Coddiwomple is a wonderful word. It means to travel in a purposeful manner toward a vague destination. I can relate because it’s been a way of life for me. Doing the Baldwin Farm Coddiwomple is not a dance, it’s a call to visit the farm’s wonderful food truck. Coddiwomple is the name of the food truck semi-permanently stationed at Baldwin Farm in West Stockbridge.
My introduction to Baldwin Farm was when Mark Dylan Hyde, a friend of mine who lives up the road from the farm, invited me over to have what he professed to be the best burger he’d ever had. Mark is an artist, not a cook, and prone to the ever-slightest bit of Irish hyperbole, so I was appropriately skeptical. I found he wasn’t exaggerating, they’re delicious. I found the burger in question was prepared as a smash burger, a trend in the ever-expanding world of burgers.
Smash burgers are aptly named as their preparation involves literally smashing a handful of loosely packed ground beef as flat as can be reasonably flattened with a heavy kitchen utensil onto a ridiculously hot 450 to 500 degree flat grill. After the burger is salted and smashed on the grill, it’s left alone to create a strong sear for a few minutes until the meat begins to turn grey around the edges when it’s time to be flipped and the other side is seared. These burgers are different from the traditional medium rare burger formed into a patty and grilled. Smash burgers rely on their goodness coming from searing the flattened ground beef quickly and browning as much of the meat’s surface as possible. If done properly, smash burgers are juicy in the middle due to its quick sear with crispy bits on the outside, but don’t expect much rarer than medium well.
What makes a smash burger so good is the science behind the Maillard Reaction. The Maillard Reaction involves a complex chemical reaction that occurs when searing meat. This chemical reaction creates that almost indescribable, yummy, savory taste referred to by the Japanese word, umami. I honestly believe the taste of umami is so satisfying and brings such bliss it may be the answer to bring about world peace and free and fair elections; however, I have my own Irish connections resulting in a wee bit of occasional hyperbole myself.
The ground beef is kept loosely packed to avoid toughening the meat by overworking it and to expose as much of the crags and crevices of the ground meat as possible to the cooking surface. This allows the maximum amount of the meat’s surface to undergo the Maillard Reaction. The resulting crispy bits are a textural bonus.
I’ve told people the first step in cooking successful smash burgers at home is to disconnect their smoke alarms. I set mine off the other night when I went about smashing some burgers in my cast-iron pan, but it was worth it. I’m not sure a howling Rudy the Cat would agree, but I count on him to forgive me because I feed him and otherwise attempt to satisfy his every feline desire.
To avoid setting off your smoke alarm and instead have someone else expertly smash your burger, a trip to Baldwin Farm is a short drive from West Stockbridge off Route 102 West onto West Center Road leading to Alford. You can enjoy a smash burger, a regular hamburger, tacos, or a hot dog all made from the beef and pork they raise on the farm. This is a farm that concentrates on raising animals for their meat, but there is a vegetarian taco option.
It’s impossible to get any more farm to table. The bucolic setting is a Berkshire dream as you sit watching the sunset over their fields from your picnic table while the cattle coddiwomple (there’s that word again!) back and forth across the field next to you.
They also have a self-service store open 24 hours at the entrance to the farm where they sell their various cuts of humanely raised beef, chickens, eggs, pork, and pork products, all of which are fed organic feed, except the beef which is not given any feed. The beef is totally grass fed and grass finished on the Baldwin Farm’s lush pastures.
I recently sat down with Toby Casey whose family owns the 138-acre farm established in 1859, and his father, Bill Casey who runs the food truck with his wife Ginny, who is a Baldwin and grew up on the farm. Toby continues to run his nationwide information technology business, so his expertise in technology has led him to continually automate and otherwise streamline the operation for efficiency. The success of his information technology business he established in 2002 allowed him the funds to buy the farm.
My first question was, “Why smash burgers?”
Bill’s answer was swift, “Simplicity.” He described taking a trip with Toby to Baja, Mexico and having a 50-cent taco from a street vendor which he described as “…the best thing I’d ever had. It blew me away. It was so simple, and it continues to come back to memory.” His quest since then has been to replicate that experience by offering simply prepared food using the excellent meat from the farm. Bill doesn’t have a restaurant background, but he has excellent taste. He created a recipe for a secret sauce for the smash burger which he told me is made from “everything you put on a burger including pickle juice. Some have thought it has curry in it, but it doesn’t.” The default smash burger is offered as 1, 2, or 3 quarter pound patties topped with a slice of jalapeno, sliced pickle, and cheese served on a brioche bun baked locally at Berkshire Mountain Bakery. The jalapeno’s heat is surprisingly tame, I assume due to the addition of the cheese, secret sauce, and the umami from the sear.
The seed was sown for Toby’s family to buy the farm 13 years ago when the family decided to begin eating healthier. They began by raising chickens for their meat and their eggs across the street from the farm for personal consumption until they moved the operation to where it is now after they bought the farm in 2017. While the family’s efforts were initially for personal consumption, they realized others were interested in their products and Baldwin Farm LLC was formed in 2018. It was then that they began offering their eggs and meats through the farm’s 24/7 self-service store. They now commercially raise chickens, hogs, and cattle which are slaughtered at USDA licensed facilities. The cattle herd is comprised of a mix of Wagyu, Hereford, and Angus breeds.
The Casey’s family dream is to share their lovingly raised food and to educate others about the health benefits of it, as well as to have the farm become a viable business for the family for generations. They have plenty of family to create those generations as Toby and his wife, Cameo, have nine children aged two to 22. The family farm has particularly benefited from their 19-year-old son, Declan, who has only ever wanted to be a farmer. Declan now single handedly takes care of the farm’s day to day operation. Meanwhile, the Casey family realized for their farm to be a successful business, they needed to expand and diversify. As Toby put it, “It was time to go big or go home. We couldn’t raise a few hogs, we needed to raise 70.”
Coddiwomple, the food truck, opened July 15 of this year and they’re feeling their way going forward as the name implies. Coddiwomple is presently open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m. offering the best smash burgers ever, regular hamburgers, tacos, and hot dogs entirely made with meat raised on the farm. They’re in the process of finishing a new larger structure for their 24/7 store and plan to add breakfast and lunch in the store at some point. I know I’ll be keeping my eye out as their business coddiwomples through its first year.
