Pasture Raised vs Free Range

This is a topic I will rant about all summer and continually educate you on. Free range simply means the birds aren’t caged up.  To many industrial producers, such as Tyson or Gerber, that means free range within a large chicken barn.  So they never see green grass! Pasture raised means that the birds are…

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Deboning a Chicken and Cooking in Parts

Place the chicken on the cutting board, breast side up.  Remove the thigh‐leg pieces.  Push the thigh away from the body by placing your thumb and fingers between the thigh and the body and then opening your hand.  Carefully cut the skin that should be stretched by this action.  Once the flesh is exposed put…

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Turkey Brining

Brining is a method of soaking meat in a salt-based solution to tenderize the meat, infuse flavors, and help the meat retain moisture while cooking. The additional moisture in the meat also reduces the cooking time since water transfers energy faster than air. There are no standard “best” brines. It is all a matter of…

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Thanksgiving Tips from Parker Bosley

Make turkey stock a day early The day before you roast the turkey, use the neck and the first two wing joints to make a stock.  Chop the wing joints and the neck into one inch pieces.  Brown these in some butter with chopped onion, celery and carrot. Cover with water and bring to a boil.   Skim the stock. Add some thyme…

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Cooking with Pumpkin

Try using any variety of Sweet or Pie pumpkins for a ton of iron, fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C and antioxidants! It’s also totally delicious, and easy to cook with. Make your own from-scratch pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin butter, etc. Slice the pumpkin in half (creating two symmetrical halves, except for the stem) and scoop…

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Making Apple Sauce and Apple Butter  

Don’t ever throw out any apples that are getting old in your refrigerator, may be bruised, or you just don’t have the appetite to eat.  Preserve them by turning them into apple sauce or apple butter. Apple sauce is very simple.  Simply peel and core your apples.  Add them to a heavy bottomed stock pock with about a cup of water, depending on…

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Grass-Fed Beef

OK, no beating around the bush here. If you like your beef cooked well, just throw this meat out now.  It’s not meant to be enjoyed well done.  Steaks should be medium at most; roasts cooked slow with moisture; and ground is A‐OK dark pink in the middle and juicy. The meat is slightly sweet, lean and has a very natural…

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Cooking a grassfed beef steak

Get your grill hot.  Real hot.  Most grills in restaurants are 500 degrees or greater. Rub your steak with the seasonings you desire. Only use a little salt if you do.  Salt will pull the moisture out of the steak.  Allow seasonings to soak in for 30 minutes at room temperature. Get your grill grate very clean and rub it quickly with oil.  Put your…

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Macerated Berries

As you have likely discovered, fresh fruits have essentially no shelf life. Fortunately, especially if you have little ones, you probably don’t have to even worry about the berries making it all the way home from your pick up! To make the most of your fruit, try a technique known as maceration. Simply chop the fruit into small…

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Skim vs 2% vs Whole Milk

Last week I was fascinated by the demand for skim milk…so I thought this week might be a good time to start a conversation about milk. In this section, I’ll cover 3 topics which I find fascinating: – Federal Milk Market Orders (FMMOs) – Pasteurization and Homogonization – The health effects of milk‐fat FMMOs The most fascinating fact…

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