Grilling Season Isn't Far Off

As must be obvious with that kind of headline, I am very eager for grilling season to arrive -- so much so that I've been looking online and in cookbooks for good recipes for grilling out.

I found this Martha Stewart recipe for grilled lamb with a feta dipping sauce (see recipe #4). It sounds really good.

The best lesson I've learned in recent years is to brine both chicken and pork (but not hot dogs) before you set them on the grill.

A Hurdle for Locally Raised Meats

The "locavore" movement -- the move to encourage restaurant chefs and home cooks to find local sources for the foods they prepare -- has a big hurdle when it comes to meats.

According to the New York Times, a shortage of slaughterhouses in many areas of the country is making it difficult for those who raise pigs, cattle and other meat to get their products to market. The article quotes a federal statistic showing that the number of slaughterhouses within the U.S. has fallen 33 percent since 1992. The Times writes:

Fewer slaughterhouses to process local meat means less of it in butcher shops, grocery stores and restaurants.

... "There are a lot of people out there who raise great animals for us to use, and they don't have the opportunity to get them to us because the slaughterhouses are going away," said Bill Telepan, chef and owner of Telephan, a high-end restaurant in New York.

A Different Kind of Strip Tease

In the latest issue of Details magazine, Ben Leventhal writes an article with a rather provocative headline: "Has Bacon Mania Gone Too Far?" He writes:

Not too long ago bacon was just bacon, the great American Breakfast Meat -- a fatty, crispy, salty, smoky, spicy piece of perfection. It was a culinary simpleton, and that was the appeal.

Then it started going all Hollywood, or rather Michelin, on us as chefs like Thomas Keller and Tom Colicchio discovered the virtues of cooking with bacon.

Soon it was catapulted onto plates in fine restaurants around the country.

It's a fun read. The entire article is here.