What’s In the Harvest Box Next Week?
If we had any more fun around here, you might think that we ran a circus and not a farm. Let me catch you up.
Peaches. Excelsior Orchards continues to impress. Paul dropped a ton of peaches (literally not figuratively) at our warehouse this week. Starfire is their name. Perfect balance of sweet, acid, and juice I would argue. Freestone pit so you can eat it clean down to the center. We will have peaches for another 2-3 weeks it looks like. So stock up, can, eat, freeze, dry, or jam. We are in the pinnacle of stone fruit season, so this is not a good time to be sitting on the sidelines not getting orders. Get in the game amigos.
Fresh pork. After a long spring and summer in our fields, our little piggies are all grown up now. We will be processing them over the next month. We just received our first batch from the butcher and I asked them to make some green chile links and chorizo links. 1/4 lb each link and all I can say is wow. You will not find sausage links like this anywhere. Pasture-raised pork with all of the spices that New Mexico has to offer. The only question that you have to answer is Red or Green? And if you are smart the answer will be Christmas. Enjoy them both.
But I cannot let these beautiful sausage links leave my sight without putting in my 2 pesos on how to cook them. I have seen a lot of folks butcher (pun intended) perfectly good links. So turn up your volume and let’s talk links.
To be in a safe range, you need to bring your pork links to 145 degrees. Burn that number into your memory. But what I see people do is throw links into a pot of boiling water or broth, 212 degrees. The links in their tender and fragile state get overcooked and turn hard. So repeat this mantra after me as you cook…Boiling Bad.
So how do we do it right? Throw your links in a stock pot. They can be thawed or frozen it doesn’t really matter. Next, pour water, broth, or beer (my fav) over the links until they are covered. You do not need an excessive amount of liquid. Just get the dudes covered.
Next is where the magic happens; insert food thermometer into the liquid. If you do not have a food thermometer, go get one now. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Thermometers are the best $10 you can spend in your kitchen. OK, so when you have your thermometer in the broth, fire up the heat. But DO NOT let it boil.
Bring the heat of the broth to 145 (the safe temp for pork) and try and hold it there for 10 minutes or so. This will give the links time to get to 145, but most importantly it will not overcook them. If you need the grill marks on your links, fire that grill up hot and roll/sear the links for a few moments after you cook them in the broth. Do not cook them on the grill though. It will dry them out too much. Follow these simple steps and you will be amazed at how well you will cook links.
Lastly, our 2nd Annual Green Chile Roast will be September 24th this year. Bring your friends and family and we will be roasting green chile all morning for you to buy in bulk for your freezer. Because we just don’t have the freezer space, we will not be distributing individual portions of green chile this year in the CSA boxes.
We also will open up a Meat Market (no, not like the gym you go to) so you can pick up our pork and grass-fed beef to add to your freezer as well. This was a blast last year and will be a great time I promise. At our warehouse, 3435 Stanford Dr NE, 9am-Noon.
So know that as the sea of labels swells like a typhoon, we will be your anchor of sanity. And that together, we will disregard what our moms told us and we will “play with our food” and learn about our food and build relationships with our food. So buckle up and enjoy the ride.
What goes well with cherry pastries? Coffee. I love coffee. I drink coffee before, during and after I brush my teeth in the morning. There is never a bad time for coffee.