Ramblings From Justin Penney

It's hard to believe how long I was vegetarian and how quickly I've become a rabid carnivore. I know that part of it is still the novelty of eating all of these "forbidden" foods. The rest is the plain old tastiness of it. Today was a total meat fest.

The company Holiday Party was at Em Chamas. This is like the ultimate "gorge yourself on everything" eatery.

There is a a buffet with salads, beans, rice, bread, etc. All of the things that I tried from the buffet were really good, flavorful and fresh tasting. Overall the flavor themes reminded me a lot of my Mom's cooking: rich, well spiced, and soothing. After a plate from the buffet I was pretty much full so then it was time to eat the meats.

Each diner is given a little circle that's black on one side and green on the other. The green means "go ahead and put some meat on my plate." Black then means, "wow, I really did just turn my intestines in to a sausage." Lunch had five meats; the very nice waitress said that dinner had 15 meats available. That's a lot of varieties of dead animals!

The first flesh filled skewer was filled with little bits of turkey wrapped in bacon. After getting the quick mental image of a pig spooning a wild turkey I bit half of the little ball and enjoyed every little bacony bite. It's hard to not make something taste really good when there is bacon involved.

Meat number two was a sirloin. The meat-meister would cut from different portions of the spit based on your preference for doneness. Amazingly there was really the full gamut on that one chunk of beef. As a kid I was a huge fan of beef, specifically prime rib and filet mignon. Having this well cooked (a little below medium) piece of sirloin brought many flashes of steak dinners at the lake back into focus. I associate these flavors with my grandparents and the food at Wolf Harbor.

Chicken legs were up next. While good, these were the least flavorful of the dishes. A few people expressed their dislike of meat that is still on the bone, a concept which I find boggling. It's a dead animal and you are eating it. The bone, gristle, and other body parts are a good muse for pondering the value of life. I spent a great deal of time thinking about eating meat and what it meant. At this point I have come to grips with the death involved and having a piece of the macabre process staring at me reaffirms my decision to eat meat. A concept that holds true from my days as a vegetarian: if you can't handle the thought or images of meat processing don't eat it. People who are massive carnivores that are disgusted by raw meat, or bones, or skin need to do a little soul searching.

Sausage is awesome; from vienna sausages to the organic Italians I had last week. The sausage really reminded me of a Nathan's hot dog, which reminds of a big little smokey. The sausage was like a mid-sized little smokey.

Even though my great uncle was a pig farmer, I don't remember eating much pork as a kid. We had pork chops and the yearly mountain oyster (hog balls) dinners but not much else. I have really taken a liking to the flavor of the swine: carnitas tacos and pulled pork sandwiches have become some of my favorite meals. The prok loin at Em Chamas was awesome. Some parts were a little dry but overall it was just a succulent piece of meat with a great balance of smokiness and meatiness.

# posted by Justin @ 9:34 PM