Reader, I am killing it with the oven-roasted brussels sprouts right now. My secret, which I will unsecret just for you: bacon fat. This is a better method than putting cooked bacon or pancetta in with the sprouts because the fat melts as they're cooking and just envelopes them in rich porky goodness. A little of this goes a long way--I use a few slugs of olive oil and then maybe a tablespoon of bacon fat doled out in pea-size dollops. Sprinkling of kosher salt, cook until browned and tender, with crispy bits and pieces. That's it. If you want to be fancy you can add shallots, garlic, sweet potatoes and carrots but just sprouts is great. So. Damn. Good.
I just did a key word search on my blog and discovered that I have written about some combination of brussels sprouts and pork products five times already! Which could lead you to conclude that I am either in the grips of early onset dementia or I know what I like and I like to tell you about it over and over. Okay, maybe a third revelation is possible--I continue to be amazed that a sprout, which I grew up eating steamed and therefore wanted to eat exactly NEVER, could be so delicious.
In an non-pork matter, I read today that Heather Armstrong of Dooce fame has separated from her husband. Both she and he wrote about it on their respective blogs. I was moved by his raw honesty of the sudden, harsh shift in his reality. Not that hers is so great either, chased by the dog of depression nipping at her heels, yet having the comfort and normalcy of her children, her animals, her home. There was something so painful in reading Jon Armstrong ask the internet to help him find a place to live, a place to work because of course, he can't work at their company, the one they built together, the one that is about them. Then through reading all of this, my unsettled feeling that their relationship or the unraveling of it is a private matter yet since they built their brand on chronicling the minutiae of their lives together, isn't private at all. The internet is weird.
Showing posts with label Bacon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bacon. Show all posts
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Monday Miscellany
Reader, I had a retro moment this weekend when I grabbed the container of bacon fat out of my fridge while I was cooking. It wasn't a Maxwell House coffee can but a Whole Foods container instead and the brussels sprouts browned in bacon fat before finishing in the oven were a revelation. Someday I aspire to actually cooking pork in bacon fat, as Jennifer Hess of Last Night's Dinner does. Incredible.
Until I have a kitchen with a proper exhaust fan I'm not sure that I can cook bacon at home too often. My entire apartment reeks of it for days--even the cats smell of it. And as delicious as bacon is, I don't want to smell it for that long. The microwave method works well enough, and although a bit bloodless, it does contain the mess and stench in a way that stove top preparation cannot.
Today the New York Times reported that the American pig Renaissance continues with the re-discovery of the even fattier Hungarian Mangalitsa pig. This is a great little article about how excited chefs get about heirloom breeds. And such cute curly ears, too!
I look forward to eating you one day.
Tonight I caught up on the new NBC show starring Ian MacShane, Kings, a sort of futuristic David and Goliath story. As he is wont to do, McShane chews up every scene he's in, but if you haven't yet seen Deadwood or The Wire, skip Kings and rent these instead.
Until I have a kitchen with a proper exhaust fan I'm not sure that I can cook bacon at home too often. My entire apartment reeks of it for days--even the cats smell of it. And as delicious as bacon is, I don't want to smell it for that long. The microwave method works well enough, and although a bit bloodless, it does contain the mess and stench in a way that stove top preparation cannot.
Today the New York Times reported that the American pig Renaissance continues with the re-discovery of the even fattier Hungarian Mangalitsa pig. This is a great little article about how excited chefs get about heirloom breeds. And such cute curly ears, too!
Tonight I caught up on the new NBC show starring Ian MacShane, Kings, a sort of futuristic David and Goliath story. As he is wont to do, McShane chews up every scene he's in, but if you haven't yet seen Deadwood or The Wire, skip Kings and rent these instead.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
All Hail the Pig
Ever since leaving vegetarianism by the side of the road, I keep coming back to one essential meaty truth: pork is fucking awesome. I grew up believing I didn't like pork because I ate a lot of thin, overcooked, dry pork chops, which no matter how much applesauce you drowned them in, were really not that good. Somehow, I thought of all the prosciutto, sausage, and capicola I inhaled at Nanny's as some other animal. In terms of taste, they may as well have been.
When I moved out to the west coast I was dazzled by the pork offerings across every cuisine: chorizo, carnitas, linguica, Vietnamese barbecued pork ... I was in hog heaven, literally. This is when I parted ways with vegetarianism and embraced my flesh-chomping instincts. But since I learned how to cook at a vegetarian co-op, I really didn't know how to cook meat. I still don't, really, but I've fumbled my way through a few things enough times to have a bit of kitchen wisdom to share.
This weekend I had a number of my favorite pork products on hand and decided to hole up and cook up a pork storm. Here's the menu, with commentary:
Oven roasted red and sweet potatoes. Not much to say about this, but be liberal with the salt and the fat. Using both olive oil and dots of butter makes a huge difference. I came to cooking salt-phobic, as I think most Americans are because we've been fed a line of hooey about salt. Did you know that most salt in America's diet does not come from salt shakers in home kitchens but from processed food? So relax already, make dinner at home and salt your food.
Pork tenderloin crusted with sea salt, pepper and rosemary. Again, the key here is adequate salt and for the love of God, do not overcook it. A pinkish hue is not the death knell of trichinosis, it's completely necessary. If it's all white, it will not taste good. Please trust my many pork mistakes and if you don't, check out this guide that tells you in caps, twice, DO NOT OVERCOOK. You could brown it in a pan beforehand for extra yumminess, and while I support that decision completely, I'm too lazy for that.
I want to take a minute to talk about silver skin. That's the tough, connective tissue on tenderloins that isn't edible, doesn't melt away like fat and makes for unpleasant dining. Initially I didn't understand it and was intimidated by doing stuff to raw meat so would ignore it. Then I read Bill Buford's Heat and understood it really did need to go and I could do it. I remove the bigger clumps of fat with a scissor but the silver skin needs a sharp, pointy knife to separate it from the meat. This little guy sharpened my knives up nicely.
Roasted brussels sprouts with pancetta. I use a variation of this recipe. I had made this once before with amazing results. This time it wasn't as good and I want to share why so you don't make the same mistakes.
Pancetta quality. First time around I bought the pancetta from a butcher, who cut me a large slab, then trimmed into smaller pieces for me. When I got home I then trimmed those into even smaller pieces using a scissor. This time I used packaged, pre-cubed pancetta at Trader Joe's. Certainly faster, more convenient and cheaper but taste was a big FAIL. Don't bother. If you can't find pancetta, you'd be better off swapping it out with good quality bacon.
Amount of fat. Last go around was quite delicious, though a tad greasy, so I decided this time after draining the pancetta, I would take half of the fat out of the pan before continuing with the recipe. I'm wishing I hadn't been so drastic. But maybe with a higher quality pancetta I would be able to use less fat because it would have more flavor.
Pan choice. Last time I used my go-to pan, a heavy stainless Calphalon, and the result was beautifully browned and carmelized. This time I used a non-stick Calphalon, not for any particular reason, and didn't get nearly the same nice browning and carmelization. I'll definitely go back to the other pan. I keep learning that the overwhelming majority of the time, non-stick is not the right choice and since maybe it will kill us anyway, that's probably for the best.
When I moved out to the west coast I was dazzled by the pork offerings across every cuisine: chorizo, carnitas, linguica, Vietnamese barbecued pork ... I was in hog heaven, literally. This is when I parted ways with vegetarianism and embraced my flesh-chomping instincts. But since I learned how to cook at a vegetarian co-op, I really didn't know how to cook meat. I still don't, really, but I've fumbled my way through a few things enough times to have a bit of kitchen wisdom to share.
This weekend I had a number of my favorite pork products on hand and decided to hole up and cook up a pork storm. Here's the menu, with commentary:
Oven roasted red and sweet potatoes. Not much to say about this, but be liberal with the salt and the fat. Using both olive oil and dots of butter makes a huge difference. I came to cooking salt-phobic, as I think most Americans are because we've been fed a line of hooey about salt. Did you know that most salt in America's diet does not come from salt shakers in home kitchens but from processed food? So relax already, make dinner at home and salt your food.
Pork tenderloin crusted with sea salt, pepper and rosemary. Again, the key here is adequate salt and for the love of God, do not overcook it. A pinkish hue is not the death knell of trichinosis, it's completely necessary. If it's all white, it will not taste good. Please trust my many pork mistakes and if you don't, check out this guide that tells you in caps, twice, DO NOT OVERCOOK. You could brown it in a pan beforehand for extra yumminess, and while I support that decision completely, I'm too lazy for that.
I want to take a minute to talk about silver skin. That's the tough, connective tissue on tenderloins that isn't edible, doesn't melt away like fat and makes for unpleasant dining. Initially I didn't understand it and was intimidated by doing stuff to raw meat so would ignore it. Then I read Bill Buford's Heat and understood it really did need to go and I could do it. I remove the bigger clumps of fat with a scissor but the silver skin needs a sharp, pointy knife to separate it from the meat. This little guy sharpened my knives up nicely.
Roasted brussels sprouts with pancetta. I use a variation of this recipe. I had made this once before with amazing results. This time it wasn't as good and I want to share why so you don't make the same mistakes.
Pancetta quality. First time around I bought the pancetta from a butcher, who cut me a large slab, then trimmed into smaller pieces for me. When I got home I then trimmed those into even smaller pieces using a scissor. This time I used packaged, pre-cubed pancetta at Trader Joe's. Certainly faster, more convenient and cheaper but taste was a big FAIL. Don't bother. If you can't find pancetta, you'd be better off swapping it out with good quality bacon.
Amount of fat. Last go around was quite delicious, though a tad greasy, so I decided this time after draining the pancetta, I would take half of the fat out of the pan before continuing with the recipe. I'm wishing I hadn't been so drastic. But maybe with a higher quality pancetta I would be able to use less fat because it would have more flavor.
Pan choice. Last time I used my go-to pan, a heavy stainless Calphalon, and the result was beautifully browned and carmelized. This time I used a non-stick Calphalon, not for any particular reason, and didn't get nearly the same nice browning and carmelization. I'll definitely go back to the other pan. I keep learning that the overwhelming majority of the time, non-stick is not the right choice and since maybe it will kill us anyway, that's probably for the best.
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