Are raw-milk cheeses healthful? Recent findings of Listeria monocytogenes, the bacteria that causes Listeria, in cheeses from Montesano, Washington's Estrella Family Creamery in Missouri's Morningland Dairy unequivocally suggest the contrary. Both dairies, which were inspected by FDA (Food and Drug Administration) officials within the past few months, are going to have a particularly hard time defending their raw-milk cheeses, especially since it's just the latest raw-milk scare. Just last week, health officials found 25 E. coli O157:H7 infections linked to Bravo Farms' raw-milk Gouda being sold at Costco stores in Colorado.

When it comes to raw-milk, the conflict between cheesemakers and the FDA is not new. Many cheesemakers view the FDA as an organization of government officials with little or no experience on dairies. Sunday, the Pacific Northwest Cheese Project released a series of cheesemakers' reactions to the recent recalls of raw-milk cheese. One of them states, anonymously, of course, "I am concerned about any potential surprise investigations, because the investigators usually don't have any experience with farms at all," the cheesemaker told the Cheese Project. "The ones who recently visited here had never even been on a farm before; not a good thing in my opinion." Apart from revealing the incompetence of the FDA, their anonymous responses indicate that the health risks do not involve raw-milk, on its own.
"It is definitely possible to make [raw-milk cheese] safely, but you need very good controls all the way through the process," says another anonymous cheesemaker. "I think you would need to have your own milk supply and the raw-milk supply must be of top quality." Unfortunately, the FDA is not offering any advice as to how the cheesemaking process needs to be perfected.

Clearly, raw-milk cheeses are not inherently dangerous. Otherwise, most French people, who eat raw-milk cheeses on a regular basis, would be suffering from Listeria. The dangers have to do with its handling -- leaving it out in the wrong temperature and being handled by too many people in different environments. Even the FDA is starting to question the law that states that raw-milk cheeses must be aged over 60 days in order to be sold, legally. "In fact, scientists have since shown that some pathogens -- strains of Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli -- can survive in cheese beyond 60 days," says Janet Fletcher. Fletcher suggests that the FDA may be going after the wrong ingredient: "One recent study of European washed-rind cheeses found almost twice as much Listeria in the pasteurized samples than in the raw-milk samples."

The ACS (the American Cheese Society) informed us that they will release a statement about safe cheesemaking in the next day or so. Instead of focusing on raw-milk and the 60 day rule, the FDA should come up with clear guidelines for cheese handling and find a way to enforce them. After all, those of us who relish the taste of Vacherin Mont d'Or or Brie de Meaux, couldn't imagine a world without raw-milk.

Cheese enthusiasts have long lauded the benefits of raw-milk, from its rich, complex and creamier taste to its healthful enzymes. This past June, the FDA raided Venice, California, grocery store Rawsome Foods and found illegal cheeses from Morningland Dairy. (Check out Stephen Colbert's hilarious parody of the raid.) Hopefully, the recent health problems involving raw-milk cheeses from Morningland Dairy, Estrella Family Creamery and Bravo Farms will persuade health officials to reexamine the causes of harmful bacteria so that we can reap the same culinary benefits that the French have been enjoying for centuries.

Roasted Squash Seed Oil: The Newest Alternative to Olive Oil

      Courtesy: Stony Brook WholeHeartedFoods

Way before it's time to peel back the skins from the mushy goodness of steaming, roasted squash, the first step is removing those slimy seeds and, if you're a good recycler, dumping them in a compost bin. But to Greg Woodworth, saving those seeds is step one in producing a deep amber-colored, aromatically nutty, squash seed oil, a no-waste answer to upstate New York's abundant fall crop and an American alternative to olive oil.

Once a cookie factory in Boston, Woodworth's now repurposed, renamed, relocated Stony Brook WholeHeartedFoods in Geneva, NY -- co-owned with partner Kelly Coughlin, a public health advocate for water quality -- bottles 20 cases of spent seed oil each week from acorn, delicata, butternut and buttercup squash (and soon, pumpkin) to be shipped to culinary boutique shops, restaurants and grocery stores across the country, like Formaggio Kitchen in Boston and even Whole Foods Market in Dedham, Mass. and Portland, Maine.
Seth Colon, who runs the hyperlocal EAT restaurant in Brooklyn with brother Jordon, suggests adding the oil to whole grains and vegetable salads, like they do on their no-olive-oil menu. "It's very delicate," he says, so it's best not used as a cooking oil, but rather as a dressing. Ken Thomas, kitchen manager at Fore Street in Portland, Maine, agrees. He mostly uses it to build vinaigrettes and garnish soups, drizzling it over the top of squash bisques before sending them off to be swirled at the table. Same goes for Jody Adams, chef-owner of Rialto in Cambridge, who describes it as a great finishing oil that's rich like toasted sesame oil and bold enough to stand up to the restaurant's hearty grains salad with pickled apples, blue cheese and curried pumpkin seeds. Though, with a relatively high smoking point of 425ºF, Woodworth says it's also safe to use at the final stage of stir-frying with a quick toss, or to steam in a covered pan with Brussels sprouts.

Despite the amazing culinary discovery, there was no initial intention to find a viable source of local oil. Woodworth and Coughlin were simply content with their plan to relocate their cookie operation to the Finger Lakes in late 2006 to be part of the growing local food movement in the area. Woodworth had worked his way up the food chain from the back of the house at age 12 in his hometown of Brooklyn, to the front of the house, to a degree from Cornell's Hotel School and a job with top food contracting companies that serviced the likes of Grand Central Station's balcony pubs -- he was perfectly happy running his own cookie company.

But when Finger Lakes-area Martin Farms approached Woodworth about replacing the butter in their cookie recipe with oil from the 20,000 to 30,000 seeds the farm produces each year -- they pre-cut organic, non-GMO squash to be sold cook-ready at grocery stores across the Northeast -- Woodworth had a revelation: "We really saw it as a way to celebrate the regional agricultural efforts of our farmers and agricultural community, in the same way that Spain and Italy celebrates their olive harvest each year," says Woodworth, because "we don't have olive trees growing up here...squash is our celebrity."

Third-generation Martin Farms was in the midst of a research project with Cornell's Food Venture Center (the birthplace for most American apples), but they weren't sure what to do with the oil and weren't convinced people would buy it as a stand-alone product. But a small testing expeller press and nut roaster were on hand to borrow, so Woodworth set out to experiment, while still running the cookie biz.

About six to eight months later, he had convinced Martin Farms that this oil was worth more than a butter substitute; this was a culinary oil. After its first official taste-test around a butcher's block at Formaggio Kitchen in Boston, the manager turned to him and said, "If you have a case, I'll take one right now." Woodworth had made sure he did indeed have a case in his car, ready to go. Before he closed the door behind him and headed back to Geneva to share the good news, Formaggio was already making room on a shelf.

And that's just the half of it. After the seeds are roasted and crushed into oblivion, oil isn't the only extrusion; the process also leaves behind shell hulls formed into seed cake, something Europeans came to know as tubular, dry dog-food-like livestock feed that's high in protein (50%, in fact) and incredibly shelf-safe, lasting in dry storage through the winter. It's a perfect way to get protein into the winter diet of pigs on a neighboring pastured pig farm, The Piggery, which sells some of the finest charcuterie in the State to frequenters of the Ithaca Farmers Market and CSA members in New York City.

But for humans, if the golden, almost brown-butter-like aroma doesn't get you, or the rich and toasty, caramelized squash flavor -- much like the roasted slabs of gourd you sweat over as you strip and slice them into soup -- there's always the promise of 40 percent of daily recommmended vitamin E in every tablespoon.

The Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Really, we all know the real reason why cupcakes are so popular. Cupcakes are basically an edible utensil for eating frosting, particularly when it comes to certain cupcake "flavors" like red velvet. What the hell is "red velvet?" It's nothing more than a fancy way to shamelessly eat a quarter- to half-cup full of cream cheese frosting.

Cream cheese frosting, you see, is the best frosting out there, and I have stumbled across the end-all, be-all recipe for it. Strangely enough, it's been under my nose this whole time in my trusty Joy of Cooking cookbook for years. I just never noticed it. At first I didn't trust it because it seemed way too easy compared to "fancier" recipes that make you think you need to be Ina Garten to make it, but this recipe is almost so easy, even Sandra Lee could make it. Ouch. Was that too harsh? See, that's how easy this recipe is.

Beat 8 oz. cold cream cheese (not rock solid, but it means you can use it straight out of the refrigerator) with 5 Tbsp. softened butter and 2 tsp. vanilla until combined. Gradually add 2 c. powdered sugar that has been sifted after measuring. Continue to add more sifted powdered sugar until you reach a consistency and sweetness that fits your taste.

No softening the cream cheese (though you do have to plan ahead with the butter). No whipping to a certain point that occurs for all of ten seconds before it's ruined. The hardest part is not eating the frosting straight from the bowl by the spoonful.

Year of the Goat: The Universal High-Flavor, Low-Fat Meat

Goat meat, also known as chevon or cabrito, is prized all over Africa, India and the Middle East for its lean, low-cholesterol meat which breaks down like lamb and tastes like a cross between lamb, venison and beef -- with about half the fat. That's because, unlike most livestock, they won't overeat.

The Vancouver Sun, which predicts 2011 was the the year of the goat on our side of the Atlantic, spoke with Chef Nico Schuermans, who says it's very flavorful. "[Goats] don't eat a lot, like sheep, which is why it's hard to fatten them up," he told the paper. "It's been hard to find but butchers are looking for it. It's getting more and more popular in New York and Montreal but we'll get it sooner or later."

Would you (or have you) tried a bite of goat? We already hold their creamy cheese, or chèvre, high on the scale of decadent dairy, and if this week's episode of Chopped, where chef contestants found goat brains in their baskets, is any indication of its acceptance into mainstream America, we could find it in our butcher shops and staple dining menus sooner than we think.

But trust, we won't be the first ones after the offal. Goat can easily be swapped for any dishes that use lamb: in stews, curries or slow-roasted with herbs to eat off the bone or slice into tacos.

Lion Meat Returns to Arizona, via Tacos

Boca Tacos y Tequila, a locally owned taqueria in Tucson, AZ, has announced that it will be serving lion tacos on February 16, a sort of belated Valentine's Day present for those who take their declarations of love with a side of grilled Simba. The tacos must be preordered (and paid for) by 3 p.m. on February 7, according to the Arizona Daily Star. They'll be served as Sonoran-style street tacos, available with cabbage, guacamole, pickled red onions, diced cucumbers and any of six house-made salsas, for $8.75 each.

The special is part of the restaurant's "Exotic Taco Wednesdays," in which owners Brian and Maria Jose Mazon appear to be cycling through a veritable Noah's Ark of meats. They've served python, alligator, elk and kangaroo, as well as frog legs, turtle, duck, Rocky Mountain oysters and the "most talked about" (so far) -- rattlesnake.

Arizonans who developed a hankering for lion meat last summer after a restaurant in Mesa offered
a one-day-only special on lion burgers will finally have a chance to savor the big-cat meat again.
While Il Vinaio, the restaurant that served lion burgers in June, billed its out-of-Africa special as a celebration of the World Cup and a chance for diners to broaden their culinary horizons, the owners of Boca Tacos y Tequila have no qualms about admitting what they're after: publicity.

"In all reality, what I want is just people to know that I'm here," Brian Mazon told the Daily Star. "That's the way to do it. You can't get these tacos anywhere else."

No doubt the animal rights activists who picketed Il Vinaio last summer are now eager to know where Mazon's restaurant is, too.