Does a bone matter?

All around the world on a daily basis people are sitting down and eating meat as part of their daily staple, if they can afford it. As you move up the money chain so to does the quality of the meat we are eating, or so many would have us believe, especially those in the food preparation industry.

The next time that you go in to a supermarket have a look at the packets of meat, in particular chicken and look at the price differences. The cheapest of the better cuts include the bone - chicken on the breast along with the skin, the next cheapest is boneless breast with skin and the most expensive is the skinned boneless breast of chicken.

If you are making a stir fry or something similar it can be argued that this offers the best value as all you get is meat but what you are also loosing is the flavour that the skin and bone can add to the dish. This is particularly so if you are going to slow cook or casserole meat which allows the flavours to seep into the dish and add to them.

The food preparation industry is also helping is to distance ourselves from where meat comes from by removing any hint of an animal. Unfortunately they are also loosing what is often the best part of a dish by removing some of its flavor.

A particular example of this is in the Indian restaurant cuisine where everything is made from boneless chicken - it is certainly easier for them to make it this way, it is easier to eat and because we all understand that skinned boneless chicken is the more expensive they can charge more for it. I went to India a number of years ago and had the most wonderful dishes served with chicken on the bone. Yes it was harder to eat, for me who love to travel around the UK for, but the flavor really made up from it although one of our party was heard to complain and ask why we could not get proper Indian food like she had back in England..... really!!!!!

Another example where meat on the bone is hard to find but so much better for it is when eating beef. Back in the 1970's and early 1980's T bone steaks were all the rage and the highest priced dish on the menu. The BSE scare killed all of this and beef on the bone was banned across the county and so a great English dinner disappeared.

What was even worse for gourmet dinners, and those that appreciated excellent beef was the overnight disappearance of Barons of Beef. These were large joints of beef, sometimes big enough for 30 or 40 people that took 2 people to carry out at a banquet and were often carved for the guests amusement by a ceremonial sword.

The flavor that was added to the beef by cooking it on the bone was hard to miss and couple with the fact that the bones carried the heat of the cooking in to the bulk of the beef meant that you could normally get rare cooked meat that was hot from a large joint of meat. Something that now is almost impossible to find still in the UK.

Fortunately a number of countries did not suffer the BSE crisis or have allowed the regulations they introduced to lapse meaning that you can now get beef on the bone often.

Beef on the bone has a particular aroma, almost cheesy and gives the impression of being off, or just going so. If the shop staff are not aware of this it can lead to some interesting opportunities - one of which I was fortunate enough to be able to take advantage of recently.

The trainee on the deli meat counter was cutting the T Bone steaks for the first time and his supervisor had stupidly left him unattended. Noticing an unusual aroma coming from the steaks he had just cut he immediately marked them as discounted knocking 70% off the price.

Suffice to say that before the supervisor could notice his error I was the proud owner of 7 T bone steaks each of about 750g for the same price as I would pay for chicken breasts with skin. It is not often that I get to eat steak for 5 days in a row but in this instance I was prepared to make an exception and indulged my self accordingly.

True Balsamic

Vinegar has been used as a preservative and dressing since 2,000 BC in China or 3,000 BC in Egypt depending on which part of history you are reading and there are hundreds of different vinegars out there to choose from but the King of Vinegars is Balsamic.

We have all had balsamic vinegar either when we have been to the local Italian restaurant or when it has been served as a dressing on a salad in one of the posher restaurants but do you know if you have ever had true balsamic vinegar?

The first recorded mention of balsamic vinegar is in documentation from 1046 and has historically only been made in Italy, but things are changing.....

There are now 3 types of balsamic - those made in the traditional method and known as Aceto Balsalmico Tradizionale, those made on a commercial scale using new techniques Aceto Balsalmico Modena and the 3rd being a combination of both.

The modern method allows for thousands of liters to be made in just 24 hours but the traditional methods take  a lot, lot longer. A minimum of 12 years to be exact and are all blends and there are now only 2 consortia that are making it in the traditional way - Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena and Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Reggio Emilia

The process of making traditional balsalmic start with white grapes, only Trebbiano and Lambrusco grapes, which are boiled down in to syrup and then put in to a series of 12 different barrels made from different woods, a different one each year and allowed to ferment.

The barrels are made from diverse woods such as acacia, chestnut, cherry, ash, oak and mulberry and each barrel is slightly smaller than the one used for the year before.

It is the barrels that give balsamic vinegar its unique blend of tart and sweetness and make it so prized by chefs and gourmands as the vinegar absorbs the flavors of the wood.

A small portion of the vinegar evaporates every year and this is known as the "angel's share", the same as in the whisky industry

True Balsamic vinegar only comes from the last of the barrels after it has gone through its 12 year aging process. The contents of the next oldest barrel are then transferred in to the newly emptied barrel and so on all the way up to the contents of the largest barrel whose contents were only put in there the year before and made from grapes picked that year.

For truly spectacular balsamic vinegar the process is extended to 18 or even 25 years resulting in a vinegar that has a unique sweetness to it and is totally wasted on a salad. It does however go brilliantly with aged Parmesan Cheese - preferably 9 month minimum

Good traditionally made balsamic vinegar can go for as much as $400 for a 100ml bottle and many of these are unique in shape.

 Reggio Emilia use colour coded labels to depict the age, red for 12 year aged, silver for 18 year aged and gold for 25 year aged whilst Modena use a cream-coloured cap to denote vinegars aged for 12 years or more and a magenta cap for vinegars over 25 years old making it much easier to locate your preference in the specialist stores.

Balsamic vinegar has many uses including to many people's surprise desserts such as panna cotta and creme caramel and thanks to its digestive properties has also been used as a drink at the end of a traditional Italian meal.

So the next time you are in a good Italian restaurant take a look at the bottle on the table and if it has the word Tradizionale on the label ask for some Parmesan cheese and just relish its taste.