Jason Neve is the culinary director of all three of Batali’s Las Vegas restaurants: B&B, Otto Pizzeria, and Carnevino Italian Steakhouse.

“This some of the best beef I’ve had outside of Carnevino in a long time. The taste and texture are great. Just enough fat and extremely GOOD fat you can tell it developed naturally and that it should be there. 

“Beefy and Clean.  It has a nice clean flavor that is rich and tender with just the right amount of fat.  It’s easy to tell that fat was developed naturally through good nutrition and not over feeding, because it has a nice even ratio of both intra and extra muscular fat.  Also probably having to do with its freshness and quality the meat is not overly saturated with excess water it has good firmness when cutting, cooks evenly, does not bleed out when slicing and remains moist when eating.”      

Berkshire meat is elegant, luscious and smooth. The streaks of fat that run through Berkshire meat give it a round and buttery flavor that melts on the tongue. The firm and substantial texture of Berkshire meat was so cherished by the British monarchy that they exported the breed all over the world, including Japan where it is called Korobuta.

Our Certified Humane Berkshires are raised by a group of small family farmers in Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. We know our Berkshires are purebred because they all have six white spots, one each on the tip of their feet and one each on the nose and tail. Unlike factory farm pigs, which have been bred to grow quickly in indoor environments, Berkshires have bred for maximum taste. Berkshire meat is so good it can be prepared with almost no additional ingredients save salt and pepper.

This share is truly a nose to tail product!

We are proud to announce our second annual cattle share program with Craig and Amy Good from Good Farms!

The Flint Hills of Kansas and Oklahoma is an ecological region that is home to the most dense coverage of intact tallgrass prairie in North America. Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Indiangrass, Switchgrass, Prairie Dropseed, and Sideoats Grama are among the nutrient rich grasses that the earth naturally produces in the absence of agriculture and are responsible for producing the tastiest grass fed cattle on the planet.

Craig Good is the farmer for this annual tradition of mighty 100% true Angus eighth cattle. For more than 50 years, Craig has worked to maintain a 100% pure line of Angus cattle. The Eighth Cattle Share will allow you to taste the most widely adored beef breed in the United States in its purest form.

History

Bison meat is the true native North American meat. Sixty million bison once roamed the great plains of this land and sustained Native Americans. When the Transcontinental Railroad was built across the country in the 1800s, the bison were split into Northern and Southern herds. The Southern herd included animals from Texas, eastern New Mexico, eastern Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and southern Nebraska. But by the dawn of the 20th century, the total bison population had dwindled to less than 1,000. Thanks to conservation efforts, bison are slowly recovering. The Southern Plains herd that exists today was started in the 1880s by Charles Goodnight, a wealthy American cattlemen. His wife urged him to save five calves at a time when hunters were killing bison by the hundreds of thousands.

Grass-fed Bison is naturally leaner than other meats but the fat it does have is mono-unsaturated making it much healthier while not sacrificing any of the flavor. The leanness of the meat requires low and slow cooking.

About the Farm
Shape Ranch, producer of Thunder Heart Bison, is owned and run by Hugh and Sarah Fitzsimons near San Antonio, Texas. In 1806, the land was granted by the King of Spain to Juan Fransisco Lombrano, a loyal subject of the crown who stocked the ranch with cattle, sheep, and goats. Many generations later in 1933, the ranch was purchased by Hugh’s grandfather, H. A. Fitzsimons, and it has been in the family ever since.

The ranch was originally stocked with registered Hereford cattle and steers until Hugh made the decision to begin a herd of bison. The family now raises 350 head of bison. More recently Shape Ranch decided to concentrate more on the genetic integrity of their bison. The goal is to increase the number of Southern Plains bison that were indigenous to Dimmit County and all of Texas. In 2008, Hugh purchased four members from the only known herd remaining of pure Southern Plains bison. These bulls came from the famous Mary Annand Charles Goodnight herd that is now the Texas State herd at Caprock Canyons State Park. By choosing animals from such legendary sources, the Fitzsimons family insures both strong and diversified genetics.

In April 2009 Thunder Heart Bison was certified by the Animal Welfare Institute as Animal Welfare Approved (AWA). It then became the first bison ranch in the United States to meet the stringent and exacting standards of the AWA.Thunder Heart Bison Ranch is dedicated to allowing bison to live in accordance with their natural instincts: they eat only grass and are killed on the prairies where they live, under low stress conditions. Shape Ranch is one of the very few ranches in America whose buffalo are both grass-fed and field-harvested. By grazing on such native grasses as Sea Coast Bluestem, Old World Bluestem, Curly Mesquite, and Hooded Windmill, these bison produce a flavor that is mild and delicate.

Help us save the Gloucestershire Old Spot (GOS)! The breed was developed in the Berkeley Vale of Gloucestershire, England, during the 1800s where they often grazed in the fruit orchards and ate up the fallen fruit. GOS became rare after World War II, when the shift to intensive pig production reduced interest in outdoor pigs and the breed almost became extinct in the 1960s.

The Gloucestershire Old Spot is a critically endangered breed: fewer than 200 annual registrations in the United States and estimated global population less than 2,000.

Along with the Red Wattle, they are the rarest pig breed Heritage Foods sells.

The GOS has the milkiest fat of any pig breed we have ever tasted. Each pig has a distinct layer of backfat and marbling within the meat making it the bacon pig of choice for many. (Stay tuned for a small supply cured just for us available in a few weeks!) The GOS is also a favorite of farmers who appreciate the breed’s intellect and docility. Both Good Farms and Lazy S. Ranch raise GOS pigs for Heritage Foods.

This week Heritage Foods is premiering a special GOS sampler pack. More info here http://tinyurl.com/bmq4sb9

We’re proud to congratulate our friends, the Fantasma Family for placing FIRST in the Hot Italian Sausage category at this year’s Wurstfest, a German Sausage Fest in Hermann, Missouri.
The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus meaning salted. There are hundreds of different varieties of sausage made around the world, varying by regional tastes and available ingredients.
Our partners and friends at Paradise Locker Meats make their own versions of two sausage varieties: an Original Smoked Kielbasa and Hot Italian Sausage. Their sausages follow multi-generational recipes passed on to patriarch Mario Fantasma.

heritageradionetwork:

With The New Amsterdam Market, Robert LaValva has helped bring the New York City’s history back by reviving our public market tradition. With hosts Erin Fairbanks and Eddie Shumard, Robert discuss the emerging issues facing the New Amsterdam Market - including possible new locations amidst real estate development. Find out how the market was founded and what the future holds for the local food business outlet. From quality control to city regulations - get some deep insight into the inner workings of public markets in this great city. This program was sponsored by Hearst Ranch.

Listen to the show here:

“New Amsterdam market is specifically not for farmers, but for small food businesses sourcing or using and reselling regional ingredients.” [03:00]

“A market is only as good as its reputation. If you’re purporting to represent something - you have to be vigilant about representing it.” [24:00]

—Robert LaValva of New Amsterdam Market on HeritageRadioNetwork.org

heritageradionetwork:

We couldn’t be prouder to call the International Culinary Center a supporter of HRN. Their founder and CEO, Dorothy Cann Hamilton host’s the incredible Chef’s Story program on our network. If you like food and want to cook one day - you’d be a fool to miss this show!

Meet our farmer

Larry Sorell (pictured above) and his wife Madonna raise numerous heritage breeds on Lazy S. Farm in Kansas including Highland cattle; Red Wattle, Old Spot, and Large Black pigs; and Katahdin and CVM-Columbian crossed lamb. The Sorells raise the best Red Wattle pigs in the country. True Red Wattle hogs have two wattles hanging from their cheeks, a powerful reminder of their wild ancestry. Enjoy their products in our Breed Variety Pack!