Category Archives: Meat

Potted Pork

Digging into some cretonsSlow-cooked pork that is mixed until creamy and spreadable. It is very similar to the French rillette. Rillettes are traditionally sealed in ramekins with rendered fat. This is great for potted pork, too.  Especially in winter, as the fat looks like a skating rink once it sets, and because with the addition of a sprig of rosemary and some peppercorns, you can imitate holly.

Potted Pork

Ingredients

  • 2 kgs pork shoulder (preferably the round “blade roast” from the Boston butt)
  • kosher salt
  • black pepper
  • dried summer savoury
  • fresh thyme
  • 1/4 yellow onion, sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • roughly 1 L quality lard
  • roughly 1/4 cup Dijon mustard

Procedure

  1. Rub generous salt, black pepper, and dried
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Turkey Giblets

A plate of turkey giblets: neck, liver, and heart.This was the first year that I had a hand in preparing the Thanksgiving turkey. Subsequently it was also the first time that I came in contact with the infamous giblets: the neck, heart, liver, and gizzard of the turkey, stored together in a bag in the cavity of the bird.

First things first: I needed to know what I was dealing with. I was familiar with the general shape and function of the first three items on that list. The gizzard, however, I embarrassingly thought was the flap of skin hanging between a turkey’s beak and neck. Turns out this is the wattle, “an organ of sexual dimorphism” (Wikipedia), whatever that means. The gizzard is actually a stomach with … Continue reading.