Meet Brent Young and Ben Turley, two parts to the butchering trio that make up The Meat Hook, a sustainably focused meat shop in Brooklyn, NY.

I spent the day with the two friends (and roommates) to find out all about their obsession with sausages – an art form they are quickly becoming famous for in their local neighborhood. Using pork, beef and lamb from whole animals, they’ve amassed a rotating selection of about 30 unique and traditional sausages that are made fresh every weekday.

From “classy” to “trashy”, it’s a way to express their creativity as butchers; but, more importantly, a way to annoy and shit-talk each other to no end. And that’s the fun of it. Watch and see…

**FYI – No one was hurt in the filming of this video. Well, on second thought, maybe Brent…if I had to guess.

Classy Meat Hook Sausages:

• Red Wine & Rosemary
• Garlic
• Toasted Fennel
• Red Chorizo
• Green Chorizo

Trashy Meat Hook Sausages:

• Bacon-Cheeseburger
• Long Dong Bud
• Taco Dog
• Banh Mi Dog
• Spicy Big Bite

For more information on their sausages & meats, visit their website or follow The Meat Hook on Twitter: @themeathook

Thanks for watching food. curated. Happy eating!

In our never-ending quest to show you how local food is raised and brought to market, I’m going to take you on a little tour inside a rabbit farm – John Fazio’s Rabbit Farm.

Yes, he’s the same farmer who raises ducks for big name chefs in New York City. But, you should note, he was known for his prized rabbits even before he started raising ducks. And he delivers them fresh, never frozen to NYC kitchens no more than a day or two after “processing” – offering a service that is really hard to find for local chefs.

So, I wanted to share with you the short tour John Fazio gave me. It was never meant to be a video story, but I just couldn’t pass up the education. I don’t think most people have ever seen a commercial rabbit operation. I hadn’t. And all I can tell you is that it’s interesting, very organized and very clean. So come along as John Fazio tours us through his facility, and shows his methods for raising fresh, local rabbits.

For more info on the farm, please contact me on Twitter: @SkeeterNYC

Or to purchase or taste John Fazio’s rabbits, please visit Marlow & Sons or Marlow & Daughters in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, or Savoy in SoHo.

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A well brined, well cooked duck breast is great on its own, but a special sauce can really bring things together. To help you impress guests at home, we begged Chef Ryan Tate for the recipe of his latest seasonal concoction at Savoy (as seen in video below):

Chef Ryan Tate’s Cherry Chili Puree (to pair w/duck)

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1 jalapeño, seeds and pith removed

1 apple sliced

1 cup dried Michigan tart cherries

1 cup ruby port

2 cups red table wine

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Heat oil in a sauce pot over low-medium heat and sweat lemon zest, jalapeño and apple slices. Cook until apples are soft, but not caramelized. Add cherries, port wine and red wine. Bring to boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes. Allow the sauce to cool then puree in a blender until smooth. After pureeing, pass through a fine sieve pushing hard to extract all the pectin. Transfer to a bowl and season with salt and pepper, adjusting the acidity with lemon juice. Serve at room temperature.

Happy eating! If you give it a whirl write back and let us know what you think.

How to cook local duck. So we showed you John Fazio’s small duck farm and the unique salt curing process, now it’s time to make a dish.

In true farm to table fashion, Savoy restaurant in NYC shows us how they prepare fresh local duck from John Fazio’s Farm. Meet Chef de Cuisine Ryan Tate and watch as he explains the process to cooking duck properly and why their restaurant believes in working with small farmers.

Executive Chef Peter Hoffman of Savoy is very picky when it comes to sourcing the local ingredients for his restaurant, he had this to say about John Fazio:

“John’s doing a great thing. He is taking a duck of fine breeding and heritage and raising them with care and quality. For a dish that has become a signature of our cooking, it’s vital that our ingredients consistently reflect our values and our commitment to great taste. Fazio’s ducks do that.”

Hope you take the time to find local farmers in your area that raise local ducks with pride. Or if you would like to directly contact John Fazio, you can DM me on Twitter.  Happy eating!

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It’s exciting to see interesting restaurant techniques for cooking certain items. In this case, we’re focusing on duck. But not just any duck, John Fazio’s small farm ducks from upstate NY, 80 miles outside of Manhattan.

Savoy restaurant in NYC has a special process for giving Fazio’s ducks exceptional flavor. As soon as the fresh ducks are delivered, they prepare them for cooking though a “salt bake” process. Basically, they are curing the flesh and meat of the ducks to make it even more palatable. A process that the restaurant has been doing for many many years.

I came to Savoy the day their ducks were delivered to witness the process. Take notes. It’s truly unbelievable how much salt is used. But as Chef de Cuisine Ryan Tate says, “the flavor is worth its weight in salt.”

The sustainable food movement exists because of a network of small programs with goals that benefit the greater good of our communities. These programs cannot come to life without the support of people who believe in the future of good food. Come see why BK Farmyards needs our help to kick start their dream to build a Youth Farm in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

All they need is 100 more people to donate $40 by Friday, Feb. 26th. With the money raised, Kickstarter will allow them to begin building their dream.

To support this project, please visit:
kickstarter.com/projects/bkfarmyards/bk-farmyards-developing-a-1-acre-youth-farm

The dead of winter is still a busy time for many animal farmers, and a duck farm is no exception.

Meet John Fazio, a small-scale duck farmer in Modena, New York, 80 miles outside of New York City. John started working with ducks over a year ago after being encouraged into it by NYC chefs who believed in his farming methods. I found him because I was interested in discovering where good local duck comes from – ducks that aren’t raised on large commercial farms. Ducks that come fresh, unfrozen with flavor. I met John through word-of-mouth, and in the food business, good word-of-mouth says a lot.

John’s duck farm just happens to supply Savoy, one of the most sustainably focused restaurants in New York City. Savoy is a restaurant I believe in, a restaurant owned by Chef Peter Hoffman, considered the “Godfather of the NYC Greenmarket” and a spokesperson for the local, sustainable food movement.

So come see for yourself where good ducks come from, and learn why John takes so much pride in his product. And stay tuned for Part II, where we’ll show you how Savoy prepares locally raised duck for its customers. Thanks for watching food. curated.

** To taste Fazio’s special cross breed of a Pekin and Normandy duck, you can visit Savoy or Marlow & Sons restaurants, or purchase whole duck at Marlow & Daughters in Brooklyn. **

The trick? Hide it, deliciously…

When working with whole animals you have to get creative. Zero waste is important, especially at a small butcher shop. But it’s tough when customers still aren’t accustomed to buying and cooking the “nasty bits” of the animal (i.e., the heart, tongue, tripe, liver).

Meet Chef Gabe Ross at Dickson’s Farmstand Meats. He figured out a trick for selling the odd cuts of the animals. The trick in this case involves a hearty portion of beef tongue and liver.

Watch how he gets the job done by working them into his original recipes for rich, handmade, artisanal terrines. Then, pop on down to Dickson’s and maybe try one for yourself!

Thanks for watching food. curated.

For all you devoted recipe lovers who want to adventure into new meat eating territories, I spoke with Jake Dickson (from our story below) today to get his recommendations on how YOU can start exploring the whole animal. Below, please find a list of common cuts of meat, and Jake’s suggested substitutions. Happy Eating!

BEEF

• If you like SKIRT STEAK - substitute SIRLOIN TIP CUT from the sirloin flap. Big, beefy flavor, similar loose grain that holds a marinade well, and that chewy-but-not-tough consistency you get with skirt steak.
• If you like HANGAR STEAK – substitute SHOULDER TENDER. As there is only one hangar per animal, we almost never have any available. Shoulder tender has a similar size, consistency (kinda spongy) and big, beefy flavor. This cut is becoming more widely available.
• If you like TENDERLOIN/FILET MINION – substitute SIRLOIN FILET OR CHICKEN STEAK. This is a tough one. There isn’t really anything that fits the bill as a perfect substitute as tenderloin is both very tender and very mildly flavored. But there are some good options. I often recommend sirloin filet as an option as it looks similar and has similar leanness; but you sacrifice some tenderness (but pick up bigger flavor). If a nice round, tender, small steak is what you’re after, go for the chicken steak (also known as charcoal steak), cut from the top blade. The meat is rated as the second most tender on the animal; the only downside is that the chicken steak has a line of grizzle running down the middle you’ll have to eat around, so it’s not quite as refined of a cut as a typical filet minion.

PORK

• If you like BONELESS PORK LOIN ROAST – substitute PORK SIRLOIN ROAST. We use most of our loins for bone-in center-cut pork chops, so don’t have boneless loin roasts available all the time. Go for the sirloin roast. Found just slightly farther back on the animal, you give up a little bit of tenderness for much bigger flavor. Plus, you’re slow cooking (roasting in this case), so tenderness is not your primary concern. As it’s a wider cut, it’s also less likely to dry out during cooking.
• If you like BABY-BACK RIBS – substitute SPARE RIBS or COUNTRY STYLE RIBS. Spare ribs are way tastier and can be cooked the same way. And if you really want the smaller rib size, we’ll just split them for you on the band saw! Or better yet – get the country style ribs (basically shoulder chop split in half), they’re even meatier.

LAMB

• If you like LAMB RIB CHOPS – substitute LAMB LOIN CHOPS. As we use smaller lambs at the shop, we sell them as whole racks (as they cook better that way). Consequently, we don’t have your typical lolly-pop lamb chop available. Go for the loin chops as a substitute. It’s basically a t-bone/porterhouse of lamb so you get the NY Strip and tenderloin, the two most tender portions of the animal.

And when in doubt, just ask at the meat counter!  -Jake Dickson, @EatMeaty on Twitter

**Note from SkeeterNYC** If any of you fine readers have suggestions of your own from personal experience, please feel free to share in our comments section! Would love to hear how you get creative with meat!

Supermarket meat doesn’t look the same to everyone…

Meet Jake Dickson, owner and operator of Dickson’s Farmstand Meats in New York City.

For Jake, supermarket meat is a turn-off. He’s one of many inspired by the work of Michael Pollan and The Omnivore’s Dilemma. But one of few who actually went on to seek a more hands on experience working on small to large farms, in butcher shops and slaughter houses to really understand the big picture of where meat comes from. And for Jake, good meat comes from small, sustainable, local farms…a philosophy he adheres to for his business.

Dickson’s Farmstand is special because they know the story behind every piece of meat in their meat case. They go out of their way each week to source and butcher whole pork, lamb, beef and poultry from farmers who care about their animals. Farmers who believe that happy animals make a huge difference.

So come take a peek into Jake’s NEW meat shop, hear how he’s working to educate customers on trying new cuts of meat, and see for yourself why his products are “food you can believe in”.

For more info, stop by their Chelsea Market shop or visit: http://www.dicksonsfarmstand.com/

Thanks for watching food. curated.!