{"id":152010,"date":"2014-06-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gracious-khorana.45-76-20-142.plesk.page\/main-street-meats-fennel-leek-orange-pork-osso-buco\/"},"modified":"2023-06-26T17:11:54","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T17:11:54","slug":"main-street-meats-fennel-leek-orange-pork-osso-buco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/localmilkblog.com\/2014\/06\/main-street-meats-fennel-leek-orange-pork-osso-buco.html","title":{"rendered":"Main Street Meats: Fennel, Leek, & Orange Pork Osso Buco"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When my local butcher, Main Street Meats<\/a>, called me up and asked if I wanted to create something delicious together for the launch of their new cooking blog<\/a>, of course I said yes. One of the driving forces behind this blog is a the belief that sustainable, locally sourced food is good for both body, community, and soul. Since a hog is at the heart of southern cuisine (albeit with a garland of vibrant produce around its neck), I wanted to not just cook pork, but to cook a cheap cut that isn\u2019t familiar to a lot of people: pork osso buco. Which is fancy for pork shank. I\u2019m not one who\u2019s body or spiritual path precludes me from eating meat, but I do make it a habit to only cook meat that was sustainably raised, preferably locally. It\u2019s clean, fresh, and flavorful, and animals that are provided with and allowed a diverse diet contain far more nutrients than their ill-starred factory farmed relatives. Cooking & eating is a spiritual enterprise; it\u2019s that moment in which we take from earth the energy, the life force, we need to live, love, and create. That might sound flaky, I get that. But it\u2019s the literal truth. As such I aim to do both with mindfulness, reverence, and gratitude whenever possible. I\u2019m not in a brilliantly evolved head space every time I sit down to eat, but at the very least, I thank the beings that gave their force for mine.<\/p>\n

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I wanted a closer look at the process. It\u2019s my opinion that, since I\u2019m an omnivore, I owe the animals I eat an acknowledgment that they were in fact fauna that roamed the earth. It\u2019s easy to disconnect the vacuum packed parcels from the beasts, and for me, it\u2019s a disservice to try to forget the life they led. If I\u2019m going to eat meat, I\u2019m going to acknowledge the full spectrum of that process. So early in the morning I met Moby, Amy, and Milton at the shop and we watched Milton break down half a hog from Sequatchie Cove Farm. It was art, and I\u2019m grateful that Chattanooga is blessed with people who care enough about the food we eat here to put in the time, energy, and talent to do it right.<\/p>\n

As a matter of fact, Main Street Meats<\/a> is the only<\/em> butcher shop we have here in Chattanooga, TN. Before it\u2019s inception, we were butcherless and you could only find good meat at the markets a few times a week. Now all you have to do is pay them a visit to get local meat for your family any day of the week. Beside that they\u2019ve got housemade sausages, bacon, local cheeses, house made dishes like their famous Chicken Pot Pie (lard crust, y\u2019all), and so much other goodness (including nice leaf lard for baking pastries!) So, after getting a first hand look at the process, Moby & Amy<\/a> went with me to the farmer\u2019s market to get some produce to cook along with it, and then they joined me in my kitchen to cook up a spring braise.<\/p>\n

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Yes, a spring braise. Eating from the butcher shop means branching out into cuts that might not be as familiar as ye olde filet, ribeye, and strip. But they\u2019re often more affordable and flavorful. So, we wanted to show that the cuts of meat that benefit from low and slow (and largely hands off!) cooking aren\u2019t just for the cooler months. And paired with grassy fennel, bright citrus, a splash of dry white wine, and meltingly tender leeks, that\u2019s exactly what we achieved. You can find the recipe along with the sides we served it with, cheese polenta & spicy bitter greens<\/a> on their brand new blog<\/a>! They\u2019ll be updating it with recipes for the various cuts of sustainably raised meats they carry, tutorials, and information on upcoming workshops<\/a> like the one tomorrow, Sausage 101: sausage making & tasting with a beer pairing \u00a0(with craft beers graciously provided by The Flying Squirrel). It\u2019s all sold out, and I\u2019m so excited about it and about their future endeavors. If you missed out, you can follow them on instagram<\/a> and twitter<\/a> to remain abreast of upcoming events and posts.<\/p>\n

So, if you\u2019re local and you haven\u2019t stopped by Main Street Meats<\/a>, do. It\u2019s the best source of meat in town, and once you stop in, you\u2019ll be there every week. There are really no words for how much it\u2019s worth making an extra stop. I know we\u2019re all \u00a0busy, and it\u2019s tempting to want to do a one stop shop, but if we embrace the older way and support our local butcher, we\u2019ll be rewarded. Just like we were when we took our first bite of this braise. You won\u2019t look back.<\/p>\n

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