Organic vs Sustainable Farming

One of the questions that I often hear at farmer’s markets and am frequently asked is if we serve “organic” produce. To respond simply I say that I seek out and serve as many sustainable goods that I can. The terms “organic and sustainable” are both commonly used by food producers and consumers, but is there an advantage to one or even a difference? While both are advantageous, I find that “organic” is a broad term while “sustainable” simply tastes better.

The term organic refers to global food products that are heavily regulated and can be quite costly for the farmer. It often begins with a waiting period to enssure that the land to be farmed is free from chemicals and synthetic materials, often taking up to 3 years. The farmer must then pay to have soila dn water samples taken and studied, complete documentation on farm history, design a plan for future production and be interviewed at an official farm visit. After all of this, the farmer is required to pay an annual fee anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of dollars. With these demands many of the smaller farms that I work with either don’t have or don’t desire to the label of “organic” for their produce, but would rather be known as sustainable.

In the past couple decades a grass roots movement of sustainability has made its way into homes throughout the country. A bill was passed defining sustainability as a system of farming process that enhances the environment, uses little non-renewable resources, produces food that is healthy to eat, financially sustains the farm and most importantly, enhances the quality of life for farmers and society. Most of the farmers that you will see at your local market tend to use these practices and the cost is much lower. They will use age-old farming techniques like integrated pest management and crop rotation to accomplish what technilogy has put into a powder for industrial farms.

All definitions, sociological and political views on the matter aside, to me, sustainable food simply tastes better. Organic farms can be found throughout the world and are often large in scale with extensive shipping. While the transport of foods has come a long way over the past couple decades, the organic carrot you bought at the grocery store was probably grown out west or even on the other side of the equator and harvested some weeks before you are it. Most sustainable farmers at the markets were digging in the dirt just the day before and probably that morning to harvest the carrots. nothing beats the flavor of a carrot just pulled from the earth, still warm from the sun, washed off and eaten raw. Not only does it taste good but its packed with nutrients that lessen with time and most importantly, it makes me feel like I am making a difference for my guests and farmers alike. To me, that is the essence of sustainability.

A splash of vinegar, a glug of oil and a bit of sunshine

I think most will agree that summertime salads are a staple at backyard barbeques, patio parties and outdoor picnics. However, the type of salad dressing that best compliments such warmer weather fare often seems up for debate. When walking down grocery store aisles, rows of multi-colored, textured and stabilized dressings provide shoppers with hundreds of choices. To create a summer salad dressing that is both light and can be made to suit the tastes of most everyone, I want to explain the basics of creating a vinaigrette.

Vinaigrettes, the combination of oil and vinegar, are typically made of three parts oil to one part vinegar. However, this basic ratio is relative to the amount of finished dressing that can be made, as small as 3 teaspoons oil to 1 teaspoon vinegar, all the way up to 3 gallons oil to 1 gallon vinegar. If you like your vinaigrette a bit more tart you can use two parts oil to one part vinegar, but be weary to let the dressing sit on your salad for long, as the lettuce will wilt much faster.

When making vinaigrettes, don’t feel confined to just using vinegars, but try using naturally acidic juices from citrus fruit and even fruit juices like that of berries or apples. These juices just need a splash of vinegar before mixing with oil. Allow the vinegar to sit or macerate with onions, garlic and ginger, along with salt and pepper for 20 to 30 minutes before mixing. This will allow the flavors to be extracted and the salt to dissolve.

When choosing oil, select an extra virgin olive oil that is very aromatic, but don’t feel confined to using the Italian staple.  I encourage you to experiment using other oils both for their flavor and for their texture, like peanut, corn, vegetable, sesame and even nut-infused oils. When creating Asian style vinaigrettes I tend to make my own blend of oil with peanut oil, for its light texture and add a little sesame for flavor. To infuse other flavors into oil gently warm up a neutral oil like vegetable or grape seed on your stovetop in a sauce pot over low heat with aromatic spices and/or ingredients. Allow it to sit at room temperature until cool before straining and making the dressing.

I don’t think that there is or will ever be a comprehensive collection of all the possibilities of vinaigrette and I hope there never is. As long as a cook at any level can understand the basic ratio and has an appreciation for the elemental ingredients of vinaigrette, the possibilities are infinite, bound only by the imagination. The next time you walk down a grocery aisle or through the farmer’s market; let your imagination run and experiment with different flavors and textures in your salad. Whatever you do, don’t confine yourself to a recipe, as the result of creativity almost always leads to something unique.

Rooting around with wild boars continues with their back door arrival

…Just days earlier, the boar that arrived at Niche were foraging wild in the hill country near Ingram, Texas. Without time on the feed lot, their diet mainly consists of nuts, berries, grasses and tubers as they roam in groups called sounders. Always on the move, their meat is lean and leads to dark meat throughout most of the cuts. The population of wild boar in Texas hovers around 2 million and is regularly thinned out to control populations by licensed trappers. North of San Antonio in the central part of the state, Broken Arrow Ranch prides itself in high quality meats handled and butchered by professionals. A bit to my dismay, due to strict state regulations, I wasn’t allowed many of the parts of the animal that are enjoyed as delicacies by many.

When the usual delivery truck arrived last Friday morning, I carefully lifted the wild boar out of their shipper and watched my regular delivery guys’ eyebrows raise either in sheer curiosity or utter shock. No matter how much research or experience comes flushing back, chefs tend to be most creative when they are able to look at and feel a product much like any other artist and their mediums. Its light rose-colored meat lightly laced in cotton-white fat along with other more graphic in nature yet bright colors showing its freshness, spurned ideas of how we would carefully prepare it. Within moments, ideas of flavors and textures began to run rampant and riddle my brain, but more of that to come later. . .

Tasty Bits: May 2009

Welcome to another edition of Tasty Bits. The past month has been filled with exciting happenings around Niche. We’ve been working with some tools to reach out to you and connect you with us here at the restaurant throughout the day rather than once a month through Tasty Bits. Through social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and here on my blog, you have access to information and the personalities of Niche like never before.

Have questions about recipes, wine pairings or upcoming events? Post a question here or send a direct message via Facebook or Twitter and help answer the questions that so many others share. On the blog, click through the “Courses” to find the Latest Dish, Recipes, Tips, Tools of the Trade, Wine Time and Videos. Receive updates about upcoming events and watch the planning and progress happen streaming online. This is your chance to peek behind the doors of the kitchen at Niche and see a side of us you never knew.

As with all that we do here at Niche from food to wine to service, this social networking will continue to constantly evolve and will be fueled by you, our guest and reader. Your regular input will stimulate conversations about food and wine, resulting in a true appreciation for great restaurants.