There’s much to celebrate. Thank you for joining us!
Welcome to the Punch Bowl, a table for Feasts. This downstairs private dining room seats 8-10 friends who’re in the mood for more. We’ll ladle bowls of punch, roast you a whole suckling pig, cook your own hunt, and welcome you to stay long after dark. Email feasts@stissinghouse.com to book.
CHRISTMAS EVE. We’re working with our fishermen in Maine to share plenty of extra seafoody specials. Of course we would never subject you to set-menu torture–our usual tavern menu will also be available. Come for caviar and carols.
NEW YEAR’S EVE. We’ll be open our usual hours (5-10pm) serving our tavern menu PLUS plenty of deep fried quails, chicken and pheasant. Come to Stissing House if you're after a crackling fire and crackling game instead of a disco ball drop.
Please note that we will be closed December 25 & 26, and January 1 & 2
We’re as excited to celebrate with pheasant as we are with vegetables. Our new winter salad is a festive mix of our favorite ingredients: bitter chicories balanced with sweet apples, walnuts and tart homemade pomegranate mos.
According to the New York Times, award-winning Ronnybrook Farm is the Dom Perignon of dairy, and we wholeheartedly agree. We culture their butter for our bread, and we use the milk and cream to make ice cream–and anything else.
Ronnybrook Farm is a Pine Plains institution. And thanks to Florence Fabricant, the New York Times food critic who in 1991 suggested they sell their milk at the Union Square Greenmarket, they are a NY institution as well. Last year, they celebrated their 30th anniversary of selling at NYC farmer’s markets. We sat down to talk with Rick Osofsky and his daughter Kate, thinking we knew most of what there is to know about Ronnybrook. But we were delighted to learn more about their leadership in the dairy industry, and quite a few “firsts,” including being the first dairy farm in New York to process milk onsite–in their signature glass bottles.
Ronnybrook was founded by Rick’s father David Osofsky in 1941, the same year Rick’s brother Ronny, the farm’s namesake, was born. In the 50s, David established the first-ever nationwide dairy coalition, Dairy Farmers of America, starting with farms in Columbia and Dutchess counties, so that farmers would have a voice in Washington. The name was ultimately co-opted and DFA is now the largest dairy cooperative in the country. Sixty percent of the milk produced in the northeast is produced by farm members of DFA. In order to be competitive with retail stores, they have to offer the most competitive pricing, while also trying to ensure the highest return to its co-op members–an impossible task.
In 1962, Ronny joined the family business and Rick followed. In the 80s, when the government was paying farmers to slaughter their dairy cows for beef production, Ronnybrook didn’t participate. After all, they practiced years of advanced genetics, intentionally breeding some of the best Holstein cows in the country, and they weren’t about to throw it all away. That slaughter initiative started a trend. By the numbers, there were 650,000 dairy farms in the US and now there are less than 25,000. In Ancram/Pine Plains, there were 37 dairy farms and now there are three. Nationally, one farm a day goes out of business. But the Osofskys remain as committed to their craft as they were when they began 80 years ago–on a mission “to provide a local source of fresh, minimally processed all natural dairy products, wrapped up in an overriding commitment to the humane treatment of animals.”
Passionate about milk, Rick will tell you that whole milk is the original “plant based milk.” Cows eat grass, after all. He’s also vocal when it comes to getting whole or 2% milk back into the hands of kids in school. After an unfavorable recommendation (that has since been recanted), full fat and 2% milk were removed from school menus.
Rick feels fortunate to have two children and a nephew who had other opportunities and still chose to come home and work for the family business–not a leisurely or particularly lucrative pursuit. Know your farmer. The next time your child begs for Ronnybrook chocolate milk (and admit it, you drank half of it!), know that you’re supporting a family who loves what they do and treats their cows like family. We love them for it, and we’re excited to watch them continue their advoca
cy on behalf of family farms. Pay them a visit and see for yourself.
In memory of Ronny Osofsky, 1941-2022