Meat Week Showcases Food in Manhattan

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    Jimmy Carbone knows carnivores: “You say meat, and everybody thinks barbecue, you know? That kind of real delicious, fatty kind of indulgence.” Oh, yes, I do know. For this Miser, the recent chill in the air has inspired thoughts of steaming stew, juicy steak and plump pork tenderloin. But that also means worrying about hormone-filled cattle, processing plants and, of course, how to get a quality cut at a fair price.
    Mr. Carbone, the owner of Jimmy’s No. 43, a bar and restaurant in the East Village, has been questioning himself and others about those things for some time now. “Every once in a while I would do a mini-meat week” at the restaurant, he said. “We would bind some sausages or do a bacon week using animals from local farms.” Eventually Jimmy’s became a meat hub for a couple of community-supported agriculture programs with farms in upstate New York, and Mr. Carbone began working on communication between farms and the public through a project called Food Karma.
    Beginning Monday, Food Karma is producing Meat Week in collaboration with Greenmarket/Grow NYC (grownyc.org/greenmarket), Food Systems Network NYC (foodsystemsnyc.org) and Just Food (justfood.org). With a series of tastings, parties, butchering and cooking demonstrations and panel discussions, the week’s mission is to provide a direct connection between farmers and the people eating their meat, Mr. Carbone said. “The whole idea is that you should get to know a small meat distributor, a small butcher or a small farmer. They all have different stories, but somehow they are all really involved with their animals. And I feel like that’s the starting point.”
    Locally raised organic meats may not (yet) come cheap, but several Meat Week events do. The French Culinary Institute’s sustainable meat panel is free, as are cooking demonstrations at the Union Square Greenmarket, kielbasa tastings at the East Village Meat Market and samplings of Piedmontese beef at Eataly. On Nov. 12, Jimmy’s No. 43 hosts a screening of the film “Green Beef: A Story of Grass Fed Beef” in conjunction with a grass-fed burger tasting for $15; $10 for members of Network NYC and slowfoodnyc.org.(Various dates and locations, through Nov. 12; tickets available at meatweeknyc.com.)
GOT PICKLES?
    The New Amsterdam Market is asking for submissions from New York’s home picklers and fermenters for a competition at its Peck Slip Pickle Festival on Nov. 13 in the categories of Cucumber, Spicy, Sweet, Fermented and Alternative Pickle. The festival includes tastings, demonstrations and, of course, ribbons for the winners, who will be chosen by a panel of judges led by Rick Field of rickspicksnyc.com, a Web site devoted entirely to pickles. Submissions must be in by noon on Thursday. (11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; for contest details and other information: newamsterdammarket.org/pickle_fest.html.)

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