (center) contemplates getting a drink. Photo: Amy Loeffler
For butchers like Tanya Cauthen of Belmont Butchery in Richmond, however, raising cattle for ease of processing is like telling a winemaker, “you can only grow Merlot grapes and you can only process them in this type of tank,” she says. And similar to wine, beef she continues displays subtle nuances that demonstrate terroir according to breed. “We need to raise awareness of the nuance [in different breeds].”
But why bother with humane practices at all if the ultimate destination for farm animals is the butcher’s block?
Adele Douglas is CEO of Humane Farm Animal Care and thinks the issue of humane farming practices has been “bubbling up” for a while as evidenced by books such as Fast Food Nation and films like Food Inc. that have endlessly chronicled the horrors of factory farming. “For however long [the animals] are here people want to know they can express their behaviors. Imagine living your life in an airplane seat,” a reference to some farm animals that are so cramped they can’t turn around in their own stalls.
Critics of humane farming say that the term is a misnomer and that killing any sentient being for food is not humane. On this issue Douglas’ organization is philosophy neutral but points to the reality at hand. “10 billion farm animals are killed in the United States each year. Our goal is to improve the lives of those animals.”
Yesterday at dinner I cut into a pork chop I purchased from the Home Farm, a retail establishment that sells Ayrshire Farm products. The taste? An uncommon earthiness almost like bacon and a buttery texture like lamb. For me the proof that sustainable and humane farming works was in the pudding, or pork rather.
–Amy Loeffler
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
Iron Chef America judge Aiko Katayama makes her way through the tasting line with Ayrshire chef Rob Townsend.
Quick question; if given the opportunity, could you taste the difference between 10 different breeds of chicken if they were all raised the same and cooked the same? On Monday, Ayrshire Farm in Upperville, Va., set out to find the answer to that question and invited me and group of local farmers and chefs to come along for the ride. The result— Ayrshire’s first Chicken Choosin’.
Sponsored by Ayrshire, Slow Food USA, the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, Humane Farm Animal Care (a certifying body) and Chefs Collaborative, a nonprofit group that advocates for a sustainable food system the event showcased heritage birds.
The distinction of being a heritage bird means that the bird must be an American Poultry Association standard breed, it must have been allowed to mate naturally (big breasted chickens cannot mate naturally), the bird must have lived for 16 weeks with a slow growth rate and the bird must be allowed to live a predominately outdoor life. Side note: According to the APA, industrial chickens live approx. 4-6 weeks and grow at an alarming rate. If a child were raised the same way, they would weigh roughly 349lbs. at the age of two.
For the event, Ayrshire purchased four birds from each of the 10 breeds specifically for the event and raised them exactly the same way (except for the Cornish Cross which was killed at eight weeks due to its rapid growth rate). Each bird was given the same amount of pasture time, organic feed and killed at 16 weeks.
Once prepared by Ayrshire chef Rob Townsend, each bird was given a number to ensure anonymity. As guests worked their way through the tasting line, score cards in toe, the celebrity guest judges were sequestered in a back room to make their own judgments.
The judges came from a wide array of backgrounds and it showed up in their own score cards. Overall scores were based on the chicken’s flavor, texture and appearance.
Chef Tony Esnault, the former chef in Alain Ducasse’s Essex House, has been awarded nine Michelin stars throughout his career and, to amusement of many in attendance chose the Faverolle, a French breed that was developed in the mid-19th century, as his favorite.
Michelin star rated chef Tony Esnault samples one of the 10 breeds of Heritage chicken
Akiko Katayama, a frequent judge on The Food Network’s Iron Chef America, chose the Cornish Rock as her favorite, sighting its “nutty, almost coffee-like flavor.” Editor’s note: What? “Nutty, Coffee-like flavor?” Weren’t these birds roasted and served lightly seasoned with only salt and pepper? Well, yes. Then where did she get the nutty, coffee-like flavor from? I don’t know, I guess her palate’s a little more sophisticated than mine. Or she’s full of bunk. That too, I guess.
R.J. Cooper, executive chef at Vidalia in D.C., chose the Dorking as his favorite (which was also my favorite as well). Known for its fine-textured white meat, the Dorking was extremely tender and full of flavor in both the white and dark meat.
Bob Perry from the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture and a member of Chefs Collaborative, favored the Buckeye, just because it tasted good.
As for the crowd, the overwhelming majority sided with me and Chef Cooper. The Dorking finished with the highest amount of first place votes and nearly everyone who didn’t vote it first, had it rated in their top three.
Now comes the tricky part though, where can you get a Dorking of your own?
Right now, it would be tough. According to Susie Hass, wholesale manager at Aryshire, your best bet is to request it from your local butcher. Even if they don’t have it, if customers continue asking for it, they’ll get it in stock eventually, though after Monday’s tasting, Hass said the results may motivate Aryshire to start raising some Dorking. The only obstacle would be the cost in raising them the additional 12 weeks. Right now though, Aryshire’s Cornish Cross (the second place winner) is available through Home Farm Store in Middleburg.
Afterwards, I caught up with several area chefs to see if the tasting would influence their menus in the near future.
Mark Zahuranec, executive chef at Hunters Head Tavern, said that for him, the key is to determine whether or not his customers would pay a higher price for heritage chickens. “I think diners as a whole have become so much more educated in recent years,” he said. “I really think that our client base would appreciate and make the necessary investment in higher quality meats.”
My Score Card
Victor McLawhorn, executive chef at Griffin Tavern, told me that he came to the tasting to determine whether the heritage chicken was worth its cost. “There’s a big difference in cost, I can pay $1.19 for a whole chicken, frozen.” McLawhorn said. “These are a little over $3 per chicken.” Asked if the tasting had influenced him, he replied, “That’s the reason I came, to see what I liked and what everyone else liked and actually the one I’ve considered purchasing (Cornish Cross) did really well today.”
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
Sustainable dining fans can get their fill of grassroots grazing this Labor Day when the Outstanding in the Field folks take over Ayrshire Farm for a trio of guest chef-driven dining extravaganzas.
(Photo: Outstanding in the Field)
The gallivanting gourmets have tapped local toques Anthony Chittum, Bryan Moscatello and Rob Townsend to lead guests on culinary treks across the NoVA landscape. Each chef will be expected to tap into their network of local produce suppliers, protein wranglers and grape growers to orchestrate regionally expressive meals of their own making.
A Neighborhood Restaurant Group spokesperson said chef Chittum is still mulling his menu options, but stressed that the seasoned OitF leader–Chittum hosted a dinner with the group last year down in the Northern Neck–is looking forward to showcasing some of his favorite farms and getting better acquainted with the full range of Ayrshire Farm products (“That is a new relationship for us,” the NRG aide said).
Tickets for each night run $189 per person, with seating expected to be capped at 120 seats per evening.
According to an OitF organizer there are just over a dozen tickets left for Townsend’s dinner (Saturday, September 5 at 3 p.m.), around 30 slots for Chittum’s dinner (Sunday, September 6 at 3 p.m.) and an undertermined number of seats available for Moscatello’s dinner (Monday, September 7 at 3 p.m.).
–Warren Rojas