The Other White Meat

 

You are about to read a post about pork. This is not a double entendre, it really is about meat.

My household is made up of myself, my teenage son, and my fiance…and my Jack Russell Terrier. We aren’t exactly the Bradys or the Waltons.Its just the three of us, yet my fiance decided we needed to purchase a pig.. I should preface this by saying we had to first purchase a deep freeze in which to keep said pig. Our small family now has a regular kitchen refrigerator, another “beer fridge” in the garage, and now a stand up deep freeze the size of most familys’ refrigerators. This is why other countries hate us.

I was initially concerned about what sort of preparation would be required of me upon receipt of the hog. I had no interest in disassembling Porky. I was pleasantly surprised to see Bryan return home from the processor with a cooler full of neatly wrapped and labeled white bundles. I am not a terribly organized person, but my inner OCD child delighted in stacking the symmetrical bundles in my freezer, sorted by intended usage. Sausages on one level, then bacon, hams, grilling cuts, then roasts down below. It was like monochromatic meat Tetris. I may start wrapping all foods in butcher’s paper! 

After a couple weeks of chops, bacon, biscuits and gravy, I started to get pork stir crazy. He smoked a ham and I served all the requisite ham left overs like scalloped potatoes and ham, ham sandwiches, etc. I started to get bored and experiment. I made a carbonara style pasta with a garlic cream sauce and of course ham. I made Cuban sandwiches with ham. Then he smoked pork roasts. I made pulled pork, barbecued pork pizza, Italian pork sandwiches, pork won ton tacos…I have become the Bubba Gump of pork.

Memorial Day weekend is upon is. The barbecue advent has begun. In the St. Louis area this means pork steaks (read here if you’re not familiar A Primer on Pork Steaks) smothered in sauce will be sizzling on every back yard smokey joe from O’fallon MO to O’fallon on the East side. I may have to bow out this year and have something different. Like maybe chicken.