Corduroy Orange

It’s October—that means Thanksgiving will be upon us in less than 2 months.  Do you know where your turkey is coming from?

I’ve been buying mine farm-fresh for the last couple of years; but this year, I wanted to go the extra mile and buy a bird that was also free-range, so I made a few phone calls to find out that I couldn’t find one.  The last farmer that I called explained to me why that is the case.

“They’re free-range inside of a coop,” explained Mr. Eichner of Eichner’s Family Farm in Wexford, PA.  As far as raising turkeys in the open air goes, “There are just too many concerns with coyotes and other predators.”  In order to get a turkey from Eichner’s, it helps to already be a customer.  He raises the same number of turkeys each year and past customers get first dibs.  Orders for new customers are not guaranteed, and can be placed in person at Eichner’s Farm Market.

With that knowledge under my belt, I placed my order witht he farm that I’ve gone through for the past couple of years, Ifft’s Poultry in Evans City, PA.  They will accept orders over the phone; birds are available for pick-up on the Tuesday or Wednesday preceding the holiday; any earlier than that, and your bird is still breathing (talk about fresh!).

Another option for a fresh, local bird is Pound’s Turkey Farm in Leechburg, PA.  Their birds are available directly from the farm, and orders are accepted over the phone.  Another option for getting a turkey from Pound’s is to place your order through Schramm Farms, but Schramm will not be accepting orders until sometime around the beginning of November.

Contact Information for Local Turkey Resources:

Eichner’s Farm Market: 285 Richard Rd, Wexford, PA 15090; irections(724) 935-2131

Ifft’s Poultry: 136 Pioneer Rd, Evans City, PA 16033; (724) 538-4710

Pound’s Turkey Farm: 4200 Melwood Rd, Leechburg, PA 15656; ctions(724) 845-7661

Scramm Farms: 1002 Blank Rd,  Jeannette, PA 15644; (724) 744-7320

So I was watching the Olympics last night, and a commercial came on for Bud Lite Lime featuring “a splash of 100% natural lime… flavor.” I put in the points of ellipsis because I swear I heard a pause in the announcer’s voice as there was a shift in the visual montage and accompanying background music that happened in just such a way as to deemphasize that this 100% natural to which they refer is ‘natural flavor,’ which according to the FDA definition, could mean a great variety of things (if you need help deciphering what the FDA code means, this is a good explanation of it).

Because this beer product uses only flavoring that meets the FDA definition of ‘natural,’ they are permitted to use ‘100%’ as a modifier. The end result is that “100% natural flavor” is a statement that means less than nothing, because there’s no other information about what it is or where it came from except that it contains something that was somehow derived from something that is natural, probably a lime–but even that we don’t know for sure.

Who comes up with this stuff? Or, for a better question, who actually buys it?

…so don’t tell anyone, but I have it from a reliable source that Dozen is preparing to expand their bakery selections beyond the realm of cupcakes.  How are they ever going to manage that in the space they have available, you ask?  Good question, trick answer… they’re not.  Rumor has it that they’ll be opening a larger location in Lawrenceville, perhaps even before the end of this year, where they’ll have more kitchen space and a larger selection of baked goods, plus the possibility of weekend brunches… or so a little birdie has told me.  Like I said, though, at this point it’s all rumour and innuendo, so I’ll let you know when I find out something more.

Perhaps you’ve already heard about this stuff. It’s such a far-fetched story as to sound implausible, but the truth is, the Kopi Luwak beans are harvested from the droppings of the Asian Palm Civet, a small Indonesian marsupial. The beans cost a small fortune (upwards of $100 a pound on ebay) because they are so rare–only about 500 pounds a year are typically “harvested.” Apparently, though (not that I’ve ever tried the stuff, though if I had the chance, I would), the coffee is outstanding. Either that or it’s a big practical joke to make people drink feces and love it. If you’d like to see a picture of what the beans look like when they come out of the Palm Civet, check out this page.

Thank you to everyone who voted for Corduroy Orange in the Wellfed Network’s Best Food Blog by a Chef Competition. Thanks to your support, Corduroy Orange earned third place in the contest.

Pastry chef, cookbook author, and Chez Panisse alum David Lebovitz (http://www.davidlebovitz.com) ran away with the first place prize, earning more than half of all votes cast.

Second place went to Shuna Fish Lydon, also of the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Eggbeater blog (http://eggbeater.typepad.com/).

When I last checked the polls, fourth place was a toss-up between nineteen-year-old culinary student Aidan Brooks’s page (http://aidanbrooks.blogspot.com/) and bakers (& former Pittsburghers) Kelli Bernard and Andrew Lin’s dessert blog (http://www.lovescool.com).

These are all great blogs and I’m honored to have been included in their company. Please keep reading Corduroy Orange and sending me your questions, and I’ll keep trying to post interesting and informative articles about the world of food.

Word just came through that Corduroy Orange has been named one of the five finalists for Best Food Blog by a Chef in the Wellfed Network’s best food blog awards. So, please help me out and vote. Vote your conscience, of course (but only if it tells you that Corduroy Orange deserves the award).

http://wellfed.net/2007/01/03/top-5-best-food-blog-chef/

Polls close at midnight EST January 9.

According to a fluff piece by AP writer Natasha T. Metzler on holiday entertaining plans at the White House, the menu for holiday receptions

will include golden and crimson beet salad with orange, fennel and feta; sweet potato souffle; herb roasted lollipop lamb chops; and chicken-fried beef tenderloin with white onion gravy — a particular favorite, the first lady said.

Everything sounds great (especially that beet salad) until you get to the last item on the menu: chicken-fried beef tenderloin? What would ever posess someone to so gravely mishandle such an expensive cut of meat? That’s like putting a snout on a lipstick model!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I have anything against chicken frying a steak per se. I actually really enjoy one if the cook at whatever roadside diner I’m in knows his stuff. It’s just that if you’re going to chicken fry a steak, 1) you shouldn’t be doing it at fancy state receptions (a hootenanny might be more appropriate setting), and 2) you should be doing it with something like cube steak, flank steak, skirt steak, or some other cut of meat that doesn’t necessarily roast really well.

I don’t think I’ll ever understand the decisions this administration has made.

I think so, but I’m probably biased

If you happen to agree, please visit the Well Fed Network and nominate Corduroy Orange for a 2006 Food Blog Award. There are a number of categories in which nominations are being accepted; the two that I most likely would qualify for are Best New Food Blog and Best Food Blog by a Chef. While the site does accept self-nominations, I feel like the only way Corduroy Orange would deserve victory is if someone else recommends me (even if they do log that nomination as a result of my shameless lobbying).

To nominate Corduroy Orange (or another blog that you like, but I’m not lobbying for them), simply leave a comment in the specific category field (e.g. Best New Food Blog) giving the website address and the reasons you think the website is deserving of an award.

There are already over 50 nominations for Best New Food Blog; somewhat fewer for Best Food Blog by a Chef. If you appreciate the breadth and the quality of the content that you find on this web site, please add me to the list. Then, we’ll see how Corduroy Orange stacks up against the competition. Act today! Nominations close tomorrow!

Loyal supporters of Corduroy Orange –

Mr. Orange asked me to let you know that Corduroy Orange will be offline for the next few days due to the fact that he broke his ankle quite severely. Although I did not witness the act, I can report that the results are pretty stunning, placing him off of his feet for at least the next three months. However, that means that while there will be no posts in the recent futre, I’m sure there will be quite a few once he returns later this week. In fact, I know he already has some not-so-rave reports to give about emergency room food.

In the meantime, this is your chance to email Corduroy your questions about food, kitchens, eating, and everything in between! He’ll have limited kitchen mobility to create new recipes, but he still has lots of fun and random culinary knowledge to dispense.

Mrs. Orange.

Fifteen months later, it’s worse than you think
I’ve been putting this post off long enough. It’s been a couple of weeks now since I got back from New Orleans and I haven’t written one word about it. I would have long ago, except for one thing: it’s hard to think about.

The city was my home for seven years. Admittedly, for the first four I was a college student, but I was a fairly active student, at least in Tulanian terms: I engaged the city outside of campus as a tutor in the public schools. During the last three, I got to know the city even better, especially while I was coordinating a program that provided minor home repairs to the elderly. As part of that job, I visited people in almost every neighborhood of the city, many on a regular basis.

As I prepared to return for my first visit, I had a vague idea that the city was in rough shape and that it wouldn’t be the same place I had known from 1996-2003; but I had no idea the extent to which that would be true. Even as I arrived, I was making plans in my head to write about the food and the restaurants and how they had changed as a result of the storm. Now, I can’t even think in terms of food about the city without first explaining the city itself: she ain’t what she used to be.
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