Since this month’s printed article focuses on preparing a delicious all-natural Thanksgiving feast, I didn’t to leave you hanging without a great beverage. So, here is a recipe for my spiced cider, which I always find is the perfect drink to kick off the holidays and celebrate Autumn:

O’Hara Family Spiced Cider

5 allspice berries

2 cinnamon sticks

4 whole cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 orange peel (whole)

1 lemon peel (whole)

2 quarts apple cider

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

Ground nutmeg, to taste

10 cinnamon sticks, for garnish

Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum (substitute Papagayo Organic Spiced Rum, if you can find it)

Directions: Place the spices, salt, and fruit peels in the center of a 12-inch square of cheesecloth. Gather up the corners and tie with butcher’s twine to create a small packet. In a large pot over medium heat, heat the cider until steam begins to rise off the surface. Add the brown sugar and stir until melted. Add the spice packet to the pot and steep or 10 minutes, or until the cider is infused with spice. Serve in mugs with a sprinkling of cinnamon and nutmeg on top, and a cinnamon stick stirrer. If you liked it spiked (like me), add a generous dollop of spiced rum to each serving. Serves 10

This recipe originally appeared in Hot Toddies: Mulled Wine, Buttered Rum, Spiced Cider, and Other Soul-Warming Winter Drinks (Clarkson Potter / Random House).

I always start to think about putting my boat away around Halloween time. It is, at once, something to be dreaded and enjoyed. This summer wasn’t exactly the greatest boating summer. With little Mia in her first year, coaching two soccer teams, and the demands of running the sales side of an Internet start-up, I think I got on the boat about 3 times this summer.

Now, the prospect of going to Lloyd Harbor park, lining up the trailer, paddling out to the boat in the icy cold weather, and trailing the boat out to Westhampton (where I store it for the winter) is daunting. That’s a lot of work for three days of boating–never mind the $500 winterizing bill I’m going to get from Powles Marina in Cold Spring Harbor (and that’s if Joe doesn’t find anything to fix–which would be a miracle).

All that being said, putting the boat away will give me a few hours to spend with cousin Sonny, and always generates a few laughs (usually intermingled with curses as we try and get the trailer attached to our truck). It is also a natural stepping stone between summer and fall. Although I didn’t get on the boat an awful lot, we did have great trips to Hyannis Port and Montauk this summer. I did get to watch my adorable daughter enjoy her first days on the beach. I did get to spend hours and hours with my son and daughter coaching soccer. And–thank God–I did get to grow our new business.

Summer may be over, but there is a great Halloween party this Saturday to look forward to, a few sweaters that I wouldn’t mind wearing again, and the sleeping weather has been just fantastic. Once I get the boat out of the water, I may actually start looking forward to fall!

Fishing season is just heating up, and I have been spending every available minute I can out on my boat or surfcasting from the shores of Lloyd Neck, looking for fish. Last week was a great prelude to the season. We were fortunate to be in Hyannis Port at my friend Vince’s, and we hitched an early morning ride on his 28-foot Chris Craft, hoping to give our kids some fishing action, trolling the bottom for inedible (but easy to catch) “scuppers.” Instead, we lucked into a frothing pod of bluefish, which practically flew onto the boat.

Back in Long Island, the other night found my brother-in-law and I out near the jetty by the “Sand Hole” in Lloyd Neck, tossing out silver poppers into the surf. The night was perfect, with a light, cool breeze keeping the majority of mosquitoes away, and a few cold beers to keep our elbows well lubricated for casting.

Paul’s third cast resulted in a 10-inch small striper, which we released back into the sound. We fished the same lures for another hour. I got a tremendous hit, which resulted in my line snapping (note to self: change your line more than every 5 years!) and much cursing. Although no more action was to be had, the take-away was clear: the stripers are definitely on the North Shore right now, and the action is only going to get hotter as September rolls along and the water cools down. Once you catch that big “hog” of a striper, you need to know what to do with it. Here is my recipe for a simple and delicious fillet of striped bass:

Broiled Striped Bass

Striped bass is a delicious fish, and needs little seasoning. For my money, there is nothing better than a filet of freshly caught striped bass roasted under the broiler. Serve with rice, sautéed spinach, and a jaunty Chardonnay for an easy, healthy meal.

2 pounds striped bass, filleted (about 4 portions)
½ cup white wine
¼ cup orange juice
¼ cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 large cloves garlic, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Lemon wedges and parsley, for garnish

Mix the wine, orange juice, soy sauce, olive oil, lemon juice, chopped garlic, salt, and pepper together in a large bowl. Place the bass filets into the marinade, cover and refrigerate for a minimum of one hour. To cook, place the marinated filets on a buttered broiler pan, and cook about 5 inches from heat for 5 minutes. Turn the fish over, and cook for another 5 minutes. Garnish with lemon wedge and parsley.

A Conversation with Del Holzer of Meyer Natural Angus

When I sat down at Maxwell & Dunne’s to interview executive chef Chris Palmer about steaks, all he wanted to talk about was his recent trip to a cattle ranch in Montana. Located in the Blackfoot Valley of western Montana, the Meyer Ranch sits on 43,000 acres of western beauty, and was where the company’s start in raising Angus cattle began. The protocol owner Robert Meyer started—and continues today, with more than 200 cattle ranchers—is now the standard for raising all-natural beef. After eating a porterhouse of Meyer’s Angus with chef Chris at Maxwell & Dunne’s, I had to find out why this meat made for some of the tastiest steak I have ever had. I called Meyer’s to ask some questions and encountered Del Holzer, upon his return from the ranch:

Del, why are your steaks better than the rest?

We originally set out to consistently provide the best-tasting beef. A simple statement that is complicated by the word “consistently.” Many beef programs produced in a traditional commodity beef environment search for high-quality beef and therefore it is a byproduct of the process and not the driving direction. They will, on occasion, provide a very good eating experience. In the foodservice business, “occasionally” is not preferred. Chefs have been asking for years, “Why can’t I get the same steak every time and why can’t it be a great eating experience?” We heard the chef and have been working to address that need.

What do you do differently on the ranch, then?

We use a much different approach than our huge contemporaries use to provide high quality beef. We do not hope to find quality in the beef plant. We bring the quality in the door. We are convinced that the only way to consistently deliver incredible beef is to invest and manage before the processing plant. We must control what happens to the animal from birth to plate to be certain the quality and consistency the chef demands will always be there. That is clearly the only way to do it.

What kind of cattle do you raise?

Only Angus cattle—real Angus cattle. Our competitors determine Angus simply if the animal’s hide is 51% black. We must have documentation of the Angus breed. This is a huge difference!

What should the canvas reader look for when they go steak shopping?

No hormones, no antibiotics at anytime. The added water weight (which runs out when cooked) and scientifically documented impact on tenderness (all suppliers of the products clearly state that tougher beef will be a result of using growth stimulants) are clearly not going to provide a better eating experience and, quite frankly, are not needed. They should also look for cattle fed on a vegetarian diet. That means no animal-based feeds are allowed at any time. It just makes sense.

What about labeling? How can you tell the animals are treated conscientiously?

You want meat that is Certified Humane. We are the only natural angus company you will find that has the commitment to be involved with a 3rd party to provide transparency to our process (unheard of), guidelines to follow, and ongoing audits to our execution of the plan. We have already proven since being Certified Humane since 2002 that our commitment to humane treatment of the animals has a big impact on consistency and overall quality. It just makes good business sense and is good ol’ common sense at the same time.

• Learn more about the humane process at certifiedhumane.org
• Learn more about Meyers at meyernaturalangus.com
• Eat their steaks at Maxwell & Dunne’s, mdsteakhouse.com

—Chris O’Hara, canvas Tasting Notes columnist

Writing this month’s canvas articles really opened my eyes. Last month, I was taking my old motorboat out for its initial run, after putting it on the mooring in Cold Spring Harbor. With more than 25 years under her belt, the Krusty Krab still plies the local waters confidently, and I was glad to see that everything was running well. I took a run up to the Sand Hole in Lloyd Neck, and noticed some baymen working the mud flats for clams at low tide. It seemed like—if you didn’t have to do it every day for a living—clamming could be a lot of fun. That inspired me to write July’s “Tasting Notes” column about one of my favorite dishes: linguine with white clam sauce, which my wife happens to specialize in. I figured, I would drink a few beers and see how many local clams I could bring home for Jen to cook.

While I was out there, I asked my fellow clammers about techniques and where to hunt them, and was surprised to discover that clamming—and shellfishing in general—was a dying industry on Long Island. I had heard of the brown tides and trouble with the local lobster harvests, but I had simply assumed—what with the “Oyster Festival” and a lengthy Long Island history of shellfishing—that the Island was still a major producer of clams, scallops, and oysters. I discovered that I couldn’t be more wrong.

I started to look into the situation further, and ended up talking with the head of the New York Seafood Council, Roger Tollefsen. He explained that Long Island, which once was the leading exporter of bay scallops, has been comparatively bereft of shellfish for the past quarter-century. I was surprised to learn that the harvests are so small, that New York no longer exports its shellfish. With the massive local focus on the environment—especially around Peconic Bay, which has become one of the world’s most pristine estuary systems—I had imagined Long Island would be teeming with seafood. I couldn’t be more wrong. Roger explained that the problem was that Peconic Bay had become too clean.

I wondered if it was really possible for an ecosystem to be too clean? Roger’s take on the situation was highly compelling. Basically, he argues that by taking out all of the pollution out of Peconic Bay, the scallops and clams have nothing left to eat.The science seems to bear out the argument. So, I guess we are stuck with a very pristine Bay, but decimated seafood industry. As someone who loves the environment and shellfish, it makes for a tough choice. Like the proverbial beat of the butterfly’s wing, everything we do in a closed system affects everything else. In the Peconic Bay, taking all of the nitrogen out of the water makes it very difficult for shellfish to spawn and grow naturally.

I don’t know whether or not adding more waste into the bay and bringing back the shellfish is the right thing to do, but it’s going to require a lot of thought and hard choices. The solutions that are correct for other estuary systems may not be right for ours. As a writer for the leading magazine on Long Island covering sustainability, it would be easy to simply present The Nature Conservancy’s stance, which is the politically correct viewpoint. I think it is more interesting to see how real people are affected by environmental policies, and learn more.

I don’t know if putting more waste into our bays to promote shellfish is the right thing to do, but I know that a Long Island without a decent oyster is just wrong. Food for thought.

By Chris O’Hara, canvas Tasting Notes columnist