CUESA’s Second Annual Iron Chef Grill-Off ~ June 27

Four local chefs will be battling it out on the grills: Mark Sullivan of Spruce, Andrew Swallow of Mixt Greens, Taylor Boetticher of Fatted Calf, and Elizabeth Falkner of Orson. Chefs will use grass-fed beef from Marin Sun Farms to concoct their best burgers, and each will create a surprise side dish with ingredients from the market. A limited number of mini-burgers will be available for a $2 donation. Want to be a guest judge? Contact Sarah Henkin, she'll enter you into a drawing, and the winner will be announced on June 19. Learn more >

Summer Sausage and Perfect Punch class ~ June 26

Get ready for your July 4 barbecue with the latest CUESA class. Meat master Ryan Farr will teach sausage-making and grilling, purveyor Steve McCarthy will discuss sustainable meat, and mixologist H. Joseph Ehrmann will demonstrate how to make farmers' market-inspired cocktails. Participants will learn to make four different types of sausage using local certified humane heritage breed pork. Farr will explain what cuts are best; show how to grind, season and stuff the meat; and offer techniques for grilling the finished sausage. Learn more >

A Kitchen Table Talk with Jessica Prentice ~ June 23

The second installment of Kitchen Table Talks — brought to you by 18 Reasons, Civil Eats, and the architecture offices of Sagan-Piechota — will include a clip from Edible City and a talk by Jessica Prentice, chef, local food advocate, and co-founder of the Community-Supported Kitchen, Three Stone Hearth. The event takes place from 6:30 - 8:00 and there's a $10 suggested donation. Please RSVP here to reserve a spot.

June Taylor at the Great American Food and Music Fest ~ June 13

Looking for some food-related entertainment after the market? Check out the impressive array of bands, food and cooking demonstrations at the Great American Food and Music Fest at Shoreline Amphitheatre tomorrow. Long-time market seller June Taylor will be making her strawberry jam (with Yerena berries) on the fest's Best of the Bay Demo Stage from 1:00pm - 1:45pm. Sharing the stage that afternoon will be Chris Cosentino of Incanto and Boccalone, Nancy Oakes of Boulevard, and Chuck Siegel of Charles Chocolates, to name a few. Learn more >

Salmon Aid 2009 ~ June 20-21

Salmon Aid is a celebration of the rich cultural, culinary, and environmental history of salmon throughout the West Coast.  All weekend, at Oakland's Jack London Square, there will be live music acts, educational forums, children's activities, speakers and a chance to enjoy some wild caught salmon.  Learn more >

Reduced July 4th hours

Planning your July 4th weekend and wondering where you might get last- minute corn, ground beef and watermelon? You might like to know that the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market will be open that Saturday from 8 am to noon.

 

Saturday, June 13 ~ Market to Table

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Anna Davis, Houston's Restaurant

Tuesday, June 16 ~ Food Wise Booth

12:00 - 1:00 pm - Sarah Henkin, CUESA's market chef, will be giving out recipe cards and samples of a simple meal made with market ingredients. She'll also be available to offer advice on all your seasonal meal planning.

Saturday, June 20 ~ Market to Table

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Sandra Keros, Local Chef

11:45 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Kara Haspel Lind, Kara's Cupcakes

All programs take place in CUESA's Dacor teaching kitchen, in front of the Ferry Building on the north side.

Now that 4505 Meats' chicharrones are such a runaway hit, their creator, Ryan Farr, can look back on the early challenges of selling and marketing his version of fried pig skins with an air of amusement.

“If you’ve never had our chicharrones, you might have a bad taste in your mouth from eating pork rinds in the past,” he says, “so getting people to understand that pig skin can be a beautiful thing did take some initial effort.” Farr hails from Kansas City (a meat-loving town if ever there was one) and made a name for himself cooking in San Francisco restaurants such as Fifth Floor and Orson. Now he's known as the visionary behind 4505 Meats, a new addition to the upcoming Thursday market.

Farr keeps his chicharrone recipe under wraps, but he does disclose the fact that they're fried in rice bran oil, making them extra crispy. Or as Farr lovingly says, “like porky funyuns that melt in your mouth.” Beyond the drive to develop “crunchy crack-in-a-bag,”* Farr says the idea to start making chicharrones was born out a larger dilemma.

"We had all this extra skin left after buying whole pigs and using every other part, but there’s not a lot of use for pig skins,” says Farr. Now, the demand for Chicharrones has outpaced his need for the other parts of the pig, says the chef. So in recent months he’s been buying skins from the same local farms he’s always gotten pigs from — Marin Sun Farms, Prather Ranch, Devil’s Gulch Ranch, and Niman Ranch, to name a few.
 
As Farr sees it, smart, resourceful butchery is the only viable option at a time when eaters are becoming increasingly aware of what it takes to put a piece of meat on a plate. And he owes a lot to his peers. “What Chris Cosentino [from Incano and Boccalone] has done to educate people about offal is just amazing,” he says. “Suddenly people really care about what they put in their bodies; it’s about where it comes from, not what [part of the animal] it is. Everybody’s excited to be learning more about things like pig skins and pig hearts and buffalo testicles.”
 
Speaking of guts, striking out on your own in an economy like this takes more than a solid product and sustainable practices. But making 4505 Meats his primary obsession since leaving Orson has allowed Farr to create a kind of persona in the world of slow and sustainable food.

“I’ve always been really big into butchery, so I feel blessed that people are excited to learn how to butcher a whole animal and make sausage,” he says.

Farr’s classes and demos have been selling out consistently for months and the blogosphere can’t seem to get enough. A Google image search reveals a grid of similar photos of this chef carefully dismantling, categorizing and explaining one pasture-raised pig after another. In each photo, Farr is focused squarely on the animal — and it becomes clear that the popularity of his products is no accident.

 

See Ryan Farr in action later this month at CUESA's Summer Sausage and Perfect Punch class at the Ferry Building.

4505 Meats will be at the upcoming Thursday market (starting the second week of the market, on July 9) serving smoked hot dogs, chicharonnes — as hot dog toppings and on their own — and peanut butter bacon brownies.

* Marcia “the Tablehopper” Gagliardi’s term.

This is the most up-to-date information about which sellers will be attending the market as of Friday. If there are no changes to a seller's status, they will not be listed. You'll find a list of which farmers regularly attend each market here. Please understand that there are often last-minute changes—it's the nature of farming!

Saturday, June 13

In/returning: Apple Farm, CandyCot Fruit Company, Critical Edge Knife Sharpening

Tuesday, June 16

In/returning: Devoto Gardens

Returning and plentiful this month (weather willing):
Nectarines, strawberries, raspberries, Armenian cucumbers, basil, corn, garlic and leek scapes, summer squash, Little Gem lettuce, haricots verts, snap peas, radishes, peppers, spinach, wax beans, cherries, cauliflower, beets, leeks, nopales, squash blossoms, artichokes, fresh herbs, pullet eggs, new potatoes, tomatillos, apricots, pickling cucumbers, fresh lavender, heirloom roses

Winding down/limited supply:
Pastured chicken, hot house tomatoes, sweet pea flowers, blueberries (possibly gone by July), fava beans

Value Added and Vendor items not to be missed:
Fruit- and herb-infused syrups from June Taylor, almond milk from Lagier Ranches, Plant Crack fertilizer from Flatland Flower Farm

Farms/Vendors that may be returning this month (weather willing):
Green Gulch, G & S Corn, Candy Cot Fruit Co., Woodleaf Farm, Payne Farms, and Ridgecut Gristmills (new vendor).

Featured Recipes for June:

Bordeaux Spinach, Fava Bean, and Basil Salad with Egg Yolk Vinaigrette and Roasted Garlic Crouton from Sarah Henkin, CUESA Market Chef (May 26, 2009)

Zucchini and Mint-Stuffed Squash Blossoms from Brian Streeter, Cakebread Cellars

Sous Vide Duck Breast Cooked in a Crock-Pot with Star Route Spinach and Hamada Farms Bing Cherries from Bruce Hill of Picco and Bix Restaurants

Stone Fruit Bruschetta with Crème Fraîche Ice Cream from Elise Fineberg, formerly of Taste Catering