Daily Loaf

Choice. Angus. Natural. Organic. Humanely raised. Grass-fed. Prime. Wagyu. Kobe. These days, there are more marketing terms associated with beef than ever before, all of which attempt to separate you from your food budget with promises of better quality or better moral character. And it’s important to know what those terms mean, especially if you’re concerned about greening your meat.

But for most folks, taste is the deciding factor. We might buy prime for the intense marbling, or Kobe and Wagyu for the promise of massaged, beer-drinking cows with intensely tender flesh. Grass-fed beef provides more old-school beef flavor, while organic gives us happier — and possibly more tasty — cows.

We cut through the marketing lingo straight to the meat of the matter by pitting six different, readily available, supermarket steaks against one another: Angus from Sweetbay, choice from Publix, humanely-raised from Publix Greenwise, humanely-raised from Whole Foods, prime and American Wagyu from Mazzaro’s.

Each steak, all NY strip, with one exception, was simply seasoned with the same amount of salt and pepper (by size) and each was grilled to medium-rare (although the thickest gave us a few problems). We then assembled a crack team of CL carnivores — foodies and amateurs — to sample the steaks in a blind tasting and rate the meat.

The results surprised the hell out of us. Find out the winner after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes when people think of salads, they automatically think “Borrrriiiinnng“. And then when they hear the word “organic” they automatically think, “expensive!”. Well it’s true that some salads can be boring and it’s also true that some organic foods can be a bit pricey. But in reality, you can make a fun organic blend salad that tastes amazing, isn’t hefty on the wallet and is made within 5 minutes!

The secret to this success is finding a salad that interests your taste buds. With the various amounts of veggies, cheeses, meats, dressings, etc., available, you can probably make a different salad each day for the rest of your life and never have the same salad twice!  Read the rest of this entry »

Finally finished off all the turkey leftovers? Great, time to start cooking again! Here are this week’s best bets:

Whole Foods – Grapefruit — from Indian River — are almost half-off at $.79/pound, so buy a bunch and whip up some snapper with herb salad and grapefruit from the Culinary Sherpas? (full ad)

Publix Greenwise Market – Florida-grown tomatoes — plum or vine-ripened — are a mere $.99/pound, perfect for any of these five recipes from Bon Appetit, courtesy of Fox 13. (full ad)

Sweetbay, Fresh Market and Publix after the break… Read the rest of this entry »

Stopped by the beautiful new Publix Greenwise Market in SoHo for some lunch today. After reading Laura Reiley’s cautious optimism about the massive selection of prepared foods, I thought it might be worth a try now that the market has almost a month under its belt to get the kinks worked out. If anything, it seems like the kinks have taken over.

Get past the confusing system of ordering everything from its own section, the areas delineated only by small, laminated “Order Here” signs that are often hidden by waiting diners and you’ll find a staff that has the haunted look of the harried and fearful. Or the defiant glare of workers pushed past the breaking point, just daring you to comment about the slow service. Or the downcast faces of truly practiced restaurant workers who want to avoid eye contact until they finish the task in front of them. If you’re looking for a quick, healthy lunch during a brief work break, it’s a horrifying experience. Read the rest of this entry »

Turkey, turkey, turkey. If you have an extra freezer in the garage, go ahead and buy a few low-cost extra birds for the future. Otherwise, pickings are slim this week, as many stores are either holding off on weekly ads thanks to the holiday, or spending more effort on gift options. Still, here are your best bets:

Whole Foods – Four Haas avocados for $5 makes for some mighty easy Steamy Kitchen guacamole. (full ad)

Sweetbay – Whole pineapples are just $2.88 each, perfect for some Culinary Sherpa upside down cake. Grapes are also a deal at $1.59, so buy a bunch and set them out to counteract some of the carb and meat leftover-loading. (full ad)

Fresh Market, Publix, Target and Wal-Mart after the break: Read the rest of this entry »