Freshly Carved Inspiration

By Douglas J. Peckenpaugh, Culinary Editor & Community Director of Content

Two emerging trends related to meat are progressively capturing consumer attention: sustainability and humane practices related to raising animals, and the reemergence of artisan butchery. These interconnected concerns fit into a greater mounting megatrend of consumer food nostalgia, a longing for a return to the perceived clean-label agricultural and post-slaughter practices more familiar to our forefathersbut clearly updated via todays culinary acumen.

Invested in agriculture

High-end chefs are almost invariably the initial drivers of culinary trends, and the ongoing interest in sustainably raised animals is no exception. What started with menuing Berkshire pork has continued with wider attention to Duroc, Red Wattle and other heritage breeds. And this last year saw a dramatic rise in the popularity of heritage turkeys like Standard Bronze and Narragansett around Thanksgiving. Heritage Foods USA, New York, which works with small Midwestern farms that specialize in raising heritage beef, pork, poultry and lamb, notes that sales of heritage turkeys were up 82% in 2011 over the previous year.

Sustainably raised meats or poultry, whether involving cows, pigs, sheep or poultry, often entails raising the animals within an ethical environment free from use of antibiotics and growth hormones, with the latter only applicable to beef and lamb; USDA does not permit hormone use with poultry or pork. Antibiotics were traditionally administered to cattle for both therapeutic and sub-therapeutic reasons, the latter referencing persistent, ongoing use to help prevent the spread of disease in suboptimal conditions. However, to address issues related to antibiotic resistance, FDA is now requiring prescriptions for any antibiotic treatments for livestock (see Final Guidance for Industry No. 209, The Judicious Use of Medically Important Antimicrobial Drugs in Food-Producing Animals, for complete details). If a livestock producer is raising animals for customers seeking a no antibiotics claim, once treated with prescribed, therapeutic antibiotics, that animal is no longer eligible and instead sold to the open market, with the animal only being eligible for slaughter after the FDA-required waiting period. Chefs and butchers often call out the names of farms in descriptions to foster an air of transparency.

These products generally fall under an umbrella of boutique meats, and now goat has been added to the mix. Goat, one of the most widely consumed meats in the world, is often seen as an environmentally friendly choice compared to beef due to goats amenability to different types of pasture landtheyre not as finicky as cattle, and can digest a wide range of forage. Bill Niman, founder of natural-meat pioneer Niman Ranch but now working independently (he split with the company back in 2007), has been ramping up sustainable goat production over the last few years. USDA notes that goat slaughter figures have doubled every 10 years over the last three decades (over 625% growth from 1984 to today, based on federal inspection data). Whole Foods now carries goat at several of its stores across the country and is continually adding it to other units.

Ethical meats are also hitting mainstream foodservice. Chipotle Mexican Grill has been a longtime leader in this movement, and fast-food giants McDonalds, Wendys and Burger King have started joining the frayalbeit in baby stepsvia the phasing out use of gestation crates. This decision will dramatically affect the suppliers of these chains pork productsas will moves to start sourcing more cage-free eggs and use of more humane" slaughter techniques. Analysts have noted that these initiatives are purely motivated consumer interest in such matters.

Inside the butcher shop

Consumers cant just walk into any everyday mainstream supermarket and find a selection of these ethical," heritage meats. Online sales have helped fill the void, but major cities across the country are also seeing a revitalization of the neighborhood butcher shop, some of which are directly associated with a restaurant known for menuing such heritage and specialty meats. And beyond the range of meats offered, some of the most-interesting items on hand at these artisan shops are housemade pickled vegetables and other condiments.

At Markethouse in Chicago, executive chef Scott Walton menus items like dry-aged Berkshire pork chops and housemade country paté. And through its Charcuterie To-Go menu, customers can order a range of patés, duck or lamb bacon, pork belly, and a wide variety of custom-made sausages made from ingredients like pork, lamb, chicken and veal, along with add-ins like drunken" raisins, aged Cheddar, leeks, house-dried chiles, fennel, etc.some of which are sourced from the chefs rooftop garden atop Markethouse, with others generally coming from local and regional farmers. Housemade condiments, such as violet, heirloom squash and apple cider mustards, complement the meat counter. Also in Chicago, over at Publican Quality Meats, Chef Paul Kahanof The Publican, which is across the street, as well as Blackbird, Avec and Big Starcombines a small, informal restaurant with boutique retail shop and butcher, where housemade pickled vegetables and charcuterie (salumi, sausages, terrines, etc.) mingle with artisan cheeses, craft beers and wines. (Pickled products are emerging as a bona-fide trend of late, and well cover that subject in detail in the Aug. Food Product Design Culinary article.)

In New York, Christian Pappanicholas opened Cannibal, a café and butcher shop, directly next door to his restaurant, Resto. Craft beer and housemade charcuterie star on the dine-in menus, and for carry-out. New Yorks Marlow & Sons restaurant has Marlow & Daughters next door where various sausages are made in-house daily, on sale alongside grass-fed, hormone- and antibiotic-free beef, lamb, poultry and pork.

This trend has galvanized momentum in spots across the country. Similar scenarios have played out in New Orleans (Cochon), Boston (The Butcher Shop), Indianapolis (Smoking Goose Meatery), and Portland, OR (Chop), among other cities.

This renaissance of ethical and heritage meats, charcuterie, and condiments points toward new directions for experimentation in retail R&D and chain menu development. Consumers appetites have been whetted for something new, and this intertwined trend can provide far-ranging, customizableand often accessibleinspiration.