• A profile of P. Terry's (pictured above), Hill-Bert's and Mighty Fine, three storied burger joints united in their "appetite for construction."
  
• The FDA really doesn't like raw milk, but could it be the next miracle drug?
• In local dining news, Fabi and Rosi brings pan-European cooking to Austin; Max's Wine Dive offers "haute" dogs and a 180-label wine list; a fully organic Natural Grocers opens; and numerous local businesses offer a free breakfast to cyclists who bike to work.
  
• 74-year-old Herb Butler shares his Mom's Cornbread recipe.
• One meat-eater talks about her efforts to eat local beef -- and less of it -- to save both money and the environment.
• Drinks as fashion statements? Click here for a list of drinks and the wedding colors they match.

• Raw Milk -- The risky drink outlawed by some and adored by others. And now demand is increasing in the UK.
• The title says it all: "Cheese made with unpasteurized milk is legal and delicious."
• Locavore is on its way to a prime restaurant destination, but is currently perfectly sweet but a little too salty.
• Wines, Pt 1: Castillo de Monseran 2007 Viura, Robert Mondavi Woodbridge 2007 Merlot, Peninsula Ridge 2007 Sauvignon Blanc
• Wines, Pt 2: Kir-Yianni Petra 2007, Maison Champy Bourgogne Signature 2006, Chakana 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, San Esteban In Situ 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Gran Reserva, Magpie Estate The Sack 2005 Shiraz
• Recipes: Beet and Clementine Salad, Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Zucchini and Capers, Cherry Oatmeal Cookies, Soba Soup with Shiitakes and Spinach, Lemon Risotto with Garlic Chili Shrimp
  

The idea started as a way to use up some sour* milk. I couldn't bear to just pour it down the drain and so I started scouting around for ways in which to use it up. I remembered reading a line in a vintage cookbook about saving sour milk for quick breads and muffins (oh, the food knowledge we've lost over the years, I'm sure my grandma Bunny would have know what to do with sour milk without consulting a cookbook). Flipping through my turquoise-covered Joy of Cooking (the edition from the late 1960s), I settled on making a batch of biscuits.

I realize that for many of you out there, the idea of making biscuits to go with dinner isn't a groundbreaking idea. However, I grew up in a family where we did not eat bread products with our evening meal (although my grandparents always had bread on their dining table and my sister and I used to think it was the most thrilling thing ever) and so for me, dinner-time biscuits feels subversive and exciting.

They came together quickly and baked up quickly, adding a level of special-ness and comfort to a regular old dinner. There were a few leftover and I ate them for breakfast the next day with peanut butter and homemade jam.

*When raw milk sours, it's still usable in baking and cooking. Sadly, when pasteurized milk goes bad, it's just bad and can't be salvaged.

When I was young, my mom went through a raw milk phase. We were living in the Los Angeles area at the time and you could buy raw milk at the local health food store. Her step-father, a cancer researcher and a huge devotee of technology and food science, was appalled when he found out, as truly thought she was putting our health in danger. Eventually she stopped buying it, mostly because of cost and availability, not because of parental pressure or any negative experiences.

Because of this, while I grew up drinking conventional milk, I've never had any negative or concerned feelings towards raw milk. However, I realize I'm in the minority, especially these days, as localities crack down on the availability of raw milk. Milk is pasteurized in order to kill potentially harmful bacteria in the milk. However, raw milk advocates say that the pasteurization also kills all the beneficial bacteria, as well as destroying the fresh, creamy taste that you can only get with raw milk.

What do you think about the raw milk debate? Before you answer that question, go check out this story at Reason Magazine, entitled Raw Milk Rebellion, as well as this piece on Culinate. It's a personal account of one woman's experience with drinking raw milk. Now, what do you think?

You're on vacation in Greece when your stomach gives a sudden lurch and you start to suspect that the grilled lamb you ate the night before might not have been as squeaky clean as you thought (this is not a scenario I've ever found myself in, but hey, it could happen). Instead of running out to a pharmacy for the local equivalent of Pepto-Bismol, head to the local cheese shop for a slab of raw milk feta.

According to Panagiotis Chanos, a researcher from the University of Lincoln, they've been able "to isolate lactic acid bacteria found in raw sheep milk from small farms in Macedonia, northern Greece. Several of these friendly bacteria naturally produce antibiotics that killed off dangerous food-poisoning bacteria like Listeria."

They are hoping to take this research and leverage it into new ways to fight Listeria, as it has been known to cause death in populations who have weakened immune systems.

[via The Grinder]

The world is once again safe for stinky cheeses. At least for now.

Cheese traditionalists have won their battle to make Camembert makers use unpasteurized milk to obtain the prestigious AOC label.

This puts an end to the so-called "Camembert War," fought over the past year, between local producers and two multinational companies, who were concerned that the use of raw milk carried too much risk of e-coli potential. Litigation is expensive these days, you know.

The local cheesemakers, however, being French, were livid at the mere suggestion of a change in process. Only lait cru (raw milk) could be used to make traditional Camembert, (and only from local cows!) because it introduced flavors that connected the cheese to its local soil. It's all in keeping with the original recipe, they argued, which was received by a Camembert woman, Marie Harel in 1791, in exchange for hiding a priest on the run from French revolutionaries.

The use of pasteurized milk would make Camembert inauthentic, they said, which would threaten its Appelation D'Origine Controlle (AOC) distinction. That's the stamp of authenticity cheese purists and foodies around the world look for when buying Camembert and other regional products.

The French governing body that controls the AOC will formerly approve the rule in coming months, according to press accounts.

My mom used to buy raw milk when I was a kid, until her step-father (who was a scientist) bombarded her with information about how she was putting our health at risk by allowing us to drink it. While she never totally bought his argument, the mere chance that she could possibly be endangering us was enough to convince her to end our raw milk days.

Last Friday the California Department of Food and Agriculture issued a recall of Organic Pastures Dairy Co. cream despite the fact that there are no reported incidents of illness linked to that product at this time. This is not the first time that state health officials have recalled Organic Pastures products. A year ago to the month they issued a similar recall. Raw milk producers and consumers are crying foul, protesting that the state is simply trying to shut down the raw milk industry. Health officials state that they issued the recall in the best interests of the consumers. Admittedly, the tests showed signs of listeria, but representatives from the dairy said that it was only present after nine days of testing. Another battle in the raw milk war, it will be interesting to see how this one works out. (For a more complete discussion of this issue, check out this post on The Complete Patient).

Via the Ethicurean

A bill passed a legislative committee on Tuesday that would make the sale of raw, unpasteurized milk legal in the state of Utah, according to an article in The Salt Lake Tribune. If it goes through, Utahns (yes, Utahns) could soon be able to purchase the highly-coveted dairy product in retail stores. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Brad Johnson, R-Aurora, who is also a rancher.

The Utah Dairyman's Association opposes the bill, however, for fear of possible health issues associated with unpasteurized milk. They feel that if an illness were to result from a problem with raw milk, consumers and the media would fail to differentiate between raw (unpasteurized) and pasteurized, leaving the entire industry to suffer.

The Utah Public Health Association opposes the bill as well, for fear of shouldering the financial burdens they say may accompany public illness due to tainted milk.