Cooking with low-quality, or small amounts of meat

I reached out to Andrew Walters, a professional chef who lives in the Napa Valley and asked the following questions:

"My question to you is...If you were to purchase spices and flavorings to tuck away for a rainy day...and if you expected meat to be scarce and of low quality; what spices and flavors would you select.

• Long shelf-life is a MAJOR plus.
• Leveraging or magnifying umami is awesome.
• Modest price per flavor impact is a good point.
• Compactness can come into play for things like soy sauce. Can you get dehydrated and rehydrate with water and vinegar?
• Some spices are switch hitters. Ginger, for instance.
• Some are so easy to grow (like garlic) that small amounts could be included with the expectation local resupply will happen."

I was surprised and delighted when he responded.

Fascinating. Hadn't thought of some of this.

Whole spices are preferable, since you can lightly toast them and grind them as needed to wake them up.

Vacuum sealers and those moisture absorbing packets will be vital.

You can get all manner of liquids in dehydrated form thanks to the usage of maltodextrin. Can do it yourself but you can find literally dehydrated soy sauce on Amazon even. Spice Lab makes a lot of good stuff.

Those powdered liquids do NOT enjoy humidity at all, they'll clump and harden fast. Again vacuum sealing small quantities is the way to go. (Mason jars with the packets works, but isn't as compact.)

Dried mushrooms are a great source for the umami angle too.

What spices to keep is kind of a personal angle I guess, but for low quality meats, I'd opt for the more potent warm spice like clove, cinnamon, star anise... Makes for a great stew. (We use those for our bourguignon)

Vinegars can be made from just leftover alcohol even (if there is any). Collecting the end of a bottle of wine, or brew a malty beer just to let acetobacter turn it to vinegar over time. Won't go bad. 

Stews are probably easiest to start with. You have me thinking about availability of things I take for granted now. I'd want to go red wine and tomato heavy for the stew base. Tomato is straightforward enough to save for the winter, and the wine can be switched for whatever is brewing (a malty beer would probably do the trick). Beyond that it's basic root vegetables or whatever is on hand for the season. Small amounts of spices go a long way, star anise and cinnamon are powerful in a stew or braise.

I asked about rabbit. Rabbit is a staple in French cooking. One reason is that you can be dirt poor and still keep rabbits. An invading army can carry off your cattle and pigs and eat all of your chickens and it will be years before you recover. If you can trap a few wild (European) rabbits then you can be producing meat in a very short time because they reach breeding age quickly.

Thinking on the wild game aspect... I don't suppose you have any interest in butter making. Or know people who do. I'm currently making about 30# of cultured butter a week, and that gives an astonishing amount of buttermilk as a byproduct. More than one would typically need. Great for baking (cakes, breads, biscuits), ice cream (because we all have ice cream churns in the apocalypse), and fantastic to use as a brine for meat. Fairly high acidity, combine with a small amount of salt and some other flavorings (Wild thyme, foraged garlic kind of stuff). It can tame the "Game" flavor and also help keep the meat from drying out during cooking, which rabbit in particular is prone to because they're just so dang tiny.

Editorial note: The lactic acid in buttermilk is useful in preserved meats like summer sausage where it can lower the pH to reduce the likelihood of botulism growing. The organism that generates the toxin that causes Botulism, Clostridium botulinum, was named after sausages, botulus being Latin for sausage since cured sausages were a very common host for the bacteria.

In this dystopian future, the lack of reliable electricity and the loss of inexpensive fuel means that people will not have leisure time and the time required to walk or bike to a restaurant or return home for lunch will be a non-starter. The idea of "cold cuts" for quick or transportable meals is great. (Joe replying to Chef Walters)

So I would be inclined to suggest a rabbit confit. Pieces salt cured and cooked in fat (probably duck fat to be honest, can be strained and re used) but the finished product can be stored anaerobically under the fat in the traditional french method. Dig out when needed. The meat can be picked, could be fried up in whole pieces or used in stews, or even whipped with a bit of fat and made into "potted" meat, topped with a cap of fat to seal out the air. (Rielletes! That's the word. Took me a min here at the bar to find the word ) This works great as long as ambient temperatures are low or some form of refrigeration (ice) is available.

Chef Walters patiently replied to my off-the-wall questions. If this post seems a little bit disjoint, it is my fault. It is pieced together from a few different emails. Chef Walters was graciously responding but it was after working a long shift.