Don’t be Loco!! Go Local!!

Lunch for ChefBlog’s Head Chef.
My wife and I are on a mini-vacation of sorts.
When our Prius touched down a few hours later at our arrival destination the first thing we did was go shopping for food at the local stores. On first impression of the town’s grocery stores exterior I thought, “hmm might be limited”. I wasn’t wrong it was limited. Here’s the thing though, the items the Grocer had were generally better looking and of higher quality than much larger stores that had seventeen versions of the same item. To which you have no idea of quality without tasting all of them.
There are lots of specialty farmers growing all sorts of things in and around this area of New York. While shopping I picked some simple food stuffs like bread, milk, meat and veggies without too much critical scrutiny.
We arrived to the house where we would be keeping the real world at bay while we recharged and grew back some butt that had gotten kicked or chewed off in the course of a reguler persons life. We ate out a few times and had the pleasure of eating great meals at friends and family’s homes while here on vacation.
Today for our lunch I wanted a burger but didn’t want to need a eight hour nap to digest and snap
Out of my burger coma. What I did diffently was make the burgers much thinner and wider than usual. I used Local Beef. Heirloom tomatoes from my Sister-in-law’s garden, locally produced Amish cheese, local lettuce along with some mushroom and diced, sautéed onion. The only part of the experience that wasn’t local were the out of town burger eaters being my wife and I.
I’m a big believer that you shouldn’t have to say anything about your food other than you personally enjoyed it. Others that eat your food are the ones that should use words like: “The Best”, “Great” and etc. I like to think of myself as being, ” Confidently Humble” when cooking.
Now, all that being said I have to say that the Mushroom Onion Heirloom Tomato Cheese Burger we had for our lunch was the best tasting burger I’ve personally have had in years or maybe ever! Not because of me necessarily.
The limited part I had in it was that I choose the items at the store which were local and amazing before i did anything to them.

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To Can Or Not To Freeze? That Is The Question.

I was asked the other day a question from a friend about whether she should can her fresh tomatoes that she grew herself or freeze them. There are a number of ways to look at this. If your going to use the tomatoes/sauce in relatively short time, like a matter of weeks. then I would put the big freeze on them( double bag em for their protection ). If you’re going to be zip zappin it around the globe for a matter of months, then I would choose to can them.
Canning sweet ripe tomatoes is a great way to preserve your gardening efforts, in a smack your self silly I can’t believe how delicious this is” kinda way. Freezing freshly harvested yummables is awesome for people who will use those items pretty quickly. Non-commercial, home owner types of freezers tend to have temperatures that can be sporadic at times.
Maintaining a consistent freezer temperature goes a big way when keeping food in good shape over time . Freezers that are continually being opened and closed all day by kids nomadic nosher’s will increase the likely hood of ice crystals to start to form. Sadly turning your fresh firm veg/fruit into a huge Mushapalooza when thawed for use. With the final curtain call being a everyone on stage jam session of funky flavors and not so great culinary memories .