Charcuterie pics....Part II

As much as we enjoyed the hands-on part of the Charcuterie class we really enjoyed the lunch!! Chef Charles & his assistant prepared us a gourmet lunch.

Here is the table set for all of us before lunch.

Yummy salamis & pates made with Wild Turkey Farms pork. You can purchase both at the Davidson Farmer's Market from Chef Charles.





Head cheese salad with baguettes in the background. The bread is another MUST purchase from Chef Charles at the Davidson Farmer's Market.

Here is the group picture.

Lee is on the left with Chef Charles beside him in the white coat.

Thanks for taking the picture Brandon!

Charcuterie Pictures...Part I

These are pictures from our Charcuterie Class held on February 13, 2010.

This is Chef Charles explaining the different cuts of the pig.

Tying demonstration

The class going over recipes

and preparing ingredients

Chopping

& just posing for the camera

Stay tuned for more pictures!!!

Charcuterie 101

Wild Turkey Farms & Chef Charles had been planning the Charcuterie class for weeks. We had it set up for January 30th & what happened we had about 6 inches of snow on Friday night/Saturday morning. We decided on Friday (1/29) evening to postphone the class. Trust me it was a hard decision to make. We had to put every one's safety first but we were truly disappointed.

Not to worry we talk with Chef Charles and decide to reschedule the class for February 13th & what happens........you guessed it. It started snowing on Friday night. The snow was light and fortunately DOT crews were on the ball (Go DOT!!) So we were able to have class...finally!

So what is charcuterie?

This definition was taken from epicurious.com

charcuterie[shahr-KOO-tuhr-ee, shar-koo-tuhr-EE]

Taken from the term cuiseur de chair , meaning "cooker of meat," charcuterie has been considered a French culinary art at least since the 15th century. It refers to the products, particularly (but not limited to) pork specialties such as PÂTÉS, RILLETTES, GALANTINES, CRÉPINETTES, etc., which are made and sold in a delicatessen-style shop, also called a charcuterie

Chef Charles is a Master Charcuterie Chef. We met him at the Davidson Farmer's Market last summer. He buys meats & vegetables from the local vendors and makes delicious creations. We are partial to his pates & salamis. Last summer he also made a roasted red pepper & eggplant dip...yummy!

Check him out at the Davidson Farmer's Market or his website:

http://www.chefcharlescatering.com/

The class started with Chef Charles showing everyone the facility and then the fun began. A whole hog was provided by Wild Turkey Farms for the class. Chef Charles had already processed one-half and demonstarted to the class the cuts on the other half. Class participation was encouraged. You could do as little or as much as you liked.

After all the cuts had been made, each student was given a recipe. They were to gather the ingredients for the recipes & prepare them. They were trained how to use the sausage grinder & the sausage stuffer. Not to mention the kry-o-vac machine for the finished product.

Chef Charles & his assistant Brandon prepared a gourmet lunch. This was one of the highlights of the day. It was very nice to sit around and chat with everyone. We had a very diverse group- we had several areas represented- Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Nantucket, Atlanta & France (Chef Charles). We had many different occupations & most of the group had done abroad travelling which included some type of a cooking class while they were there.

A good time was had by all! We can not wait to plan our next class. So if you missed this one stayed tune.......

Another wet & muddy week-end

I guess we should enjoy the rain while we have it but...........

We had another 3-inches of rain from the all-day rain that we had on Friday. This brings the total up to about 7-inches in a weeks time.

As you can tell from the picture of the pig we have a big, muddy mess. This pig is being moved to an area that is not as muddy.

Saturday was Market Day in the morning & then Lee had a lot of catching up to do at the farm. Things still have to get done even though it's a mess. He relocated our boar (male pig) to his new girlfriends & prepared a farrowing hut (where our female pigs give birth) for our next mom-to-be. Me & the boys helped him move our "egg-mobile" to fresh pasture. The steers were also moved to fresh pasture and fed some alfalfa. With all the rain & mud our goats needed some TLC on their feet. We started the job of cleaning & trimming their hooves. Their hooves grow similar to our toenails and need to be trimmed and all of the mud, poop, etc that they have been walking on removed. This is the not so glamorous part of farming!

We also had to grind chicken feed & pig feed.

Here is Rosty helping his daddy open the bag of oats to put in the feed grinder.

It's lots of fun to climb on the bags too!

Charlie is helping too by scooping kelp into a bucket.

This is the trailer we use to move the pigs from pasture to pasture on the farm. We found a couple of "pigs" that wanted to ride.

Another interesting read......

Check this article out from the Animal Welfare website.

http://www.animalwelfareapproved.org/2010/02/03/a-bit-of-dirt-a-day-keeps-the-doctor-away/

In case you missed the write up about Fresh in the Salisbury Post:

http://www.salisburypost.com/Lifestyle/020310-Fresh-screening

Snow Days at the Farm

Just because there is snow on the ground doesn't mean the farm work stops. The animals still need to be fed & watered. When the weather is freezing like it has been this past week-end ,we must break the ice off of the water troughs and refill them with fresh water. We also make sure that they have plenty of straw to bed down in especially those moms with babies. On Sunday we had to grind more feed so the animals would have plenty to eat this week.

There is also farm maintenance. We check the perimeter of the fences to make sure there are no trees, limbs, etc. down and make sure there are no snow drifts on any of the fences.

If we haven't already watered the animals this is the time we make sure the pipes aren't frozen & the straighten out the water hoses.

We usually try to crank all the equipment. This was not a problem this week-end because we needed the tractor & feed grinder to grind feed, we used the Bobcat to feed round bales, we used the Gator & the truck to make our rounds (it was way too cold to walk)!

Here are a few pictures from the snow at the farm.

Lee putting feed into the pigs feeder

Mel & the pigs.

The big plastic container is their waterer.





Two of the baby pigs in their hut

Little pigs in the snow

This pig had been buried in the straw & when we were changing her water she came out to see what we were doing.

Chow time for these sows

Grass-fed beef

Llama Bean

We had just let the chickens out & they were eating their breakfast

I think they wanted to ride in the truck with us!