Pigging Out for the Holidays.
Pictured above: The 35 pounds of pork I got in the mail from Heritage Foods USA this week, fully one quarter of a Six Spotted Berkshire hog. Price: $235. I'm determined to cook most of it to feed the extended family over the holidays, beginning of course with a fresh Christmas ham, to be served with potatoes Anna, brussels sprouts, and an ancient Christmas pudding hand-carried all the way from Scotland by my brother-in-law. Here's what was included in my piggy package:
- pork spare ribs
- osso bucco
- a boneless sirloin
- four center-cut pork chops
- a fresh ham
- maple sugar cured smoked bacon ends
- a shoulder steak
- 3 packages of smoked bacon
- a shoulder roast
- and a shitload of sausage and ground pork
I've got the recipe for an awesome pork and chile stew that will use up the spare ribs. I'll roast the boneless sirloin in a salt crust, a trick my other brother-in-law taught me (you actually use a whole box of kosher salt to make a thick, thick paste that you crack open after cooking). I'll use the bacon ends in our New Years Day black eyed peas (I plan to employ every superstitious hoodoo trick in the book to bring my family luck in 2009, gawd knows we'll need it); there will be meatloaf sandwiches made from the ground pork; and of course, bacon will go in, under, and around everything we eat at every meal: I think I might even try to make some bacon ice cream --which will require me to finally buy the ice-cream attachment for the old Kitchen Aid. Anyway, yum, right? If you can stand it without perishing from envy, tune in over the holidays for pictures and recipes.
*Heritage Foods USA buys from small family farmers who are working to produce heritage breeds, some of them very old and native to the US, thereby protecting diversity in the gene pool and providing us with lots of deliciousness. All animals are raised on pasture without anitbiotics or animal by-products, and farmers are Certified Humane by the Animal Welfare institute and recognized for their sustainable practices.
