Wine and Food Wednesday: Steak Acclaim

You need a pretty big frying pan to cook an egg from Fossil Farms in Andover. They weigh three to four pounds, and were laid by ostrich.

Our Garden State is home to the East Coast’s only commercial ostrich farm. Todd Applebaum and his brother Lance have been in the business for about 10 years, selling ostrich meat and fresh eggs to individual consumers and restaurants including Tim Schafer’s in Morristown and the Fromagerie in Rumson, owned by David Burke, one of America’s top chefs.

Todd Applebaum says if you put an ostrich steak next to a beef steak, it’s hard to tell them apart.  “You can grill it, you can pan-sear it. You just need to cook it medium to medium rare,” he explains. “Ostrich is a red meat. It tastes like beef but doesn’t have the fat.”

It’s also lower in calories and cholesterol than beef or even chicken and turkey. And Fossil Farm’s ostriches are fed only organic alfalfa and corn.

Right now the farm is busy with the hatching of ostrich chicks. That, plus feeding the rest of the birds, is a seven-day job for Todd.  He handles farm chores while Lance manages sales.

There are about 60 adult ostriches at Fossil Farms. These are huge birds, six to nine feet tall and about 250 pounds. On the plains of their native Africa the ostrich are prey for lions, but here in the rolling hills of northwestern New Jersey coyotes know to stay away from powerful adult birds, Todd says. Coyotes have taken some chicks, though.

The brothers left the construction business to breed ostrich because they wanted to raise something, and learned from the American Ostrich Association that besides providing healthy meat, ostrich need a lot less land than cattle and “one hen will lay 50 eggs,” says Todd. This year, he hopes to bring to market about 800 birds. Not all become food: the Bronx and Philadelphia zoos bought ostriches too.

Fossil Farm also sells more than a dozen other exotic game meats (although it only raises the ostriches): alligator, kangaroo, rattlesnake, yak. Restaurateurs and adventurous members of the public can order at their website, and download recipes like Alligator Marsala and Ostrich Steak with Sun Dried Blueberry Chutney.

Not that adventurous? You can still get organic specialties like kobe beef and Piedmontese beef.
 
And if you have some extra space, the Applebaum boys will also sell you a live ostrich. Feed it, and they will buy it back from you when it’s all grown up.

Tags: Andover | Morristown | Rumson | Burke, David | ostrich | Fossil Farms | American Ostrich Association

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