Foodie adventures

As regular readers know, Beth and I love farmers markets. We want to love Niagara Falls but the rebirth is a work in process. I still visit weekly but there are things I want that aren’t there even if one day they will be again.

For us, the closest decent market is Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market. Last fall I perused the offerings in the Thyme’s Right Farm beef cooler.

A butcher steak caught my eye because it was oddly shaped and expensive, $28 or so. I paused. A week later it was gone.

Two weeks ago at the market I eyed the coolers again. This time, most of the offerings were pork and poultry.

The proprietor, Elizabeth Freck, said beef was aging and would be ready in a week. Saturday morning I led a tour to the Maid of the Mist. Beth said she was going to go to the market for oat flaxseed bread from FJZ and asked if there was anything I wanted.

I said “A hanger steak from Thyme’s Right. I don’t care what it costs.”

The “hanger” or butcher steak hangs from the front of the animal at the base of the throat. It was so named because butchers would keep it for themselves because it was so tender, flavorful and odd looking.

Beth got there early, because there are only a few loaves of that bread every week and she had a chance at strawberries. We are at the end of a poor season.

Sure enough, she got the bread. She let a woman ahead of her at Senek Farms because they both arrived at the same time and had a classic “down the hill” experience. Beth wanted one quart of strawberries. The woman said “I’ll take the rest” and bought a flat, leaving none.

Sometimes there’s a certain attitude that happens in Lewiston, it’s the sort of entitled rich people like the worst of where we came from before we came to the Falls.

Thyme’s Right was a better experience. $21 and change bought the 2-plus pound steak.

I thawed it overnight, trimmed the gristle and silver skin, sprinkled it with Citrus Smash from Sgt. Peppers, the specialty spice store next to Brewed and Bottled.

I grilled it over direct heat on our Napoleon Grill which we purchased 5 years ago from Smoke, Fire and Spice, a since closed store in Clarence operated by Falls native Bill Storr and his wife Marla.

It came out with the super-tender consistency of the finest steak with more beef flavor.

Not to go on another tangent, but about that grill. It is a charcoal kettle like a Weber only upgraded with a cast iron grate. It has a temp gauge and vents in the lid. The grate has 3 levels above the charcoal. The bottom vent is controlled by the height of the ash can.

That was the grill’s downfall. It funneled rainwater to the ashcan which rotted out. A welded tab on the lower bowl broke off and rusted through.

When Bill and Marla were shutting down their shop, I stopped to pay respects and say thank you and mention how the grill had weathered.

They had our receipt and said Napoleon had been very cooperative with vendors, and customers in honoring warranty claims.

I called Napoleon. They sent a new lower bowl, and replaced part of the grate but the ashcan was out of stock. It took 5 months but they sent a new one. I rigged the old one to work but it is good again. That hanger steak celebrated it gloriously.