--- title: Food Economics slug: food-economics description: Today I learned to skim the fat off my chicken stock. tags: [ideas,food] image: https://davidawindham.com/wp-content/themes/daw/img/opengraph_image.jpg hide_table_of_contents: true --- Today I learned to skim the fat off my chicken stock. ![](/img/food_economics.jpg) I remember years ago working at a restaurant that always had a big ole' pot of stock going. The chefs called it a mirepoix[^1]. It's just a mixture of diced vegetables and fat. As it cools down and the nights get shorter, I find myself headed toward comfort food - especially stews[^2] and soups[^3]. Last week I had a text message thread about cooking and one of my friends commented that grilling can't be done indoors after pointing out that I had cooked my carne asada flank steak on our indoor grill. Instead of just pointing out how 99% of steakhouses are indoors, I went and got a new grill because I had kinda been wanting a ceramic grill. I have an assortment of grills over the years and we gave the last one away to a church because it was better suited to catering a crowd and ate up deck space. It's the perfect time of year for the outdoor ritual. And since the title here is economics, I should point out that it's a grill I saw on Craigslist a couple weeks back. It's a ceramic Kamado Joe at a third of the price. And although broken in, all the seals and parts are replaceable. It'll take me a bit to catch up on that expense especially given the new need for the pizza, rotisserie, and wok accessories. I think it'll go the distance. I smoked a whole chicken yesterday morning and have made three meals from it so far. Slow cooked it at 275Β° for three hours and added in chunks of apple wood for smoke. It got the whole block smelling lovely and cozy. Today I reduced a miropoix stock from the carcass and just skimmed the fat. It's delicious. It's also practical. The whole almost six pound organic bird was just pennies over twenty dollars. We've had three meals from it: chicken, okra, and rice x 2; pulled smoked chicken burritos; and I'm making a soup from the stock this evening. Even adding in the other food cost, it's still coming in at under five dollars per person per meal. Waste Not - Want Not. Game on - challenge accepted. But it also got me to thinking about the lapse in SNAP[^4] funding πŸ‚ πŸ’©. A fella starting chatting with us Saturday morning on the way into the grocery store about how he heard that Walmart was going to have extra security today and it took some time for us to pair that statement with the lapse in food stamp funding. The news today seems to be a fight to take credit for starting it back up. I just have to say that the irony wasn't lost on me when the states started targeting charitable giving overseas while half the folks here are obese. My mom used to be the church secretary at our church and we had a food pantry so I saw folks coming in to get food regularly and often helped load their vehicle. I've also heard complaints of abuse but my opinion of it is very simple. In a world of abundance, people shouldn't be in need anywhere. Whether it's the job of our taxes or charity doesn't really matter to me. It's been quite unnerving to me and I say a little peace to all those folks anytime I eat. Given the total budget on food assistance in the USA[^5], the math works about to about $35 per taxpayer for contributions. The majority of those receiving assistance are either children or senior citizens. With Thanksgiving πŸ¦ƒ on the horizon, it's just a ~sad~ pathetic state of affairs and, in my humble opinion, doesn't truly represent the values of the people of the United States of America πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ ... one of the richest countries in the world. Instead of pointing fingers at the sycophants or diving into the national debt debate, I'll just lay this πŸ’© right on mr. gold toilet πŸ‘‡πŸ» dumpy loompa! ![](/img/food-economics-dumpy-loompa.jpg) SNAP helps **40 million Americans**! It's about 10% of the folks in South Carolina. One in ten... take a good look around. The United Nation reported that over 700 million people globally face chronic hunger and 150 million children are malnourished[^6]. Sharing food or 'breaking bread' seems to be at the very core of peace ✌🏼. It certainly is for me and I don't think I'm too far off in saying it is for everyone.


--- [^1]: Miropoix - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirepoix [^2]: Stew - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stew [^3]: Soup - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soup [^4]: SNAP - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supplemental_Nutrition_Assistance_Program [^5]: USDA _Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) - Key Statistics and Research_ - https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap/key-statistics-and-research [^6]: _The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World_ - United Nations - https://www.fao.org/publications/fao-flagship-publications/the-state-of-food-security-and-nutrition-in-the-world/en