A chance discovery at the Mt.P farmers market last weekend has me dreaming of the myriad uses for pork fat. On the hunt for ingredients for a traditional Italian dinner we discovered that Truck Patch Farm carries guanciale. (This being territory south of the Mason-Dixon line they call it smoked pork jowl, not guanciale, but same same.)
Last weekend was all about Italia. FG was in town visiting. Per usual we started the weekend with wine and cheese. That progressed to delicious homemade muffins with KF and her charming mother. Saturday afternoon rounded things out with a tart fall salad via IAG. But that was all just a warm-up for dinner. Inspired by the guanciale discovery on a trip to the market between muffins and salad, FG made bucatini all’amatriciana.
It never ceases to amaze me how much flavor pork imparts to things it’s cooked with. Had a chat today actually about the flavor possibilities of pork vs. chicken vs. beef. Consensus found chicken to be somewhat lacking. And I had to plug the grassfed beef as being particularly flavorful. Plus I’m a sucker for slow cooked beef as well. And veal. Ok, clearly the girl from the dairy state digs her cows. But I have to admit that pork is rapidly gaining some ground for me as a cook.
Speaking of pigs, the pork shoulder that MN graciously smoked for us over Halloween was every bit as good as you think it was. Awesome. And remarkable to me what depth of flavor wood smoke imparts to food. I have serious smoker envy now. MN’s Is a thing of beauty to behold. Seriously. I’m looking for pictures so you can appreciate, and not having much luck. You’ll have to trust me. It’s gorgeous. And that pork. Oh. My. God. If he’s not careful we might make him smoke everything.
Anyway, back to the pork-tastic meal from last weekend. Truck Patch was also the source of some delicious Italian sausage which was broiled with cheese on crostini. Also finally found the perfect perch for some awesome sardines that JH brought me from Portugal earlier this year atop a baguette with butter. We were almost too full for the bucatini all’amatriciana. Almost.
It was a perfect, mostly local, and almost entirely pig and carb based meal. It was perfect.
If I was feeling more honest I would go back and revise my “Turkey Turkey Pig Turkey” post. It should probably read Turkey, Pig, Pig, Pig, Turkey. Not only was last weekend pork-centric, but we’ve dropped one turkey meal from the lineup. Not from any lack of interest in turkey per se, but more because I clearly have been distracted by other meals. Plus Thanksgiving needs my full attention this year—IAG and I just started planning what looks to be a lovely menu. Very, very excited. Stay tuned.
Nice Pic!!
ReplyDeleteAt first I had to agree about chicken, a flavor sopper (like tofu), but then when I thought about it, dark meat, the forgotten, shunned meat actually has distinctly chicken flavor to it. Recently, costs for some dark meat cuts were higher than the coveted, boob cut. Stay tuned for a wave of dark meat chicken recipes. Also it's possible to get boneless legs and thighs these days, making many recipes more accessible. Looking forward to much more on the pork.