May 27 – June 1, 2025

Monday:          Grilled Sichuan Lamb Chops/Oven-Roasted Potatoes/Feta-Arugula

                           Salad/Strawberry-Rhubarb Buckle

 

Tuesday:          Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

Wednesday:   Thumb Pasta and Tomato-Braised Beans Piacenza Style

Thursday:        PFC

Friday:              Crispy Baked Cod with Tartar Sauce and Sautéed Green Beans

Saturday:         Chicago Tavern-Style Pizza

Sunday:            Forever Roasted Pork with Beans and Potato Salad

Pig Perfect

We have our friend Jane to thank for suggesting a recipe from the great Michael Chiarello.  On Sunday we cooked his “Forever Roasted Pork”.  “Forever,” because it takes so long to cook, but also “forever” because it is one of the best recipes you’ll ever find for pork shoulder, or indeed, any part of a pig or cow.  My point is, organize your life (which you need to do before embarking on an 8 to 10 hour cook) so that you can cook this recipe.

*The alternate name for this cut of the pig is pork butt.  This is confusing because what most of us would think of as pork butt is, in fact, the ham.  Pork butt is, instead, the actual shoulder of the pig.  If you get down on all fours – the typical posture of a pig – your shoulders will represent what used to be called pork butt.  There is no word for this opposite of euphemism.  Malediction being already taken, how about humilidiction?

This roasted pork is wonderfully seasoned and can be eaten as a pure roast with maybe some potatoes and greens on the side, or you can chop it up or ‘pull’ it and drench it with a good Memphis barbecue sauce and make a sandwich, as we did.  And you’ll have to think of some other recipes for the leftovers, unless you’re cooking it for 12 or so folks – pork shoulders run to about 4 pounds. 

This week we used the leftovers to cook pork posole – a Mexican soup with pinto beans, hominy and pork, good by itself, but even better when garnished with radishes, scallions, avocados and lime juice.  You could also make tacos al pastor with this beast or chop it up fine and make a pasta sauce, or use as a pizza topping.  Or, you could add a little ham, Swiss Cheese, Pickle and Mustard and make a Cuban Sandwich.  You could . . . well, if you haven’t got the idea by now, there’s no use my going on.

I need to be careful to put this next point as respectfully as I mean it.  The knowledge that large swaths of humanity avoid eating pork for reasons of tradition and belief, is painful to me.  I respect their beliefs and traditions, but I am itching to share the wonders of bacon and ham with these folks, and with  Vegans and Vegetarians and other specially-named groups of picky, restrictive and aversive eaters.  However, I’ve learned that it is beyond my power of persuasion to convert them – so I’ll just pass this along to you, the omnivorous friends of the blog.  Please consider sharing the leftovers with us.

Forever Roasted Pork

(adapted from Michael Chiarello – The Tra Vigne Cookbook)

Timing:                      30 minutes to prep and then 8 – 10 hours to cook

Ingredients:                         Serves 6 – 8 heavy or 10 -14 light eaters

4 pounds pork leg or shoulder at room temperature [Note:  Chiarello calls for a pork butt or leg with the skin still on – I didn’t have time to go to a butcher shop and settled for a pork butt with no skin – below, I explain how to deal with this.]

¼ cup fennel spice (To make a batch of this wonderful spice, which can be used on any meat, put 1 cup of fennel seeds, 3 tablespoons of coriander seeds, and 1 tablespoon of white peppercorns in a heavy pot over medium heat and roast, tossing frequently until light brown and fragrant.  Let the spices cool, then put them into a blender, along with the salt and blend to a fine powder.  You will have about 1 ¼ cups.  We have a spice grinder, which can handle smaller quantities than a blender, so we cut all the ingredients in half.)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups thinly sliced onions

1 ½ teaspoons finely chopped sage

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

½ cup of water

Prep:

Pre-heat the oven to 275F

Make the fennel spice – see recipe next to ingredient listing.

Slice the onions, chop the sage

Cook the onions and sage:  Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium until hot.  Add the onions and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 1 minute, then add the sage and cook until the onions stop throwing off water – 3-4 minutes.  Add the water, cover and cook for 10 minutes – the onions should be very tender.  Uncover and cook until the pan is dry – about 3 minutes.  Season well with salt and pepper.

At this point, Chiarello says to peel back the skin on the pork shoulder or the pork leg and spread the onion-sage mixture directly onto the layer of fat, then pull the skin back over and secure with kitchen twine.  Season well all over with the fennel spice.

Our pork shoulder did not come with the skin on – so I seasoned the pork shoulder all over with the fennel spice first, then put the onion-sage mixture on the fat cap and then covered that mixture with strips of bacon.

Cook:

Arrange the meat on a rack in a roasting pan and cook until very tender – I would allow up to ten hours, but it could be done in 6 hours, if you have a thin cut, 8 with a medium cut.  You will know the meat is done when you can pull it apart, easily, with tongs.

To serve, you can cut the meat into slices and serve with vegetables and potatoes.  Even more delicious, pull some of the pork and drench it in a good Memphis-style (Ketchup, brown sugar, mustard and vinegar) barbecue sauce and serve it on buns with dill pickle chips.

I would seriously consider cooking the leftovers in a posole (Mexican soup).