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It's a crazy summer here at the farm between road construction turning off either the water or electricity on a daily basis or me staying up nights feeding baby pigs after a tough delivery. Despite everything we've got some delicious meats for you to choose from as well as a couple of special events.  

Canning Class: this coming Saturday

This Saturday, August 6 at 10AM, we will be offering a free canning class at the farm. Ines Beltran from the Gwinnett County Extension Office will present. I've taken her class and it is excellent. The ... << MORE >>

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For years I've held that traditional cultures understand natural meats far better than we do.   Mexico quickly grills marinated beef for fajitas.  China stir fries steak in a flash.  And Morocco slowly roasts its tagine over a charcoal fire.  I recently enjoyed a meal at the Imperial Fez restaurant in Atlanta and fell in love with their traditional Marrakech dishes, slow cooked in small, portable ovens called tagine.  The beef was so tender it fell apart.  I created this recipe to work in ...

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Many years ago I spent a few days with a friend at her parents' home in Paris.  We had a wonderful time strolling along the Seine, eating pan au chocolat from the corner bakery and listening to Ives Montand records.  Yes, I'm old enough to remember listening to records without them being retro-tech.   Her mom claimed to be "a terrible cook for a French woman", because she only knew one good recipe... Veal Normandy.  After the meal I told her she never needed to cook anything else for me if she'd just keep cooking that.  It was ... << MORE >>

Nothing warms the chill of cold weather like a good hearty stew.  Put it in a slow oven in the morning and savor it's hearty flavor after work.  Industrial workers during Britain's Victorian era knew this all to well and created the Lancashire Hotpot for the family to tuck into at the end of the day.  According to the Two Fat Ladies this stew was traditionally made with the long boned chops from sheep in the Pennine  mountains, but today you can use any cut of lamb or even beef.  I've omitted the usual tails and lamb kidneys ... << MORE >>

For a couple of years now I've been falling in love with Indian food.  The heady aromas and intense spices make a great change from the simpler flavors of western cookery.  I especially love Rogan Josh from the Kashmiri region of northern India.  The spices are earthy and complex but not very hot at all.  Of course you can add as much chile as you like when you make it.   << MORE >>

There was a time when lamb was popular across much of America, but after WWII it was thrown out of the nation's kitchens.  Millions of sheep were fed to the soldiers during that war with no regard to the quality.  The sheep were often old and in poor condition.  To compound the problem they were prepared by inexperienced army cooks.  The resulting meals kept soldiers on their feet but were a chore to choke down.  Once home the soldiers insisted their wives never put sheep of any kind on the table again, so lamb disappeared from the American table.  Stokes Family Farm hopes to correct the damage done by WWII and restore delicious meat to the tables of our customers.

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Dear Friends and Neighbors,

 

I'm finally back from vacationing in London.  The trip was spectacular filled with theater, museums, dining out, etc., but it also broadened my awareness of the relationship we all share with food.  The Imperial War Museum graphically demonstrated British families surviving on the occasional egg, an occasional serving of meat, a crust of bread and loads of home grown vegetables.   Britain imported the bulk of its ...

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