Regular readers will know we got skunked on a recent elk hunting trip to Colorado. Rather than come back without an elk story for you, dear reader, I visited an old fashioned butcher that processes all sorts of meat, from wild beasties to hogs and beef cattle raised by the local 4H.

The distinction between wild game taken by hunters and ranched game sold to restaurants is important because hunted meats can not be sold for public consumption. In order to be legally sold in this country, domesticated game animals (like all other livestock) must be slaughtered and immediately processed in a USDA inspected abattoir. While these barriers exist to protect public health, they also make delicous game meats less accessible and more expensive to the average food lover.

Hunters bring their game to “no kill” facilities like Old World Meat, which fabricates elk carcasses into steaks, roasts and delicious sausages. At the height of the hunting season, over two tons of elk are processed here each day, but Old World still returns orders with next day service.

The sheer size of an elk requires hunters to halve or quarter it to haul it out of the woods. At left, shop co-owner Matt Anderegg poses with two hindquarters as delivered by a customer. An elk carcass resembles a scaled-down side of beef, and is cut in much the same manner. Major differences: elk are not as thickly muscled as cattle, and run far leaner due to their active outdoor lifestyle.

Prior to fabriation, any stray hairs and debris are singed off the exterior with a propane flame thrower. The outermost layer of meat and silverskin is sliced off and disposed. The clean, interior muscle is cut to each customer’s specifications, immediately packaged in butcher paper and flash frozen. A 400 pound elk ultimately yields about 100 pounds of delicious venison, according to Anderegg’s estimates.

Notice the leanness of elk meat in both these photos. Elk tastes like expensive, dry aged beef in that its minerally, meaty flavors are concentrated compared to ordinary, unaged beef. Unlike other kinds of wild meats, elk has little of the gaminess you might expect. I asked the Andereggs what contributes to off flavors of game meats, and an interesting debate ensued. Matt’s brother in law Rick Nehm suggested that diet plays a major role, and cited how antelope tastes like the highland sage on which they feed. Dumpster diving bears reportedly taste like garbage, while those living far from human contact don’t. I’m told that mountain lion tastes horrible no matter what.

The way that game is handled after the kill also plays a role in its flavor. For hunters, the Andereggs offer these basic tips for optimal quality:

• Cool the meat as quickly as possible in the field by skinning, gutting, and bleeding immediately.
• Expose more surface area to the cold winter air by cutting the carcass into quarters.
• Do not rinse the meat, nor allow ice to contact it directly.

How many butcher shops these days sell entire sides of beef, or whole hogs custom cut and wrapped for your freezer? The Anderegg family has since 1967. They make over thirty kinds of fresh, smoked and fully cooked sausages, and house-smoke hams, bacon and turkey. Stout 1/4 inch slices of their bacon at bottom right are the thickest you’re likely to find unless you slice your own slab bacon.

On the day I visited, chicken and apple sausage was being made. Shot with high velocity from the muzzle of a full auto sausage cannon, the machine simultaneously twists the filled collagen casings into links of consistent size and density. Whoever said you don’t want to see sausage or politics being made was only half right.

Beef jerky and elk snack sticks (at top right and left) had just finished curing in the smoker. The skinny snack sticks resemble the Polish sausages called kabanosy, except these are made of ranched elk and pork. Offered in their most popular teriyaki flavor or a not so spicy “hot” stick, they made for the perfect car snack on our drive home to California. Well, almost perfect: an Octoberfest lager would have paired great with these delicious sausages. Thanks, Matt, for your road trip gifts!

Expert meat purveyors are a dying breed even in places with a strong ranching and hunting tradition like Colorado’s Western slope. Where I live, it’s incredibly rare to find a butcher shop with extensive expertise in wild and domesticated meats, let alone in-house smoking and curing capabilities. I was thrilled to stumble across Old World on my short visit to Grand Junction, and look forward to visiting again (with my own elk, hopefully) next year.

Old World Meat
1765 Main Street
Grand Junction, CO 91501
970-245-2261

Long before industrial snack foods and convenience stores were imagined, boiled peanuts fed the car driving public’s craving for salty snacks. Throughout the American South, roadside vendors set up high BTU propane burners and kettles at gas stations, fruit stands, and empty lots to serve locally grown peanuts in a style as old as the dirt they grew in.

Thanks to an influx of Southeast Asian farmers, Californians with a Dixie heritage can fill their cravings for an absent favorite. Peanuts feature prominently in cuisines influenced by the Chinese diaspora, so inquire among the Hmong, Vietnamese, and Thai specialty growers at your local L.A. area farmers market.

Raw, or “green” peanuts, still moist from the damp earth in which it grew, more closely resemble pod beans than tree nuts. Botanically speaking, they are legumes. As these freshly harvested peanuts dry, they harden and take on a more nut like character. Boiled peanuts don’t have the crunch you’d expect from the dry roasted variety, but a wet, briny, bean like texture, more like edamame’s country cousin.

The local season lasts through the end of December.

Basic Boiled Peanuts

1 pound green, or raw, peanuts
4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in a pot, and bring to a boil. You can adjust the brine strength to your preference, but a long boil will increase the salt concentration.
Reduce heat, and cover with a lid cracked opened slightly.
Gently simmer for an hour and a half, stirring occasionally so the peanuts don’t stick to the bottom and burn.

Get your Kyoho grapes before they disappear. The vendor at my local UC Irvine farmer’s market tells me this Saturday will close out her season, and they won’t be back until next July.

Kyohos are one of Asia’s most popular table grapes. With its high sugar content and distinctively strong flavor, they almost taste artificially enhanced by some flavor scientists’ mad experiments. They resemble Concord grapes in their large size and thick skin. Some describe them as tasting like Concord grape jelly, but to me, they taste more like Japanese grape flavored beverages or candy. To each his cultural reference, I guess.

Park’s Vineyard grows them on their Temecula property about two hours’ drive south of Los Angeles. If you miss out on local kyohos, you’ll see imported Chilean kyohos next spring.

Park’s Vineyard also sells them at the Santa Monica farmer’s market on Pico Blvd and Centinela. Both the Santa Monica market and the one at UC Irvine are held on Saturday mornings, and I suspect their booths will sell out by noon time. Look for this banner, and don’t show up late.

Late summer’s fruitful riches fill our Southern California farmers markets. The many varieties of apricots, peaches and nectarines tempt buyers with their perfume in a way that rock hard supermarket stone fruit can’t.

Buying direct from the growers can sometimes save you money, but variety and vine-ripened freshness are the real reasons for shopping at the farmer’s markets. Rather than the usual industrial cultivars, they’ll raise more flavorful fruit and vegetable varieties. Among the dozens of heirloom tomato varieties sold here, there’s a supersweet, flavor rich hybrid called Sungold, which was recently featured in Saveur Magazine’s Top 100 list. I’ve grown nine tomato plants in my garden plot this year, and the sungold hybrids are my clear favorite. Gardeners can buy seeds from Totally Tomato. (Thanks, Liza, for hooking me up with my seedlings!)

As a neophyte gardener, I’ve sponged off the market vendors for plant care advice, and lifted ideas for things to plant next season. I find without exception the farmers generously share their knowledge, and I value the markets as much for the producers as the produce.

Not all farmer’s markets are the same, though. My local Saturday market across from UC Irvine is Orange County’s biggest, but still pales in comparison to the biggies in L.A. County. These photos were taken at the Santa Monica organic market last Wednesday. The Santa Monica and Hollywood markets, held several times a week, draw the biggest number of vendors and top chefs who shop for locally grown produce.

Among them was a crew from Santa Monica’s bastion of California cuisine, Josie Restaurant. Chef de Cuisine Jill Davie stopped me and chatted because we were both wearing t shirts from Piggly Wiggly, the southern supermarket chain.

T shirt twins: Professor Salt & Chef Davie

Organic shallots from Windrose Farms. I’m using these to seed my garden this winter.

Does your supermarket sort fruit by ripeness?

For a list of farmer’s markets in the greater Los Angeles region, head over to LA Times list of local famer’s markets.