We don’t eat a lot of meat here in our house. It’s a combination of many things. For one, I don’t like red meat, so I never think to cook it (except for pot roasts and beef stew! Yum!), Pete participates in meat fasts (and occasionally vegan fasts) for religious reasons frequently through the year and for the sake of easiness, I usually follow with him (except he’s crazy if he thinks I’ll give up butter or eggs or ice cream), and, naturally, we’ve both become leery of eating meat from CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feed Operations) and I’ve basically given up industrial-raised meat entirely.
Because of those reasons, we don’t eat a lot of meat. I’m lucky that I have a few local sources- and one not so local. Every year my parents raise a cow to provide them with beef for the year, and I’m usually lucky enough to get a few cuts from them whenever I go home. I’ve still got a package of rib-eyes and a package of stew-beef from them in the freezer now, one of which we will be eating very, very soon.
Our CSA usually has beef and I’ve already told you about the marvelous chickens, but just recently, the pork finally came in. They’ve had the pigs there for quite a while and I’ve been eyeing their bellies and waiting for bacon. About a week and a half ago, we went in and picked up about 25lbs of pork- chops, ground, a massive 6.5 lb shoulder, and- best of all!- 8.7 lbs of fresh bacon. I’m a little confused about this, to be honest, because I don’t have any idea what to do with fresh bacon. For now, it’s a comfortable frozen block in our freezer, so if anyone has any insight or experience with bacon…speak up, please!
And as we speak, that shoulder is slowly roasting away in a crust of apple cider and brown sugar in a slow oven getting tender and delicious.
It’s so nice to have meat again!
Surviving (on) Massachusetts 