Meet Brent Young and Ben Turley, two parts to the butchering trio that make up The Meat Hook, a sustainably focused meat shop in Brooklyn, NY.

I spent the day with the two friends (and roommates) to find out all about their obsession with sausages – an art form they are quickly becoming famous for in their local neighborhood. Using pork, beef and lamb from whole animals, they’ve amassed a rotating selection of about 30 unique and traditional sausages that are made fresh every weekday.

From “classy” to “trashy”, it’s a way to express their creativity as butchers; but, more importantly, a way to annoy and shit-talk each other to no end. And that’s the fun of it. Watch and see…

**FYI – No one was hurt in the filming of this video. Well, on second thought, maybe Brent…if I had to guess.

Classy Meat Hook Sausages:

• Red Wine & Rosemary
• Garlic
• Toasted Fennel
• Red Chorizo
• Green Chorizo

Trashy Meat Hook Sausages:

• Bacon-Cheeseburger
• Long Dong Bud
• Taco Dog
• Banh Mi Dog
• Spicy Big Bite

For more information on their sausages & meats, visit their website or follow The Meat Hook on Twitter: @themeathook

Thanks for watching food. curated. Happy eating!

In our never-ending quest to show you how local food is raised and brought to market, I’m going to take you on a little tour inside a rabbit farm – John Fazio’s Rabbit Farm.

Yes, he’s the same farmer who raises ducks for big name chefs in New York City. But, you should note, he was known for his prized rabbits even before he started raising ducks. And he delivers them fresh, never frozen to NYC kitchens no more than a day or two after “processing” – offering a service that is really hard to find for local chefs.

So, I wanted to share with you the short tour John Fazio gave me. It was never meant to be a video story, but I just couldn’t pass up the education. I don’t think most people have ever seen a commercial rabbit operation. I hadn’t. And all I can tell you is that it’s interesting, very organized and very clean. So come along as John Fazio tours us through his facility, and shows his methods for raising fresh, local rabbits.

For more info on the farm, please contact me on Twitter: @SkeeterNYC

Or to purchase or taste John Fazio’s rabbits, please visit Marlow & Sons or Marlow & Daughters in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, or Savoy in SoHo.

Thanks for watching food. curated.

A well brined, well cooked duck breast is great on its own, but a special sauce can really bring things together. To help you impress guests at home, we begged Chef Ryan Tate for the recipe of his latest seasonal concoction at Savoy (as seen in video below):

Chef Ryan Tate’s Cherry Chili Puree (to pair w/duck)

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1 jalapeño, seeds and pith removed

1 apple sliced

1 cup dried Michigan tart cherries

1 cup ruby port

2 cups red table wine

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Heat oil in a sauce pot over low-medium heat and sweat lemon zest, jalapeño and apple slices. Cook until apples are soft, but not caramelized. Add cherries, port wine and red wine. Bring to boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes. Allow the sauce to cool then puree in a blender until smooth. After pureeing, pass through a fine sieve pushing hard to extract all the pectin. Transfer to a bowl and season with salt and pepper, adjusting the acidity with lemon juice. Serve at room temperature.

Happy eating! If you give it a whirl write back and let us know what you think.

How to cook local duck. So we showed you John Fazio’s small duck farm and the unique salt curing process, now it’s time to make a dish.

In true farm to table fashion, Savoy restaurant in NYC shows us how they prepare fresh local duck from John Fazio’s Farm. Meet Chef de Cuisine Ryan Tate and watch as he explains the process to cooking duck properly and why their restaurant believes in working with small farmers.

Executive Chef Peter Hoffman of Savoy is very picky when it comes to sourcing the local ingredients for his restaurant, he had this to say about John Fazio:

“John’s doing a great thing. He is taking a duck of fine breeding and heritage and raising them with care and quality. For a dish that has become a signature of our cooking, it’s vital that our ingredients consistently reflect our values and our commitment to great taste. Fazio’s ducks do that.”

Hope you take the time to find local farmers in your area that raise local ducks with pride. Or if you would like to directly contact John Fazio, you can DM me on Twitter.  Happy eating!

Thanks for watching food. curated.

It’s exciting to see interesting restaurant techniques for cooking certain items. In this case, we’re focusing on duck. But not just any duck, John Fazio’s small farm ducks from upstate NY, 80 miles outside of Manhattan.

Savoy restaurant in NYC has a special process for giving Fazio’s ducks exceptional flavor. As soon as the fresh ducks are delivered, they prepare them for cooking though a “salt bake” process. Basically, they are curing the flesh and meat of the ducks to make it even more palatable. A process that the restaurant has been doing for many many years.

I came to Savoy the day their ducks were delivered to witness the process. Take notes. It’s truly unbelievable how much salt is used. But as Chef de Cuisine Ryan Tate says, “the flavor is worth its weight in salt.”