sprinklefingers

back in march a fun friend of mine clued me in on a local pig tasting.

(do i love living in a town where there are pig tastings? yes, i do. i do. a lot.)

unfortunately, i couldn’t attend the tasting. BUT, my friend - being the kind of gal she is - gifted me a package of pork from the pig party. but not just any pork. she gave me a bundle of bacon. bacon from the rare and special mangalitsa pig. 

these wooly pigs pack on a lot of fat - sometimes three times as much as a traditional pig - and the meat itself is more beef-like than pork-like. while the pigs themselves have hungarian roots, there’s a farmer in washington state who’s raising them and providing meat to our country’s best restaurants.

armed with my bundle of rare bacon, i was almost more interested in the rendered fat than the ‘meat’ itself. i had big plans to flavor everything in sight with wooly pig drippings…and i can tell you with certainty that it does not disappoint.

but for my maiden voyage with wooly pig bacon i ended up wrapping it around asparagus spears, setting the wrapped spears on a cooling rack and then setting the cooling rack inside a sheet tray. i roasted the wrapped spears at 400 degrees…then i saved every single drop of the drippings. 

the result: salty, intense bacon that tastes nothing like bacon…yet tastes exactly how you want bacon to taste. in other words: this s*&t blew my mind.

next up, i’m ordering a tub of mangalitsa lard from the producer in washington. i can’t wait to see (and taste) this pig in a little pastry.

——

seriously. look at the amount of fat on this bacon:

 

here’s the bacon after roasting:

 

and here’s a photo of brioche toasts brushed with mangalitsa drippings. see it glistening?

 

delicious, delicious, delicious.

we have an obscene awesome amount of pork at our house right now. this week alone we’re eating spare ribs, back ribs, pork shoulder and pork loin. not because we HAVE to, but because we WANT to (or at least i want to. and i do all the cooking, so the other two will eat what i prepare, right? right, dammit.)

anyways, in searching for the easiest way possible to prepare pork shoulder without going to the trouble of building a haphazard smoker, i have - with the help of the internet, cookbooks AND my grandma - come up with what i feel is the easiest AND the tastiest way to prepare a truly versatile pork shoulder. you can literally use this in tacos one night, in pulled pork sandwiches the next and then serve it along side mashed sweet potatoes and a mess o’ greens on the third night. and what you don’t eat, you can freeze…what could be better? more pork, that’s what.

easiest pork shoulder
you need:

• 5 lbs pork shoulder 
• 5 t bbq rub, jerk rub or a blend of your favorite pork-friendly spices 
• 3 yellow onions, quartered

to prepare:

1. preheat your oven to 325. [if your oven temperature is unreliable, get an oven thermometer. because the pork will be in the oven for an extended period of time, you’ll want precise heat here so you don’t accidentally overcook it.]
2. plop the pork shoulder into a large dutch oven or other cooking vessel with a tight-fitting lid. sprinkle the rub all over the shoulder and rub in well.
3. place the onions around the pork.
4. pour water into the pot so that it covers the sides of the pork by a little less than 1 inch.
5. place lid on the pot and put in the oven.
6. cook for 5 hours then use a meat thermometer to make sure the meat has reached an internal temperature of 190 degrees. if it has, it’s finished! if it hasn’t, let cook a little while longer.

once your pork has finished cooking, let it cool a bit so you can handle it. at this point you can shred it, cut it or otherwise prepare it for serving. the onions will be melty-soft and make an incredibly tasty addition to tacos.

pack whatever pork you don’t eat into fridge containers OR freezer containers…keeping in mind that you can keep the pork in the fridge for 3-ish days, depending upon the freshness of the shoulder when you brought it home.

so easy. and so versatile. and so delicious. pork! shoulder!

i’ve got a birthday coming up. one month from yesterday, to be exact.

i’m not the kind of person who throws myself a giant birthday bash. i’m not even the kind of person who throws myself a mini-birthday bash. not because i don’t like getting older (because, truly, i don’t care about that.) instead, i think it has more to do with BEING older and therefore not feeling like i need to recreate my 9th birthday party as a 35 year old.

speaking of my 9th birthday party, it was my best, ever. huge day long party followed by a sleepover. with dinner from piggie park:

and don’t even get me started on birthday gifts. unless you have an extra $300, I’m a really tough person to shop for - why? because, normally, if i see something i want or need, i buy it. [which is bad and good.] and everything leftover usually has a funny way of costing $300 or more. which is a tough number for some people to swallow when gift shopping.

but this year, i know what i want. and i’ve already asked for it.

while at the farmer’s market on saturday, i saw a sign advertising whole pigs for sale. not whole oinking pigs, but whole butchered pigs. all 80-90 lbs in size. all responsibly raised without hormones.

i came home and immediately gave all the information to our chief gift-buyer. i wish i could explain the relief in his eyes at me telling him exactly what i want for my birthday. and even more than that, i wish i could explain the excitement in his eyes with the thought of that much pork in the house.

so, between now and 4 weeks from now, i have some freezer consolidation to do. making room for a 90 lb birthday pig. now that’s something i can get excited about.