T'is the Season...

T’is the Season,

Ahhhh Autumm, my favourite time of year.

I was looking over my last posts, and thought: Holy Mackrel Batman what crawled up her tuckus, they were a little soap boxy were they not? Someone pull the stick out of her butt and beat her with it! So I thought for this blog I would save y’all the fire and brimstone and write about something a little more errmmm happy for want of a better word. So I thought, Kate (yes I am an only child I talk to myself and also have a tendency to refer to myself in the third person) what makes you happy? The answer is simple, Fall, outdoors and braised meat baby!

One of the most exquisite and formidable things in this world is change. Change, paradoxically, is the only constant we have and we can either go with it, embrace it and to quote Thoreau (and the Dead Poets Society: cliché alert) suck the marrow out of life, or sit in the same ‘ol same ‘ol and remain constant. Your choice, but I promise you, the latter is wholly detrimental. To remain in the safe and secure blanky that is you present state is stagnation pure and simple, and if you have ever walked past long standing water, y’all know that stuff stanks!

Nature is all about change. Change is the fundamental essence of nature. Without change the world simply would not be, it couldn’t exist. My garden depends upon my changing the crops and the soil otherwise it becomes useless and depleted. Likewise, the very fabric of the earth and, by extension, our lives depends upon the natural shifting of the moon, the sun and of course the seasons.

This is why I love autumn. To me autumn does not signify the dying of summer, but it is the manifestation of change as such. It signifies the movement away from that which was; preparing the earth for winters silent meditation and the promise of spring and new growth.

Autumn is also the time of pumpkins, root vegetables and slow cooking!

I was chatting to a market friend today and we decided we must have been Russian peasants in a past life because we both have a love affair with anything slow cooked and containing a permutation of cabbage, roots and some unfavourable cut of meat… or maybe it is my Englishness that sways me towards food that has had the nutrients stewed out of it. Either way, give me braising or give me death.

To me there is nothing more comforting, more reassuring and forgive me more sexy than spending a chilly Sunday afternoon at home with something merrily simmering in red wine and stock in the oven.  I begin to conjure up images of bonfires, moon halos and childhood; memories of walking through crunchy leaves and the smells of woodsmoke and damp earth.

But back to reality, truth is I live in Georgia and whilst my vegetable garden appreciates the long growing season and the promise of another couple of months of high 70 degree weather, my nostalgia remains unsatisfied. This leaves me with only one option: turn that A/C down waaaaaay low, put on something flannel and throw a brisket in the oven.

So in this spirit I thought I would share a favourite autumn recipe. A “stick to your ribs” kind of affair that warm those heart cockles and your belly all at the same time.

I give you: Kate’s Krauts and Brats!

Recipe

4 large pork sausages: my choice Spotted Trotter’s Toulouse Sausage http://thespottedtrotter.com/ (all ethical and sustainable, cos y’all know how we roll here at VA)

4 THICK cut rashers of smoked bacon: I use Pine Street Market’s applewood smoked bacon – yup you guest all humane blah blah blah- www.pinestreetmarket.com.

1 large onion thinly sliced
1 leek thinly sliced

1 ½ cinnamon sticks

6 cloves

1 tsp fennel seeds

2 bay leaves

1 head of green cabbage, sliced into ribbons

1 1/2 12 oz bottles of hard apple cider… scrumpy preferably, something dry

1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1tbsp honey.

S+P to taste.

1 tbso canola oil.

In a large pot- I use my French oven for this- render the bacon in the oil (it is a pork fat thing baby and Pine Street knows where it is at!), then add the onions to the fat and sweat until the onions are tender and translucent. Add the cabbage to the pot (don’t worry I promise it will cook down!). Give it a few minutes and a few good stirs. Season well with salt and pepper and then add the liquids. Allow pot to come to the boil, then turn down to super low and add cinnamon, cloves, fennel and bay leaves. Leave to braise away happily for a good hour and a half.

The sausages- so long as you have the hook up, which I do (thanks Kevin!)- speak for themselves. Prick the sausages a few times with a fork so they don’t explode (I would not wish this culinary Armageddon on anyone, t’is both messy and terrifying)  Heat the oven to 350 degrees, rub the sausage in a wee bit  of oil and roast until the skin is crispy; a good sausage skin should crack when you bite into it. When the sausage is done (about 15-20 mins, you don’t want it to be overcooked) remove and rest for 15 minutes.

Remove the cloves (as best as you can), bay leaves and cinnamon sticks, and ladle a generous serving of cabbage into a large pasta or soup bowl. Cut the sausage in half on a bias (for no other reason then it looks fancy and like you know what you are doing) and arrange on top of the cabbage and serve.

NB// I would highly recommend pairing Kate’s Krauts and Brats with a Belgian, or Belgian style beer. My two choices are either Affligem or Delirium Tremens.

So there it is, the perfect fall recipe… at least in my humble opinion. I hope you enjoy it.

So why all this? Why my romanticising? Why this insistence upon seasonal compliance and cabbage?

I guess my point is this: There are seasons for a reason, and as much as we would like to think of ourselves as masters of our environment (oooh there is that stick again) we cannot divorce ourselves from nature, so why not just go with it.  Let yourself flow with the changes and hell, put on a pair of long johns if it helps get you in the mood. The main thing is to savour it!

I am not a religious person. However, I do believe in the Spirit of the Universe, Mother Nature and the wisdom of my elders so I shall leave you with this quote  “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven”. Ecclesiastes 3:1

Good eatin’ y’all love THE EPICUREAN

Plan B

I often joke that if the world officially goes to hell in a hand basket, I moving to Kauai buying a donkey, a goat, and a duck and growing mangoes and avocados. 

This sounds like something of a drastic idea, and I will forgive you if you take this declaration with somewhat of a grain of salt. However, despite the fact that it is mostly said "tongue in cheek" there is some truth to it. 

The other day I was chatting to a chum over an adult beverage, and in one of those slightly tipsy "let's discuss life, universe and the nature of existence" conversations, we - and don't ask me to explain how we reached this point- began talking about the Mayan Calendar and the supposed apocalyptic prophesy the calendar foretells. Now, despite the lateness of the hour, full moon and wine this was actually a pretty level-headed conversation. Both of us came to the mutual consensus that we don’t buy into the doomsday aspect, but that there is a shift coming, and a big one and that, and call me a dirty hippy but I think that shift is going to see a lot more folks ruminating over similar ideas of my own. In other words, I honestly feel like (to quote one of my favourite artists) “The times, they are ‘a changin’ ”.

I was merrily wandering around my beloved local farmer’s and I noticed how many demographics were equally happily strolling like myself. Young, Old, Black, White and Hippies and Yuppies skipping hand in hand…ok I used some artistic licence there, but I think you catch my drift. The point is people were communing the way they always have in regards to food production/purchase and consumption.  Food is not just something I ingest but an axis upon which an entire community revolves. It is simply not good enough to nip over to Krongles or Pubbly Wiggly for whatever high fructose laced, preservative laden semi food product you can lay your hands on. Instead it feels to me that folks are beginning to make more informed conscious efforts regarding the WWWHW (who, what, why, how and when) of what comes to their plates in the evening.

We have reached a tipping point. A system that constantly feeds without ever replenishing resources will inevitably collapse upon itself, sucking dry the very fabric of that which itself depends. Perhaps Agent Smith was right:
“You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus.” 

We are tremendously viral in our attitude toward the earth and it’s natural resources. Current methods of agricultural practices implemented by Agribusiness or what I like to refer to as Big Agriculture, rape our landscape, leaching the soil of vital micro-nutrients and minerals. Traditional farming practices involve careful selection of seeds and the constant rotation of crop and animals to ensure that the soil and earth are replenished. This type of practice does not occur in what I can only refer to as a bastardisation of a millennial old practice that was doing just fine and dandy until modernity decided to stick its nose in. The saying is, if it aint broke don’t fix it. It wasn’t and we tried to and we messed it up beyond belief!

Something has to change.

But how? Certainly it would be something of an exercise in futility to expect corporate agriculture so suddenly have a change of heart and start farming sustainably or give animals the dignity they deserve, after all they give their lives for us. It has to come from the bottom up! It has to come from us, the consumer. It isn’t impossible; it is happening all around me, I can feel it. There is something moving is the masses, there are a growing number of people who are no longer satisfied with taking food production at face value.

Ignorance is bliss? No, ignorance is the evil and corroding thread. Ignorance, or more precisely wilful ignorance, maintains the status quo and allows companies like Monsanto to continue on with their atrocities behind closed doors (see later blog on Monsanto, or watch the movie The world according to Monsanto http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH4OwBYDQe8).  Yet, with more and more people seeking out the truth they are turning to more sustainable agriculture, seeking out ethically produced animal products from local farmers markets, and starting their own urban gardens. These aren’t just dirty hippies like me, wearing Birkenstocks and weaving bracelets out of hemp and their own self loathing, but every Tom, Dick and Sally. Teachers, Lawyers  and professionals are all participating in a strong movement toward a better future for ourselves and our progeny, and these are the folks who I want to be around when the proverbial shit hits the fan.

I think I am right, I feel like I am right. I hope that I am right… but if not I am gonna need some help harvesting my mangoes if anyone is interested?

Good eatin' y'all, love THE EPICUREAN.

Shark Fin Soup: A Recipe for Disaster

"Sharks have been around for 400 million years. Are we going to let them die out because of ignorance about the origins of what we eat and because of human arrogance? "http://www.stopsharkfinning.net/shark-fin-soup.htm

Approximately 73 million sharks are killed each year simply for their fins - this is a conservative estimate, some environmental groups say that the figure is nearer 100 million.  Fishermen can achieve a much greater yield if they harvest only the fin; so the shark is pulled clear of the water, its fin is sliced off, the fish is thrown back into the sea where it sinks to the bottom and dies slowly.  With shark fin soup fetching up to and sometimes in excess of $100 a bowl in restaurants this type of fishing proves to be quite lucrative for the fin fishermen.

Pile of dead sharks with fins removed

Fins drying in the sun

Sharks are magnificent creatures, they have stood the test of time and evolution, it is quite staggering to think that modern man could potentially wipe them out in half a century.  However one feels about sharks (love them or hate them) it cannot be overlooked  that  they have been top predators of the sea for millennia and their demise will have a drastic effect on the oceanic eco-system.   

  "Maintaining the populations of top predators is critical for sustaining healthy oceanic ecosystems,..Despite the vastness of the oceans, its organisms are interconnected, meaning

 that changes at one level have implications several steps removed." 

- Charles Peterson, a professor of marine sciences biology and ecology at the Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill  Science Daily

Nature has a way of working things out - sharks reach sexual maturity at a late age and produce small litters.  Nature worked it out this way because if they reproduced like rabbits it would mean that their feeding habits would deplete the rest of marine life.  So ecologically this works out well, however, the downside of this is that due to our current shark fishing methods we are killing at least twice as fast as sharks are reproducing.   As top predators not only do sharks prevent over-population of other fish they also eat weaker members of other ocean species thereby improving the gene pool.  Sharks are scavengers and they clean up the oceans by eating the dead and the dying - Primitive Ways.

But here's the thing, shark fin is tasteless and inedible; the fin has to be cooked for a very long time until the cartilage separates and softens (at this point it has a noodle like appearance).  The flavour comes from the base of the soup - usually chicken broth and shiitake mushrooms.  It is purported to have wonderful health properties and has been used as an aphrodisiac for centuries.  These claims are erroneous, and in fact the mercury levels contained in the fins today have the opposing effect  - ingesting mercury can cause impotency, and in high levels is dangerous to overall human health.  Any health benefit will come from the shiitakes not the fin; and any aphrodisiac properties are most likely as a result of inflated ego arising from it's prestigious associations.

So if it's tasteless what is the appeal of shark fin soup?  Apparently it is the texture - it creates a gelatinous quality to the broth, and from what I have read, in Chinese cuisine the texture is almost as important as the flavour.  So if texture is key then there are a whole host of alternatives which will provide the required texture and consistency,  from vegetarian options (agar agar and other sea vegetables) to animal options (offal containing cartilage)  - some Chinese grocery stores sell a frozen "mock-fin" concoction.
I also believe that a big part of the 'kick' originally came from the idea of dominating and killing a 'fearsome' wild animal. The same kick which hunters get out of displaying a head over their fireplace of a wild animal that they have killed: instead of the moose's head or the deer-skin rug the early Chinese had a shark fin in their soup.

The history of shark fin soup can be traced back to at least the Sung Dynasty in China (960 A.D), some believe it can even be traced back as far as the Han Dynasty over 2000 years ago.  It was a delicacy for the aristocracy and was reserved for special occasions and celebrations, in part due to the length of time it took to prepare (a few days).  And most likely their would be no waste - the flesh of the fish would be eaten and the skin used as rawhide. With improved fishing vessels and new techniques of fishing the shark fishing industry started to expand in the mid twentieth century but from what I have read I don't believe that this delicacy posed a real threat to the shark populations until the 1980s when there was an explosion in the demand for shark fin soup. This was mainly due to the rise in the new middle class in China and consequently expendable income.  It became part of the new status symbol to provide this delicacy at weddings, banquets and business events to reflect the importance of the host and to bestow great honour on the guests.  Add to this today's global nomadic tendencies, and an increase in a taste for global cuisine.

There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon - Some countries are taking control of shark fishing and in particular in fin harvesting,  For example the Bahamian Islands have banned shark fishing altogether whilst Taiwan has banned  fin-harvesting; fisherman must catch the whole fish and arrive back in port with the fish in tact Wild Aid.   The state of California (the largest consumer of shark fin soup outside of Asia) is pushing for a total ban on the supply and purchase of shark fins. These bans and partial bans could potentially reduce the number of sharks killed, however, until the demand is reduced then the effect might have little consequence  - where there is a demand there is always a way to supply it.  A restaurant in Bangkok which is rated in the top three in the city serves 300 bowls of it a day, mainly to politicians and celebraties, the price ranges from about $30 to $160 a bowl (Bt800 - Bt1500) depending on the size and the scarcity of the fin; this is despite a movement in Thailand to ban the indiscriminate killing of sharks.  We have to make people aware of the catastrophic results of our current shark fishing industry, we have to make people aware that if we continue to consume shark fin soup not only will it become a scarce commodity but so will sea-food in general.  I believe that if people were aware of the real facts and their implications many would think twice about some of the choices they make in what they eat.

Shark populations have decreased by approximately 80% in the last 30-50 years.  This current shark fishing is not putting food on the table it is catering to an elite.  This current butchery of sharks is not only barbaric and a total waste of life but in the bigger picture will have a catastrophic knock on effect; it will result not only in the decimation of sharks but in ocean life as we know it today, and the whole of the fishing industry.  What is a lucrative business for some fishermen today will take the livelihood away from fishermen in the future.

If you would like to learn more then please check the following websites Wild Aid and Threatened with Extinction.
If you would like to help - please sign the Global Pledge to ask world governments to protect and conserve our sharks.
- THE ACTIVIST