The president of the National Pork Producers Council-- the person who represents the people who represent the nation's pigs -- appeared recently before Congress to talk about sales in the swine-flu era.
He wasn't happy. "Things look bleak going forward," Don Butler told America's legislators.
Around the same time, the following transpired:
□ The usually beef-and-beany Taco Bell erected signs at the mouth of its drive-thru lanes, exhorting motorists around the republic: "TOP IT OFF WITH BACON."
□ Uncle Jack's, one of New York's signature steakhouses, put out its sidewalk chalkboard of dinner specials. Getting top billing at the beef emporium, for $24.95, was not sirloin, not rib-eye, not filet mignon, but slow-roasted Berkshire pork shank.
□ The brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery, using an intricate process, made 25 experimental cases of -- wait for it -- bacon ale.
In the land of the cowboy, the country where beef is held up as the meat that defines the American character, the pig in all its succulent, edible incarnations seems to be everywhere.
"As an interest in food, its origins and its preparation spreads around America, it makes sense that the American palate is widening past just burgers and steaks," said Sasha Wizansky, the co-editor of Meatpaper, a magazine about meat culture in America.
"Practically every scrap of a pig can be transformed into something tasty," she said, "and you can find a treasure trove of pork-centric dishes and cured products from around the world." (Meatpaper's first themed issue, earlier this year, focused on the hog.)
It's not as if the pig suddenly arrived on the American scene. From the earliest settlements in Virginia, it's one of the oldest domesticated creatures to make its way down American gullets. Ham, ribs and barbecue have never gone out of style in the South. But in the rest of the country, at least, pork was cast as an also-ran, below burgers and chicken in the culinary taxonomy.
For years, many Americans outside of the South rarely ventured beyond the Shake 'N Bake pork chop and its workaday suburban brethren. Even pork's longtime slogan, "The Other White Meat," suggested a status akin to how Avis approaches Hertz.
Is that changing? Ask Michael LaScola, the chef and owner of American Seasons, a restaurant in Nantucket, Mass., where you will find every part of the pig harvested into unusual recipes. Crispy pig ears, served up like French fries with a side of smoky ketchup? Check. Pig's head bacon served with eggs sunny side up? Check. Pork-belly fritters with foie gras? Check. And check your cholesterol while you're at it.
"Pork is definitely my favorite thing to play with and to cook with," said LaScola, who was the cohost of last year's Hogtoberfest.
"You can go sweet and you can go savory. And either way it works," he said. "It has a lot of flavor but it's not gamey like lamb would be. Or it doesn't have that super blood-iron kind of thing like some beef."
As meats go, most cuts of pork remain quite affordable-- no small matter when you're trying to feed a family during a recession that's pushing into its second year.
Then, of course, there's bacon.
From Wendy's Baconator sandwich to bacon-scented air fresheners and even bacon-flavored mints, the cured and smoked Porkbellicus Americanus has become something of a fetish object for carnivores and lipid lovers. It has reached the point where the words "chocolate-covered bacon" have become, for many, something appetizing.
You can buy "Baconnaise," a condiment that has earned the good-natured scorn of TV host Jon Stewart, and its companion product, Bacon Salt, which has been shipped to bacon-craving American troops serving in pork-free regions. You can even join the "Bacon of the Month Club," perhaps the only subscription-based pork products service in the land. Or perhaps not.
"There are instances in which innovative bacon dishes work ... and then there are times when you don't really want bacon foam on your dessert or bacon fat in your latte," Wizansky said. "In certain food circles, bacon saturation has become so extreme that chefs have completely abandoned it."
Bacon seems to turn otherwise rational Americans into drooling, carnivorous maniacs. Consider food writer Joanna Pruess, rhapsodizing in the introduction of her book, Seduced by Bacon: "Bacon is far more than a food. It is a happy state of mind. It excites people to the point where some aficionados liken it to illicit pleasures. Can it be a religion?"
Odds are good that Joanna Pruess is neither Jewish nor Muslim.
Omaha Steaks, the mail-order company that does a brisk business in premium beef, has offered pork for many decades -- including pork chops wrapped in bacon. Now it is introducing thick-cut microwave bacon. Its senior vice president, Todd Simon, sees several reasons why pig products are capturing the imagination.
Pork, he said, not only gives the increasing legions of American grillers "something new to throw into the flames" but also allows folks to dip their toes into the adventure of more unusual ethnic recipes while still holding on to the familiar and the traditional.
What's more, Simon said, the culture of the whole pig as centerpiece to a very special meal holds a place in American culture that other whole animals don't. "You never hear about a steer roast," Simon said.
All of this is not to say that Don Butler and the National Pork Producers Council don't have legitimate worries. As they point out, pork producers have lost an average of $23 on each hog marketed during the past two years.
But in a land where Bacon Salt and Baconnaise are actually sustainable consumer products, where the landscape has more than 400 locations of a store called HoneyBaked Ham, surely the long-term prognosis for pork prosperity can't be entirely bleak.
LaScola certainly doesn't think so. And if you have any doubt, touch base with him next year. Whatever part of the pig he's serving then, consider washing it down with a new drink he's developing.
He calls it the BLT Bloody Mary.
Pork Tenderloin Stroganoff
Gordon Ramsay suggests serving buttered pasta or steamed rice to accompany this simple stroganoff made with pork tenderloin from his new book, Cooking for Friends.
1 pound pork tenderloin
Salt and ground blackpepper, to taste
1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika, plus an extra pinch
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 yellow onion, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
7 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced (about 3 cups)
Splash of brandy
½ cup sour cream or heavy cream
Squeeze of lemon juice
Handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves chopped
1. Trim off any fat or sinew from the pork tenderloin, then thinly slice it. Season with salt, pepper and 1 teaspoon of paprika.
2. In a large skillet over medium, heat half of the olive oil until hot. Add the onion and saute until soft and translucent, 6 to 8 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and mushrooms and increase the heat slightly. Fry until the mushrooms are tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Tip the contents of the pan onto a plate and set aside.
4. Add the remaining oil to the pan and fry the pork over high until golden brown, 1½ to 2 minutes. Return the onions, garlic and mushrooms to the pan. Add a splash of brandy and let it boil, or flambe, until almost all reduced.
5. Stir in the cream and bring to a gentle simmer. Adjust the seasonings, then add a squeeze of lemon juice. Throw in the chopped parsley and remove the pan from the heat. Serve immediately, sprinkled with a pinch of paprika.
Makes 4 servings.
Kimchi Pancakes
Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee, the author of Quick & Easy Korean Cooking, suggests using cabbage kimchi for these pork-studded pancakes. The pancakes can be made smaller than directed, but she suggests making them larger to save time, then cutting them into wedges. Kimchi is sold in many Asian markets.
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup rice flour
1½ cups cold water, plus more as needed
1 large egg
1 cup baechu kimchi, coarsely chopped
2 scallions, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 ounces uncooked pork, chopped
½ teaspoon salt
Vegetable oil, for frying
1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, rice flour, water and egg. Mix lightly. The mixture should be the consistency of pancake batter but doesn't have to be smooth. Add a little more water if necessary but remember that the kimchi will also add liquid.
2. Stir in the kimchi, scallions, pork and salt.
3. In a large skillet over medium-high, heat about 1 tablespoon of oil. Ladle batter into the skillet and spread it out to an 8-inch circle. Cook until the edges turn brown and crispy, from 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Flip the pancake, add a little bit more oil around it, then cook for another 3 minutes or so until cooked through. Repeat with the remaining batter, adding oil as needed. Serve the pancakes hot out of the skillet. Cut into wedges or serve whole.
Makes 4 to 6 servings as an appetizer.
Pork Loin Chops With Mushroom Chutney
Matt Lee and Ted Lee like to smother their pan-fried pork loin chops in a quick mushroom chutney sweetened with prunes. The recipe, which comes from their new cookbook The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern, comes together in just 25 minutes.
2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided use
1 teaspoon ground blackpepper
1 teaspoon sifted all-purpose flour
4 bone-in pork loin chops (each 1¼ inches thick) about 2½ pounds total
1 tablespoon canola, peanut or vegetable oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger
1 medium yellow onion, chopped (about ¾ cup)
6 ounces pitted prunes, quartered (about 1¼ cups)
6 ounces button mushrooms, quartered (about 3 cups)
6 ounces shiitake or cremini mushrooms, woody stems trimmed, cut into eighths (about 2 cups)
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
½ cup water
½ cup red wine vinegar
1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, mix 1 teaspoon of the salt, the black pepper and flour together. Sprinkle half of the mixture over one side of each pork chop.
3. In a 12-inch cast-iron skillet or oven-safe saute pan, heat the oil over high until the first wisp of smoke rises. Tilt the skillet gently in a circular motion so the oil coats the bottom thinly and evenly.
4. Put the chops, seasoned side down, in the hot skillet (take care not to crowd them in the pan; sear them in batches of two, if necessary) and sprinkle the remaining half of the seasoning mixture on the sides facing up.
5. Sear the pork chops until they are a rich golden brown, turning them when the first side is done, about 3 minutes on each side.
6. Turn the chops so the first side faces down again, and transfer skillet to oven.
7. Bake for 2 minutes for rare, 4 minutes for medium-rare and 6 minutes for well-done. Remove skillet from the oven, transfer the chops to a large plate or platter, then loosely cover them with foil.
8. Return skillet to stove over medium. Add butter, ginger, onion, prunes, button and shiitake mushrooms, and the remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Stir with a wooden spoon, scraping any caramelized pork bits off the bottom, and saute until onion softens slightly and surface of mushrooms has begun to sweat a bit, about 3 minutes.
9. Add brown sugar, water and vinegar, then continue to cook over low until vegetables have achieved an even degree of softness and liquid in pan is syrupy, about 6 minutes. Divide the pork chops among 4 warm dinner plates, and spoon the mushroom chutney liberally over and around the chops.
Makes 4 servings.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement