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Locavore Fun

Posted at 7:27 PM on December 1, 2008 by Vera Schabicki (3 Comments)

I have been having so much fun being a Locavore for the last couple of weeks.

The Thursday before Thanksgiving I had a lovely autumn drive to the Oxford area for a stop at Stan's Country Store. Our friend Pat and his new very charming friend Andrea were coming for the weekend after spending a week volunteering in New Orleans and I wanted to wow them with our wonderful local sausage. (The previous weekend I had wowed them with lovely Zion Farms roasted chicken for dinner and Mr Cheeseman's eggs and local jalapenos for breakfast, and also that no-knead bread with War Eagle Mill flour.) The day was cool and clear with glorious fall colors, I had no kids in the car, yes that is right, I was completely alone......very rare....

I had been to Stan's twice before and each time I met a gracious and charming person who went out of their way to answer questions and share local food lore. This trip was no exception. I had a wonderful time talking to Frank, who it turns out is the sausage maker at Stan's (and his market in Oxford is called the Farmers Market). The sausages I have had here have all been delicious, a sentiment shared by many friends for whom I have cooked them. This time they had a large display of fresh as well as smoked and dried sausages, I brought home a large selection including andouille, chorizo, mild Italian and a delicious cheese jalapeno......all yummy. The biggest surprise was the mild Italian. I like this type of sausage but I usually look for a more robust flavor, like the jalapeno, but the process of smoking the sausage gave such a deep and fully developed flavor that we all kept going back and sampling more. Frank had also made some coppa, a dried Italian salami style meat, as well as prosciutto......really, Mississippi prosciutto, and it was pretty good! I also bought some things I had not tried before including guanciale and tasso. These are dried spiced meats that are usually used in flavoring greens and beans and things.....I will have to get back to y'all on how I used these and how they taste. As I write this we are having an argument about whether it was the fresh chorizo or andouille that was filled with local greens...collards, kale, whatever.....very yum. Frank gave me a gift of boudin, a Cajun liver sausage, and two of us loved it (the other two did not care for it, the kids declined), and some dried chorizo made by his assistant from an old recipe from the area of Mexico City (universal acclaim on that one).

Frank said that Stan raises his hogs free range in very humane conditions with no wierd feeds...he does not even dock their tails!

Then to top off this fun visit, he told me that he has a litle grocery store that sells local veggies, he apparently grows many of them with his wife, mostly organic.....I asked why I had never heard of him and he told me people find him when they need to. How cosmic is that......

I have more fun things to share but the banshees are screaming for their story time...so many kids so little time....

Best wishes, Vera

Comments (3)

Vera, anyone who thinks "deprivation" in the context of eating locally would do well to read your excellent post. Wow. And I absolutely love this quote "I asked why I had never heard of him and he told me people find him when they need to. How cosmic is that......"
Cosmic, indeed.
Donna

Posted by Donna McClurkan | December 4, 2008 11:38 AM

Dear Donna,

Thank you for your kind comments, I will miss you when this is all over......If you are ever in the memphis area I will take you for a drive to Stan's and we will have a picnic (did I mention that the wife of the other butcher/sausage maker leaves a little styrofoam cooler of Tamales on the table once in a while.......mmmmmmmmmmmmm...)

Best regards, Vera

Posted by vera schabicki | December 15, 2008 1:03 AM

Vera,
I may just take you up on that picnic/trip to Stan's. We have fond memories of Memphis in May and the blues. :)
Donna

Posted by Donna McClurkan | December 16, 2008 1:42 PM