This is the third post in a series about the Get Close to Your Food Chef's Tour. See photos from Day One here.
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Chef's Tour Day 2: Oulton's Farms
The first stop on Day Two of the Chef's Tour was Oulton’s Farms. At the farm, they raise beef, sheep, lamb, chicken, emu, pigs along with other specialty animals by request used by locals, Halifax Restaurants and the Brewery Market.
It was great being there face to face with the animals, to see where so much of the meat that I have cleaned and cooked over the last few years has come from. Both Bear Restaurant and the Wooden Monkey’s menus were mainly comprised of proteins from Oulton’s Farms and there partner farms.
Although the reality of a slaughterhouse can be a dangerous and messy, it’s a vital part of our food system. At Oulton’s, the animals are free-range and have 1600 acres to roam. They take great care of the herds and the comfort of their animals is paramount and strict regulations are followed to ensure a top quality of meat… I had been to a slaughterhouse the week before so I was prepared for what I was about to see… some of the pictures in the Flickr Chef's Tour - Oulton's Farms gallery are pretty graphic, but it’s all part of the journey from pasture to plate.
They were very welcoming at the Farm. We had Mike Oulton himself take us on a tour of his facility. They sell their product right there at the farm where you can get whatever size cute of whatever you want cut there in front of you, and direct to the customer at the Brewery Market. Or you can try their products at any great restaurant in the city that offers local free-range meat on their men .If you dine at the Wooden Monkey, Chives, Brooklyn Warehouse, Gio and many of Halifax’s other gems, there is probably some of mikes herd making its way to a plate.
Watch the video below to see Mike Oulton explain how they get their meant so tender. It was a little windy that day, so a transcript of the conversation is below.
Video Transcript
Mike: There are two things that effect tenderness, one is marbling, which is the amount of fat distributed amongst the meat… you know what marbling is…? Ok, in the big [processing] plants, marbling is the only criteria the can deal with, it’s the only consistent that works for them. Our operation is much smaller. The two things that effect tenderness, one is Increased Rate of Gain and the other is marbling. We shoot for an Increased Rate of Gain for the tenderness quality, which allows us to not have an animal that we gotta trim 10% of the fat off and throw it away before we sell it to you.
Amanda: They gain 5lbs a day?
Mike: About 4 lbs a day
-If its beef, we would be killing stuff that is 16-24 months. When we are getting ready for a slaughter, we kill 6 or 7 heads of beef. We would have them on feed 5 or 6 days, they are still on grass but we feed the roughly 8lbs, of feed a day to bring that rate of gain up. That gives us the tenderness quality and consistency we want
Sean: So you are looking for 4lbs a day?
Mike: 4lbs of live weight gain a day.
Oulton's Farms Photo Gallery
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