Although vegetables and fruit grown near the city have been the stars of the Greenmarkets for almost 30 years, pork, beef and lamb from local pastures are fast becoming the new darlings of the stands. New Yorkers, who are among the nation’s early adopters of culinary trends, are learning that there is more to meat than uniform grain-fed slabs laid out on plastic trays.
Breeding is at the heart of a good plate of sustainable meat. At Flying Pigs Farm in the Battenkill River Valley, Michael Yezzi and Jennifer Small work with three breeds: Tamworths, Gloucestershire Old Spots and Large Blacks. Because the pigs get so much exercise and eat lots of mineral-rich plants, their meat is redder than commercial pork, with nice marbling. The thick layer of fat has a clean, rich flavor that gets silky in cuts that take a lot of braising, like a shank or a shoulder.
The 150-acre farm is next to the land Ms. Small grew up on. She and Mr. Yezzi bought it in 1997 to keep it from being developed. Five years ago, they decided to raise three pigs. They love pork and needed a way to manage the brush around their house.
The next year they raised 14 pigs and took their pork to the Greenmarket, selling at the Borough Hall site in Brooklyn. Manhattan chefs jumped at what they were producing, so they went up to 57 the next year. Last year they slaughtered 200 pigs. That kind of success is welcome, but keeping up with demand is tough.
The breeds the couple raise are rare, and the pigs don’t grow as quickly as more commercial breeds. Because they grow so slowly, it costs more to raise them.
Ms. Yezzi and Mr. Small, whose practices are certified humane by a nonprofit organization called Humane Farm Animal Care, take most of their pigs to a government-approved slaughterhouse about 20 minutes away. The costs for such careful treatment mean that the couple pay more than $200 a pig just for slaughtering and processing.
The extra labor, the extra time and the land required to raise the rarer breeds, along with the higher processing costs, mean that the couple are paying almost 10 times as much as their competition at larger commercial operations in the Midwest, Mr. Yezzi said. That’s why a pork chop can cost $11 a pound. But it’s a price that Mr. Yezzi’s customers don’t seem to mind paying. “The Greenmarket customers are well educated on food issues,” he said. “They know what they want.”
The New York Times : Give ’em a Chance, Steers Will Eat Grass
Posted: June 2, 2005 by Certified Humane
Although vegetables and fruit grown near the city have been the stars of the Greenmarkets for almost 30 years, pork, beef and lamb from local pastures are fast becoming the new darlings of the stands. New Yorkers, who are among the nation’s early adopters of culinary trends, are learning that there is more to meat than uniform grain-fed slabs laid out on plastic trays.
Breeding is at the heart of a good plate of sustainable meat. At Flying Pigs Farm in the Battenkill River Valley, Michael Yezzi and Jennifer Small work with three breeds: Tamworths, Gloucestershire Old Spots and Large Blacks. Because the pigs get so much exercise and eat lots of mineral-rich plants, their meat is redder than commercial pork, with nice marbling. The thick layer of fat has a clean, rich flavor that gets silky in cuts that take a lot of braising, like a shank or a shoulder.
The 150-acre farm is next to the land Ms. Small grew up on. She and Mr. Yezzi bought it in 1997 to keep it from being developed. Five years ago, they decided to raise three pigs. They love pork and needed a way to manage the brush around their house.
The next year they raised 14 pigs and took their pork to the Greenmarket, selling at the Borough Hall site in Brooklyn. Manhattan chefs jumped at what they were producing, so they went up to 57 the next year. Last year they slaughtered 200 pigs. That kind of success is welcome, but keeping up with demand is tough.
The breeds the couple raise are rare, and the pigs don’t grow as quickly as more commercial breeds. Because they grow so slowly, it costs more to raise them.
Ms. Yezzi and Mr. Small, whose practices are certified humane by a nonprofit organization called Humane Farm Animal Care, take most of their pigs to a government-approved slaughterhouse about 20 minutes away. The costs for such careful treatment mean that the couple pay more than $200 a pig just for slaughtering and processing.
The extra labor, the extra time and the land required to raise the rarer breeds, along with the higher processing costs, mean that the couple are paying almost 10 times as much as their competition at larger commercial operations in the Midwest, Mr. Yezzi said. That’s why a pork chop can cost $11 a pound. But it’s a price that Mr. Yezzi’s customers don’t seem to mind paying. “The Greenmarket customers are well educated on food issues,” he said. “They know what they want.”
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