No worries for the 4th

From Lisa Garrison — Blog by Lisa Garrison

July 2, 2010

So weve invited a few friends and neighbors over for the 4th and I decided I was not going to go all foodie nuts, just simple traditional good food. Ok traditional could be anything. However, when I was a kid my mom made this banana split cake that was a hit with everyone. So got the recipe, picked up ingredients at the store and looked at what is in cool whip. Yikes put it back in the cooler, looked at it and thought, I am I being too anal? Its once a year get over it. Grabbed it again, put it back. Just cannot feed this to my friends. Sigh. Real whipped cream it is. Not sure how it will hold up but I will only feel guilty for the calories. Is just once a year right. Have a great 4th everyone!! And drop in for some food if you in the ‘hood

Adventurous another word for crazy

From Lisa Garrison — Blog by Lisa Garrison

March 7, 2010

Perhaps not. I guess it depends on your perspective. This past week I was at site where one day for lunch, they cooked raccoon. I was in the kitchen when this large pan was pulled out of the oven. At first I thought ribs. Then, no, that’s a small animal. It was slow cooked BBQ raccoon. When offered some, I though, well how often will I get the chance for raccoon by someone who really knows how to cook it. The meat is very dark and tasted like pot roast. I doubt most people would know if they were not told.

So I can check this off my life experiences list. I doubt I will go out of my way to find and cook a raccoon as am certain I may be the only one who would eat it.

This all reminds me of a recent episode I heard on public radio about the food or specifically meat we eat is based on culture - what we consider ok. This can vary a lot. It can also change over time. I have an old Gourmet cookbook (1950) that has recipes for woodchuck.

So when we are all trying to be more thrifty and conscience about the food we eat, I wonder if these old or country dishes will return

Breakfast sausage bomb

From Lisa Garrison — Blog by Lisa Garrison

February 27, 2010

I rarely totally mess up a recipe but I did this one. Tried to make breakfast sausage at home. This is my second attempt a sausage. The first was a pork and leek fresh sausage recipe I got from a friend. This one turned out ok but I had problems with using the kitchen aid mixer as a grinder. So found a “professional” grinder on sale and decided to give it a go. Grinding the meat is still a mess and I had to clean the machine several time. However, this time I put too much salt in the meat and could not fix it. I actually followed the recipe and used the same salt I used for the leek sausage. Next time (note to self) put 1/2 the salt in with the cubed meat and add more once its ground if needed. Also did not taste much like breakfast sausage. So I am going to use it to cook with like salt pork.

Making some chard with the sausage mixed in for dinner. Hopefully this will work. Lentils sound like another good candidate.

Guess I need to stick with the day job.........

time for wine

Big Creek Butcher shop is finally open for Business

From Lisa Garrison — Blog by Lisa Garrison

February 26, 2010

After looking the building/business close to a year ago, the purchase of the butcher shop was finally complete this week. So now I am part owner with my brother. For some reason I cannot help but think of the movie, “I married and ax murder”. However the shop is in Texas and I am in KC. So I read about meat, animal care, charcuterie, grass fed beef, etc. My brother does the real day to day work.

I am actually a bit conflicted about this business of killing animals. Logic vs emotions - they dont always work together. I am not a vegetarian but joke that I may become the first vegetarian butcher. Thus I read all I can about the subject. It helps. That and not having to do the processing.

The first few days of business have been good and my brother sounds very happy. Hopefully this will work out for him and he will happy. Neither of us have any experience in this business so we have alot to learn - might be fun!

Now time for a glass of wine........