"meat" news and stories

Happy National Meat Month!

Recent carnivorous food trends ranging from fried chicken to nose-to-tail eating to just about anything involving bacon indicate one thing with certainty: Meat is back in style. In fact, according to this month's NPR study, even many devout vegetarians have trouble saying no to it, and are succumbing its temptations, namely in the form of bacon, the "gateway" to meat consumption.

And what better way to celebrate this carnivorous month than with a charcuterie platter showcasing a variety of cuts? But we surely don't need to persuade you -- we have no doubt you all have a cherished favorite, be it a juicy burger, ham-and-cheese sandwich or anything fresh off the grill. If you're carnivorously inclined, enjoy heeding the advice of writer Fran Lebowitz this month: "Vegetables are interesting but lack a sense of purpose when unaccompanied by a good cut of meat."

Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool to get a shot at having your photos featured on the site.

For those of you who love to rant against vegans, you're about to get fuel for your fire. The Stir just posted a story about how Simon Fairlie's new book, Meat, a Benign Extravagance, already has high-profile English vegan activist George Monbiot thinking differently about meat. Monbiot's vegan retraction "I was wrong about veganism" is a delicious read for carnivores.

That doesn't mean you can now scarf down a Big Mac guilt free (environmentally speaking) -- it's all about which meat you eat and how it's raised. Head over to The Stir to read about the 5 ways that meat can be earth friendly...

Have you noticed how the centers of your steaks have become bloodier over time? Since, say, 1982, according to New York Times food writer Florence Fabricant?

Susan Burton has. In an essay on Slate.com, Burton publicly declares her meat preference as "cooked through, gray, no trace of pink." And while you may think that sounds like she's ordering up shoe leather, Burton says "that [her choice] signifies 'food safety.'" With that, she sets off on a fascinating historical journey of how the tradition of cooking meat well done has slowly slipped out of favor in American kitchens.

Some local food advocates in Kentucky are questioning a new Department of Agriculture program that will slap "Kentucky Proud" labels on beef processed in the upper Midwest.

A Business Lexington columnist reported there was an "outcry" from readers after learning of the state's plans to partner with Minnesota's PM Beef to overcome economy of scale issues that have prevented beef from becoming a major component of Kentucky's nine-year-old homegrown foods initiative. The situation's familiar to many cattle-farming southern states: Consolidation in the meatpacking industry has left Kentucky without the processing facilities it needs to keep its citizens supplied with affordable red meat.

"If we assume everyone in Kentucky eats an average of 80 pounds a year, with the processing capacity we have in Kentucky, we can provide only four percent of that consumption," Kentucky Department of Agriculture spokesman Bill Clary explains.

Under the new program, Clary says, PM Beef will purchase certified Kentucky-raised Angus cattle through Kentucky markets.

Turducken is a de-boned turkey stuffed with a de-boned duck, which is stuffed with a de-boned chicken that is usually stuffed with a sausage, cornbread stuffing. But you already knew this. This distinctly Southern holy trinity of protein has gone from culinary curiosity to mainstream obsession over the course of its short life (its origins are disputed, but it seemed to magically appear sometime in the early to mid-1980s.)

The Turducken's place in the mighty pantheon of American cuisine is a forgone conclusion. This Frankenstein of Fowl Meat is here to stay. But that doesn't mean you know everything about this truly savory gift to the carnivore. In fact, here are five things you didn't know about the happy marriage between gobblers, quackers, and cluck-cluckers.

For those of you who want to try to conjure this delicacy, check out noted health food pioneer Paula Deen's recipe here.