Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Knife in hand, Ryan Farr surveys the fresh whole lamb carcass stretched out on the cutting board, garnet flesh wrapped in a thin coat of pearlescent fat.
He cuts into the ribs with the practiced skill of an old-time meat cutter, but Farr's not your grandmother's butcher. He's been on TV with Martha Stewart, has a new book out, "Whole Beast Butchery," and is one of a group of culinary luminaries on the cutting edge of a new food movement — the carnivore connection.
"A lot of people have gotten hip to, Who's your farmer? The next step is, Who's your butcher?" says Anya Fernald of Belcampo California, which has a 10,000 acre farm in Northern California's Shasta Valley raising pastured and free range beef cattle, pork, lamb and other animals.
Knowing your butcher used to be a key factor in putting tasty food on the table. But with the advent of plastic-wrapped steaks and chops that appear as if by magic in cold cases, the butcher became all but invisible, a white-coated figure glimpsed occasionally through a swinging supermarket door.
Farr, a classically trained chef, came to butchery as a cook first, teaching himself the basics of meat-cutting as a restaurant chef and sous chef. In 2009, he and his wife, Cesalee, founded 4505 Meats in San Francisco, a meat company that supplies a number of area restaurants and also the site of Farr's popular butchery classes for home cooks.
"Whole Beast Butchery," a visual guide to cutting up beef, pork and lamb with photographic step-by-step instructions, is intended to get more butchering novices started. "Basically, we needed to have something that I wish I had when I was learning this whole process of butchering," says Farr.
Understanding the characteristics of the various animal parts — is it lean, is it fatty, did it move a lot, a little — helps in figuring out how best to cook them, Farr says. Meanwhile, buying whole animals, or going in with another family or two for the big cuts like a side of beef, means you'll likely know where the animal is coming from and how it was raised. An added bonus is that when you butcher your own meat you'll get the lesser-known and cheaper cuts that often don't make it into supermarkets, such as lamb neck and shanks, delicious when properly cooked.
The return of the butcher comes at a time when interest in meat is high, from the national obsession with bacon to the wave of chefs championing the less-heralded animal parts like cheeks, ears and skin.
In 2012, Belcampo plans to open a slaughterhouse to process its meat as well as that of local farmers, a significant development considering that a lack of slaughterhouses in Northern California means ranchers must often drive animals hundreds of miles to the nearest plant. The company also plans to open a butcher shop in the Marin County Mart in the San Francisco suburb of Larkspur in June.
"My sense is that as a meat consumer in America, it's very hard to find quality, source-verified meat," says Fernald. "I wanted to build a butcher shop where we could offer an experience to consumers which was like what your grandmother had in a butcher shop."
Butcher and chef Adam Sappington of The Country Cat in Portland, Ore., who also teaches butchery classes, finds that learning how to break down an animal gives people more confidence in walking into a butcher shop and ordering so-called "off cuts" like neck or lamb belly.
"Part of the butchery process is using the whole thing," says Sappington. "The book that Ryan's putting out is great. Hopefully, it can broaden the horizons of the American consumer to say there's something out there other than rack of lamb."
But to get back to the carcass awaiting Farr's knife, specifically, a lamb that not too long ago was presumably gamboling on the pastures of Don Watson's Napa Valley Lamb Co. Farr begins by sharpening a fearsome array of knives on a whetstone and then starts on the animal, first cutting off the neck and using the cleaver and a mallet to chop through the bone. Two hacksaws, one big, one little, are pressed into service as the legs, shoulders and breast are turned into neat packages.
An hour or so into the lesson, what was a lamb carcass is now a tray full of steaks, roasts, chops and a stainless steel tub of what will probably become sausages and stew meat.
"One of the most amazing aspects for me, when you learn the anatomy of the animal and how the animal walks and sleeps, you become a better cook. There's no question about it," says Sappington. "You learn what makes the flavor, what enhances the animal, what makes it taste as good as it possibly can. And that to me is worth every moment that I spend at the butcher block breaking down animals. There's a lot to it."
Farr is hoping to spark a return to the days when more consumers were in touch with where their meat came from. "People really want that," he says. "Our classes have had a big impact because we're coming close to completing the circle, knowing where the animal is from, know what you're eating, know how to cut it, know how to cook it."

Boldric goes international with sales of its products to Europe!

Boldric has started sales in Eastern Europe, there costumers are chefs, sous chefs, line cooks etc and the fact that European country's such as France was the first country to start the brigade system,

Georges Auguste Escoffier (pronounced [ʒɔʁʒ ɔ.gyst ɛs.kɔ.fje]; 28 October 1846, Villeneuve-Loubet, Alpes-Maritimes – 12 February 1935) was a French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer who popularized and updated traditional French cooking methods. He is a legendary figure among chefs and gourmands, and was one of the most important leaders in the development of modern French cuisine. Much of Escoffier's technique was based on that of Antoine Carême, one of the codifiers of French haute cuisine, but Escoffier's achievement was to simplify and modernize Carême's elaborate and ornate style. Referred to by the French press as roi des cuisiniers et cuisinier des rois ("king of chefs and chef of kings"]—though this had also been previously said of Carême), Escoffier was France's pre-eminent chef in the early part of the 20th century.
Alongside the recipes he recorded and invented, another of Escoffier's contributions to cooking was to elevate it to the status of a respected profession by introducing organized discipline to his kitchens. He organized his kitchens by the brigade de cuisine system, with each section run by a chef de partie.
Escoffier published Le Guide Culinaire, which is still used as a major reference work, both in the form of a cookbook and a textbook on cooking. Escoffier's recipes, techniques and approaches to kitchen management remain highly influential today, and have been adopted by chefs and restaurants not only in France, but also throughout the world.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Bareburger Rising

battles are nothing new — even in Germany, a new McDonald's ad is going right after Burger King's terrible French fries — and one New York player is about to enter the fray: Bareburger, which is opening a new Chelsea location tonight at 153 Eighth Avenue, has plans to at least take over the five boroughs, if not the world.
For now, NYC-based Bareburger is a small fry (albeit a tenacious one), with only eight open or announced locations. Compare that to, say, Smashburger's 143 stores and nearly 500 total franchise agreements "already on the books."
But Grub Street has learned that the born-in-Astoria Bareburger plans three more locations in the next few months: one in the East Village at 5th Street and Second Avenue, another on the Upper East Side at 1370 First Avenue, and one more that just applied for an on premise beer and wine license at 71-49 Austin Street in Forest Hills, just opposite the train station.*
Plus, we know that today's Grub Street Diet subject, musician Ingrid Michaelson, found the bison sliders at Bareburger to be an instant hit.
They've got a ways to go before they're competing with the Five Guys of the world (not to mention the Shake Shacks), but it looks like Bareburger's going to at least make a go of it.
*This post has been corrected to show that one of Bareburger's new locations won't be on the Lower East Side. (At least not yet anyway.)

Floyd Cardoz Says Brandy Library Is an Inspiration for North End Grill

Last night at Johnnie Walker’s "House of Walker" opening party, Grub Street spoke with Floyd Cardoz about the almost-hatched North End Grill, a highly anticipated Danny Meyer project that has remained  impressively under wraps. As such, Cardoz wouldn't say too much, but he did emphasize the beverage program, which sounds grand and tasty. "We are going to have a whiskey bar," said Cardoz. "We’re hoping we’re going to do scotch tastings. What I find is if you go to the Brandy Library, they have all these different scotches and you can taste every one of them, which is a great way to give someone something they like." He also says the restaurant will have 120 seats, will open before the end of the year, and will welcome everyone because "we love guests."

Saturday, December 3, 2011

NDM LEATHER


NDM:
NDM means (natural dry milled) is the best leather that's found in India it's produced in Calcutta and it comes from water buffalo. This leather is called NDM because it's one piece of leather that's used to make these bags and approximately 2 animals’ skins are used to produce one bag (40 square feet). The leather comes from the saddle and the belly part of the animal, which cannot be bruised or damaged.  The way you can distinguish between artificial and real leather is that the grains in real leather are uneven and a little discolored.

Grains in Leather:
Full-grain leather refers to the leather, which has not had the upper “top grain”, and "split" layers separated. The upper section of a hide that previously contained the epidermis and hair, but was removed from the hide/skin. Full-grain refers to hides that have not been sanded, buffed, or snuffed (as opposed to top-grain or corrected leather) to remove imperfections (or natural marks) on the surface of the hide. The grain remains allowing the fiber strength and durability. The grain also has breathability, resulting in less moisture from prolonged contact. Rather than wearing out, it will develop a patina over time. High quality leather furniture and footwear are often made from full-grain leather. Full-grain leathers are typically available in two finish types: aniline and semi-aniline.

about canvas


canvas is usually made of cotton or linen. It differs from other heavy cotton fabrics. Canvas comes in two basic types: plain and duck. The threads in duck canvas are more tightly woven.

Bags are an essential accessory carried by all women as well as men. The wide variety of stylish bags provides us with a lot of options to select from. Fascinating texture, color, material and sheen are few factors that determine the quality of bags. One can pick from the distinguished patterns and size of bags as per the requirement. Bags are not restricted to being simple but there is whole new captivating range of embroidered bags, sequin bags, canvas bags, leather bags and so on. In our bags section, you can explore the vast collection of bags, with every bag described in brief. Know about the features, texture, quality, and durability of different types of bags.




Our production facilities are clean, spacious, well laid out, well ventilate and offer a safe environment
- We have a team of highly experienced managers and we hire skilled workers. Our workers are provided modern and well-maintained equipment that are critical not only for high quality products, but also safe workplace practices

we believe in long-term relationship with customers. As such, we will continue to demonstrate customer commitment and not only retain existing customer, but also acquire new customers
- Our long-term growth strategy includes expanding current production facilities as well as diversifying into additional promotional products so that we may become a one stop shop

boldric bags and products: boldric bag

boldric bags and products: boldric bag: About Boldric Started in 2010 as a means to empower the culinary industry, Boldric has come a long way. With over 2 year...

boldric bag


 About Boldric


Started in 2010 as a means to empower the culinary industry, Boldric has come a long way. With over 2 years of research and development into our product line, Boldric caters to the needs of some of the best chefs around the world.

Headquartered in New York City, the company caters to the needs of chefs, sous chefs, line chefs and more, in cities around the world.


OUR MISSION:

We have worked diligently building our reputation based on our commitment to provide quality products and services at the most competitive prices in the marketplace. We proudly carry on the company's core mission to provide quality at affordable prices and make the best products. With the creation of a dynamic and up and coming company, our employees are our strength. This includes the most talented and motivated people, working together in order to achieve excellence in our industry by truly caring for our client needs.

THE KEY TO YOUR SUCCESS

In our business, customers must get what they order on time. Ordering through our friendly website our customers are assured that their order is prepared and shipped in an expeditious manner.

Whether you are starting off as Line cook or a world renowned Chef, we stand behind our ability to meet every individual needs. For customers who need assistance in making the right selection, our staff offer expert consulting on an individual basis. If you are looking for a custom solution, our designers can work with you to create your custom design and take it all the way from conception to delivery. From an initial conversation and understanding your specific needs to providing a detail design and manufacturing, our employees will work with you every step of the way.

 
OUR PRODUCT LINES: THE PERFECT PAIRING OF QUALITY

Our choice of canvas and leather extends our commitment to excellence in design, style, durability and value.

To ensure our success, every individual product is made and perfected by hand. Our craftsman have decades of experience in bringing out the natural durability and beauty of canvas and leather and use that insight to constantly enhance our existing product lines. All our products, from initial fabrication and trims, through completed bags, are tested in independent workshops and put through a rigorous system of quality control. We obtain our raw materials in compliance with industry best practices and ensure that our supply chain does the same.