A Wonderful, Magical Animal
Thank you Homer Simpson for the title of today's homily. The subject is, of course, pig.
Food writer and occasional Bourdain straight man Michael Ruhlman expounds on the joys of breaking down a whole pig. That's something I'd like to do, though I'd need some proper tools and skilled friends. You know who you are.
On a smaller scale, I continue to stretch every bit of meat that I can. Sunday I made another variant of braised country ribs. Pretty simple - season with salt and pepper, brown for 4 minutes on each side in a screaming hot saucier or saucepan with a little cheap olive oil (remember using the EV stuff for cooking is a waste of money, save it for marinades, dressings, dipping etc.). Then using the same pan sweat a small onion (chopped) a shallot (ditto) and a few minced cloves of garlic. Don't forget a heavy pinch of salt to draw out moisture. When that's all soft and fragrant, sprinkle in some chili powder and cumin (sorry, didn't measure, just enough to coat the aromatics basically) and stir. Dump some beef stock into the mix, scrape the bottom of the pan with your wooden spoon or spatula to get up any remaining fond, bring the stock to a boil and put the meat back in along with a few whole peeled garlic cloves. Add enough liquid to cover the meat by 3/4, bring to a simmer, slap a lid on and go do something else for a couple hours. Dish is done when the meat is fork tender. Serve with some of the braising liquid drizzled over and a couple of the now-boiled, sweet, chili-flavor-infused whole garlic cloves. Save the rest of the liquid in the fridge.
Now the recycling part. Whatever liquid is left in the pan can be re-used as a nice sauce for pork chops. So last night I seasoned and sauteed a couple chops. Then I put them aside on some warmed plates and used a warmed cast iron skillet as a lid. I used the pork chop pan to first lightly brown some sliced garlic in the olive oil/pork fat mixture and then tossed in a whole mess of escarole. While that cooked down, I pulled the solid fat off the refrigerated braising liquid and nuked it. Yes, a microwave does have a place in the kitchen! Once the escarole was done, I plated the chop, the escarole and topped the chops with a few spoonfuls of the braising liquid as well as some of the onion and shallot that was now nicely stewed.
We used the rest of the liquid for bread dipping so that was the starch for the meal. Yum.
After dinner I rolled and hung a couple slabs of pork belly that I had been curing for 9 days in the fridge to make pancetta. They are now dangling from the ceiling of the basement bathroom (recipe calls for a "cool but humid" place, so that fits the bill. The basement is going to smell nice for the next 2 weeks.
Thank you pig, for all of your wondrous bounty!
(Though I'm not always about the pig. Tonight's menu is broiled swordfish with smoked paprika aioli.)
Food writer and occasional Bourdain straight man Michael Ruhlman expounds on the joys of breaking down a whole pig. That's something I'd like to do, though I'd need some proper tools and skilled friends. You know who you are.
On a smaller scale, I continue to stretch every bit of meat that I can. Sunday I made another variant of braised country ribs. Pretty simple - season with salt and pepper, brown for 4 minutes on each side in a screaming hot saucier or saucepan with a little cheap olive oil (remember using the EV stuff for cooking is a waste of money, save it for marinades, dressings, dipping etc.). Then using the same pan sweat a small onion (chopped) a shallot (ditto) and a few minced cloves of garlic. Don't forget a heavy pinch of salt to draw out moisture. When that's all soft and fragrant, sprinkle in some chili powder and cumin (sorry, didn't measure, just enough to coat the aromatics basically) and stir. Dump some beef stock into the mix, scrape the bottom of the pan with your wooden spoon or spatula to get up any remaining fond, bring the stock to a boil and put the meat back in along with a few whole peeled garlic cloves. Add enough liquid to cover the meat by 3/4, bring to a simmer, slap a lid on and go do something else for a couple hours. Dish is done when the meat is fork tender. Serve with some of the braising liquid drizzled over and a couple of the now-boiled, sweet, chili-flavor-infused whole garlic cloves. Save the rest of the liquid in the fridge.
Now the recycling part. Whatever liquid is left in the pan can be re-used as a nice sauce for pork chops. So last night I seasoned and sauteed a couple chops. Then I put them aside on some warmed plates and used a warmed cast iron skillet as a lid. I used the pork chop pan to first lightly brown some sliced garlic in the olive oil/pork fat mixture and then tossed in a whole mess of escarole. While that cooked down, I pulled the solid fat off the refrigerated braising liquid and nuked it. Yes, a microwave does have a place in the kitchen! Once the escarole was done, I plated the chop, the escarole and topped the chops with a few spoonfuls of the braising liquid as well as some of the onion and shallot that was now nicely stewed.
We used the rest of the liquid for bread dipping so that was the starch for the meal. Yum.
After dinner I rolled and hung a couple slabs of pork belly that I had been curing for 9 days in the fridge to make pancetta. They are now dangling from the ceiling of the basement bathroom (recipe calls for a "cool but humid" place, so that fits the bill. The basement is going to smell nice for the next 2 weeks.
Thank you pig, for all of your wondrous bounty!
(Though I'm not always about the pig. Tonight's menu is broiled swordfish with smoked paprika aioli.)
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