OK, I do understand that weight-loss is not the only goal of a Primal diet, nor is it necessarily the best metric for measuring progress but I want to share this because frankly I am thrilled. Last week when we got our new scale it showed my weight at 284 pounds. Yesterday I was down to 278. Woot! Back to making progress on weight anyway.
A big thank-you to our pal Heath, Purveyor of Princely Pork, who upon hearing that we were on hard times brought us a large cooler full of naturally grown Mangalitsa and Berkshire pork. Mangalitsa is a traditional european pig that has been making a comeback in the 'luxury meats' market. They are famous for having wooly hair and the quality of their fat. When first experiencing this fat one Seattle-area chef wrote, "We were spreading it on bread like butter... it was embarrassing!" Most of what he brought us were cuts that he described as 'junk meat,' meaning very fatty cuts and bits like jowls, shanks, tails etc. The thing is these are still useful and tasty if properly prepared.
Many of these cuts are side-meat or bellies. The side-meat can be sliced thin and cooked like bacon; this is very tasty even though it lacks the flavor added by 'curing.' The bellies can be brazed in wine or other liquids and are considered a delicacy when prepared in this fashion. One thing that we did discover about shanks- don't roast them! We did one this way last night with onions, carrots and turnips and it came out amazingly tough and not very flavorful. It's not surprising that shanks would be tough I guess when you consider that several hundred pounds of pig was trotting around on them for years... Anyway it was not a loss; the vegetables were still tasty and after dinner I put the meat, bones and leftover veggies into the slow-cooker. I added some more carrots, sliced summer squash and herbs, drizzled honey over it all and left ti to cook on low overnight. This tenderized the meat and made it more flavorful so it made a good breakfast. Next time we'll know I guess!
We also cooked two of the bellies in the slow-cooker last week the night after that Heath dropped off this bounty. They were cooked with Walla-Walla sweet onions, and again drizzled with honey. We cooked them on a medium-low setting for about six hours and served them with wilted spinach. The results were amazingly delicious but extremely fatty- even after trimming some of the excess fat after cooking it was almost too rich for us but it was soooo good we couldn't help ourselves...
He also brought us a pound of hickory-smoked Mangalitsa Bacon. This sells online for around $20 a pound. We tried it and if I win the lottery tomorrow I will live on it. It wasn't merely good- we had never imagined that bacon could taste that good and we do love our bacon! If I could afford it I would happily pay $20 a pound for it.
Though the meats that heath dropped off are of exceptional quality they do point out an important lesson; don't turn your nose up at the less stellar cuts whether they be beef, pork or whatever. When thoughtfully prepared they still make a great meal. Do a bit of research and be creative!
We still have a good supply of elk and some crab in the freezer, and with the pork from Heath we will not be going hungry any time soon. I still haven't done the Elk Chili... hmmm... today just might be the day for that...
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