Cree LeFavour - Pork : more than 50 heavenly meals that celebrate the glory of pig, delicious pig

Text copyright 2014 by
CREE LEFAVOUR

Photographs
copyright 2014 by
ANTONIS ACHILLEOS

All rights reserved. No part of this book
may be reproduced in any form without
written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in
Publication Data available.
ISBN: 978-1-4521-0983-1 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-4521-3053-8 (epub, mobi)

Designed by
SARA SCHNEIDER

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Major thanks to everyone at Chronicle Books. Its my privilege to work with every one of you. Im thinking of Lorena Jones, Bill LeBlond (you are missed!), Sarah Billingsley, Amy Treadwell, Deborah Kops, Sara Schneider, David Hawk, Peter Perez, Doug Ogan, Marie Oishi, and Steve Kim. Particular thanks go to you, Sarah, for your sparkling intelligence and steady good sense as an editor. To David McCormick, the most relaxed but sneakily effective agent ever, thanks for making it all happen. Thanks to Antonis Achilleos for having the eye to capture the look and feel of the food in his photographs and for carrying off the job with such grace and precision. Harold McGee, guru of cooking science, thank you for your research and clarity in your indispensible book On Food and Cooking. My copy is happily dog-eared and grease-stained. My gratitude and admiration goes out to three great cooks who keep me inspired and happy to be in the kitchenJonny Miles, Shelley Boris, and Jean-Pierre Moull. For making so many ribs and chops disappear without flinching at the onslaught of more to come, I have Dwight Garner and Penn Garner LeFavour to thank. To Hattie Garner LeFavour, my resident vegetarian, thanks for so cheerfully tolerating a year of pork.

In 1974, the year my family moved to Idaho from Colorado, our two giant pigs, Woody and Aspen, lived in what would become our vegetable garden. Wed named them, nostalgically, after the place wed come fromLittle Woody Creek, in Aspen, where the gonzo writer Hunter S. Thompson was just one of many close neighbors in our tight community. Far away, at our historic ranch, called Robinson Bar, nestled along the Salmon River in central Idaho, the pigs slept in an insulated red doghouse, stuffed with straw. Over the long winter, when the thermometer stuck at -10F/-23C for stretches of a week or more, Woody and Aspen burrowed deep in their small house, emerging only when we approached with their bucket of warm, fragrant kitchen slops. Their stout bodies, covered in coarse hair, steamed in the air.

That spring, we shot them and slaughtered them steps from where they were raised. Their dark, richly flavored meat was irresistible, even to me. That was the last time my sister and I named our pigs.

I adore every part of the pig. Not just the big meaty parts like the chops, loin, ham, and shoulder, but also the fatty belly and jowls, the head for headcheese, the tail for frying Laura Ingalls Wilderstyle, and the trotters for stock making and gnawing on. Lusty, fatty, juicypork is the food obsession of the decade.

Ten years ago, unless you raised it yourself, you were stuck with commercial meatlean, flavorless, and wan. The idea of breeding hogs to be the other white meat, low in fat and neutral tasting, was never, ever a good one. Today, in all but the smallest grocery stores, if you look for it, youll discover richly flavored pork that will charm and dazzle you when cooked simply with nothing more than a pinch of salt. Dont be fooled by the word natural. The meat you want will come from humanely raised, antibiotic-free animals. It might or might not be USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture)certified organic , but it will be clearly differentiated from the other pork in the store. In better stores and at farmers markets, youll find meat from heritage breed pigs selected for flavor, fat, and tenderness. They might not have been raised on slop in the backyard, but you can be sure theyve been living something closer to a pigs life, with grain, grass, mud, and room to move about. This is meat worthy of your kitchen.

My goal here is to take on pork in all its glorious variations. In pursuit of this goal, Ive created recipes and sides inspired by the pig-eating traditions of the world. I have loosely defined these by region, dividing them into chapters: American, European (the Bistro chapter), Latin, Chinese and Japanese, and South and Southeast Asian. As obsession-worthy as simply cooked pork isand anyone who has tasted slow-cooked pork belly knows that it isthe pig discovers its genius when it bumps up against the walloping flavors that a truly global grab bag of spices, sauces, methods, and aromatics delivers. These piquant flavors, paired with bright, bold side dishes, are the kinds of meals youll find on every page of Pork.

So if you want to throw a bunch of pork chops on the grill to serve with a couple of simple sides on a Wednesday night, Ill show you the way. Then again, if you want to show off at a dinner party but need to be guided and inspired to pull off pork ribs and adzuki beans braised in ginger-, lemongrass-, and anise-scented stock and served over soba noodles, Pork is your book. From simple, fast meals for a week-night dinner to feasts worthy of the most demanding guest, its all here. Im committed to fresh, beautiful, brightly flavored food that home cooks can put on the table with relative ease.

Simple dishes can be exceptional if you start with superior ingredients. Pick recipes that inspire you, and stick to seasonal vegetables and fruits, mixing up the sides across recipe sets to make use of the best and freshest produce. Keep high-quality vinegars and olive oils on hand )theres no easier way to boost the flavor of a dish than by using a subtle, flavorful vinegar or a spot of fruity, potent olive oil.

Shop with care and pay a little more for your eggs, cream, and butter. Whether youre cooking a dish thats simple or complex, the elements matter. A curry made with two-year-old spices isnt going to taste anything like the curry made with spices youve just bought from a stellar source, just as a carrot slaw made from a bag of dried-out, split carrots packed in plastic weeksor monthsago isnt going to match one made with carrots bought fresh, their tops still on. Without occupying your entire existence with the quest for kitchen treasure, grab what you can when you see it, whether its an oversize bag of fava beans you spot while strolling through the farmers market or a spectacular (and spectacularly expensive) bottle of Champagne vinegar in a specialty kitchen store. The food you cook and eat at home will radiate with your efforts, reflecting a pronounced step up in flavor, texture, and appearance.

The quality of pork you can buy varies vastly. While the cut or location of the meat on the animal is important, other factors are even more critical. First, the breed of a pig will determine how much fat the animal carries, how marbled the meat is, and where it packs on that fat (loin or leg, shoulder or belly). In addition, the breed is a factor in determining the color of the meat and consequently its flavor and texture. Heritage breeds popular with farmers committed to sustainably raising delicious meat include Hampshire, Berkshire, Large Black, Mulefoot, Red Wattle, Tamworth, Mangalitsa, Gloucestershire Old Spot, Guinea, Kurobuta, and Ossabaw. These breeds arent selected for their lean meat.