AgriMissouri

Cooking Stage Recap

I'm finally back in the office so I can upload photos and tell you all about the St. Louis Food & Wine Experience last weekend. AgriMissouri sponsored the Cooking Stage so each chef on the stage had to incorporate a Missouri product into their demonstration. It was so cool to see Food Network, PBS and local chefs using AgriMissouri products.

Ellie Krieger, from the Food Network's Healthy Appetite, featured Missouri raised lamb in her Spiced-Rubbed Lamb Pops. Christina Pirello, host of Christina Cooks!, used Sandhill Farms tempeh and Ozark Forest Mushrooms shiitake mushrooms in her Braised Tempeh with Mango on Arugula. Father Dominic Garramone, from PBS' Breaking Bread with Father Dominic, featured pecans from Grand Valley Farms in his Wonderful Cinnamon Swirl Bread. Owner of Chanterelle Catering, Chef Julie Ridlon, featured pork from Hinkebein Hills Farm, in her delicious Roasted Pork Loin with Apricot Chutney, while Chef Marc Felix featured Missouri beef ribs and Anheuser Busch's Bareknuckle Stout beef in BareKnuckle Stout Braised Beef Ribs with Carrot Hash.

Keep watching the Friday Fixin's posts to find these recipes.

AgriMissouri was not only featured on the Cooking Stage but we also had a booth where four companies were able to sample product during the event. Ozark Forest Mushrooms, Heartland Creamery, Cowboy Chris BBQ and Private Recipe Cheese Spreads sampled and promoted their products to those attending the St. Louis Food & Wine Experience.

Membership Renewal

It's that time of the year! No not tax time, it's time to renew your AgriMissouri Membership. We've got a lot of activities that we are working on this coming year. Trade shows like the Midwest Grape & Wine Conference and the Missouri Meat Processors Association were mentioned in an earlier post. I'm working on a program that will allow producers to visit the Spring Fancy Food Show in Chicago to learn more about trade show marketing on an international level and we always have the AgriMissouri Buyer's Guide online which is being used by retailers (and consumers) to find Missouri-made products and consumers are locating agritourism destinations and farmers' markets. It's the most highly traveled page on our site. We are also printing the Agritourism map that was distributed to all the Missouri Welcome Centers and at trade shows and consumer events.

If you were at 2007 AgriMissouri member, you should have received your renewal invoice in the mail in late December or early January. If you did not receive it, just contact me. For those who want to become AgriMissouri members, download the 2008 Membership Application and you can start participating in all of our marketing activities.

Friday Fixin's

It's so cold outside and you can't warm up any faster than with good home cooking. This week's Friday Fixin's comes from American Grass Fed Beef. American Grass Fed Beef is owned and operated by Mark and Dr. Patricia Whisnant along with their six children. The farm is near Doniphan in the rolling hills of southern Missouri.

Their beef is raised on their local farm and processed at their family owned an operated, organic certified, plant in Jackson, Missouri. They offer online sales and lots of information on grass fed beef on their web site. Enjoy their Pot Roast with Sour Cream Gravy recipe!

Pot Roast with Sour Cream Gravy Recipe

3 pounds Grass fed beef roast
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups sour cream
2 teaspoons dill seed
1 package onion soup mix
1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 cup water**

Brown roast on all sides in olive oil. Season with dill seed, salt, pepper and onion soup. Add water. Cook covered in Dutch Oven approximately 3 hours at 275 degrees F, turning occasionally to keep moist. When the meat is fork tender remove from the pot, do not overcook. Reduce pan drippings or add water to make 1 1/2 cup liquid. Add flour (if needed, put in blender to make smooth) and stir until thickens. Add sour cream. Slice roast and serve with sour cream gravy.

Variations:
Add mushrooms, carrots, potatoes the last 60 minutes of cooking. When done remove roast and vegetables. Add flour to pan drippings and stir until thickened, season as needed. Slice roast and pour gravy over meat, serve with the vegetables.

**Note: Red wine or tomato juice can be substituted for the water.

This roast can easily be cooked in a crock pot and have dinner ready when you come home.

Culinary Tourism????

Yes, that's right, it says culinary tourism which often crosses over into agritourism. So what's a culinary tourist? TODAY's Show Travel Editor, Peter Greenberg, explains culinary tourists as follows:

"travelers took at least one trip where they sought out culinary activities (opportunistic culinary travelers) , and then there are the accidental culinary travelers — which stumbled upon the culinary experience while traveling."

The great thing about culinary tourism is that it includes many of our farmers' markets and agritourism businesses. In the article, Greenberg says:

"The culinary travel experience includes everything from visiting a farmers market, sampling artisan products, attending a food or wine festival, going wine, beer or cheese tasting, or driving along a food or wine trail. But almost always, you can choose to have a hands-on experience cooking alongside top chefs."

Missouri is home to more than 70 wineries (some of which work together to form a wine trail several times during the year), over 100 farmers' markets and hundreds of agritourism businesses that offer many of the experiences listed above. You can be a culinary tourist and an agricultural tourist and probably stay within 50 miles of your home or you can be adventuresome and travel all across the state. In addition to the AgriMissouri Buyer's Guide, you can also find culinary adventures at Visitmo.com.

Flickr photo of a wine tasting in Hermann, courtesy of eddieq.

AgriMissouri Mainstage

Below is an article that was in the St. Louis Post Dispatch on Sunday. It mentions the AgriMissouri Mainstage at the upcoming St. Louis Food & Wine Experience. Tickets are still available and I'd encourage everyone to come.

Repertory Theatre Cooks Up a Benefit

TV chefs will share their secrets — and in many cases, share a taste of their successes — at the St. Louis Food and Wine Experience, a fundraiser for the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.

The show at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel, 212 North Kingshighway, runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Jan. 26 and from noon to 5 p.m. Jan. 27.

The guest chefs include Ellie Krieger of "Healthy Appetite" on the Food Network, Christina Pirello of PBS's "Christina Cooks!" and Father Dominic Garramone of PBS's "Breaking Bread with Father Dom." They and others will appear on the AgriMissouri Mainstage, where recipes will feature the bountiful diversity of Missouri farms.

Tickets are $35 for a single-day admission. VIP tickets, which include access to the VIP Reserve Room with its sampling of premium wines, are $75. (You have to be over 21.) Single-day admission at the door is $40.

Advance tickets are available at Schnucks markets, which presents the benefit. For more information or to order tickets, call 314-968-4925, or visit repstl.org. (JN)

SARE Conference Scholarships Available

Below is an announcement I received today. I thought some of you might be interested in it.

Scholarships Available to SARE's New American Farm Conference

Thanks to the support of sponsors, a limited number of scholarships are now available from the National Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) office for the 2008 New American Farm Conference, March 25-27 in

Kansas City

. Their priorities are to fund farmers/ranchers and nonprofits, particularly those from under-served/minority audiences and those who are new to SARE and/or sustainable agriculture: emerging leaders, beginning farmers and ranchers, and those who have never attended a SARE regional or national conference. Scholarships will be awarded as free registration (including registration for a tour), plus up to $700 allowance that can be used for specified expenses. Scholarship applications are due by February 15.

http://www.sare.org/2008Conference/scholarships.htm

Episode 12: The Wine Trail

There are people in the world who think Hermann, Missouri, is the happiest place in the world.  So this week, Julie Harker and Amy Winder tested out that theory by participating in the Hermann Wine Trail.  Three wineries, one day--and even a happy bridal party.

Download audio (MP3, approx 6 megabytes)

 

Friday Fixin's

This Friday Fixin's features Wilby's Firehouse Foods, makers of Wilby's Honey Mustard. The creator of Wilby's Honey Mustard is Bob Wilbers. Bob is a full-time firefighter in Jefferson City, MO and is also known for his delicious cooking. Wilby's Honey Mustard is a hit every year in the AgriMissouri Market at the Missouri State Fair. We just can't keep enough on the shelves during the fair. Today's recipe features Wilby's Honey Mustard as well as other Missouri products, apples and pork.

Apple Orchard Pork Chop Recipe

6 pork loin chops

2 cups apple juice

1/3 cup Wilby's Honey Mustard

3 apples unpared, cored and sliced 1/2 inch thick

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup sliced green onions

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup water

Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in large skillet. Brown pork chops over medium high heat. Season with salt and pepper. Combine apple juice and mustard; pour over pork chops. Cover; cook over medium low heat 45 minutes. Add apples, raisins and green onions. Cover and cook 5-10 minutes longer. Place pork chops and apples on serving platter and keep warm. Stir combined water and cornstarch into cider liquid. Cook and stir until thickened. Serve sauce over pork chops and apples.

Small Acreage Workshop

I ran across this workshop earlier today and thought I would post the information.

Wondering what to do with that 5 or 10 acres? This may be the opportunity to learn about all kinds of interesting, economically beneficial opportunities for you and your family. This program will offer ideas for both existing producers and those looking for potential opportunities. Breakout sessions will include: Timber, nuts and shiitake mushrooms; Culinary herbs; Dairy goats and haired sheep; Hoophouses; Beekeeping; Personal values; Poultry; Legal issues and Marketing.

The program will be offered on Thursday evening, Feb. 7th, from 5-9 pm at the Adams County Extension office, 330 S. 36th St.Quincy, IL. Cost is $30 per person, which includes dinner. Pre-registration is required. Click here to register online.

Flickr photo courtesy of baalands'. Baalands' photos of hair sheep and other breeds of sheep are wonderful! I'd encourage anyone interested in sheep to check out their Sheep and Goats photo page.

From Hobby to the BBQ Business

In today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Boyd Hoffmann, of Cowboy Boyd's Authentic Cowboy Sauces, talks about how his farming and barbecue hobby has turned into a new business venture for him.

Hoffmann traces the idea for the Cowboy Boyd's line to about five years ago, when he started holding an annual party at the ranch for friends from all over the St. Louis area. (His insurance office is in Webster Groves.) Seeing the popularity of the barbecue sauce he sent home with his guests as a gift, he began bottling it commercially and trying to get local stores to sell it.

"I got it in a few stores and thought that would be the end of it," Hoffmann says. "But then I figured no one was going to get that excited about just one little product, so I spent the money and developed a whole product line." In addition to four barbecue sauces, the line now includes two marinades, a hot sauce and salsas. The sauces sell online for about $6.

The article mentions catching the attention of TV infomercial production company at a trade show. Boyd attended the International Home and Housewares trade show in Chicago with AgriMissouri in 2007. This is where he met the TV production company. We are happy to see that the trade show yielded positive results for Boyd and his company. You can view Boyd's infomercial on his web site at www.cowboyboyd.com.