I love the simplicity of cooking a large piece of meat. A whole chicken- seasoned and roasted. A leg of venison or lamb- cooked medium rare. A pork roast- thrown in the pressure cooker with nothing but garlic and salt. These are some of my go-to’s when I’m not feeling like cooking. And to be honest, in this particular place in my life, there are a lot of days like that.
But one of my favorite things about the holidays is the opportunity to slow down and be more intentional about my meal choices. When I make the time for it, when I don’t feel rushed, or overwhelmed by the needs of my small children, when I remember that the world won’t collapse if the four loads of laundry sit in a pile for another day- I also remember how much pleasure can be attained from creating a meal that requires a bit more attention.
When Meredith and I sat down to plan our Christmas menu, we decided we’d design one dinner around a hunk of our yummy pork. I pulled a 5lb pork shoulder out of the freezer. I make a lot of pork shoulder into pulled pork or sliceable roast. They’re delicious and easy.
We considered slow cooked pork tacos. But I wanted something different. Something bold and crispy. This called, not for a different cut of meat, but a different method. We would do tacos, but first we would cut up the roast.
When you take the extra bit of time to cut up a piece of meat before cooking it, you are taking advantage of the opportunity to transform that food into a whole new experience- both in flavor and texture.
I took the roast and cut most of the fat cap off. That layer of fat is essential when slow cooking, but a bit much when pan frying. After which, I cut the meat off the bone and sliced it into small strips, about a ½ inch wide and 1-2 inches long. This gave us so much more surface area to attack with spices. The pork was bathed in garlic, chili, salt, pepper, and cumin for 36 hours before it was thrown into sizzling hot pans that had been coated in Grass Fat Farm lard.
The results were just what I had hoped for. We served the pork alongside a very large bowl of guacamole, sour cream, a Mexican-inspired slaw of marinated cabbage, carrots, radishes, and red onion, roasted red peppers from the summer garden, a wonderfully crumbly goat cheese, and our own fermented jalapeno hot sauce and green tomato salsa. Meredith and Matthew helped the littlest farmers make fresh corn tortillas for those of us who eat grains.
It was a bit more work than pulled-pork would have been. But not a lot. And it was worth it. Not just for the delicious meal we had on Christmas Eve, but also because it reminded me of the satisfaction I experience when I take the time to make something I really want to eat. As we move into 2019, it is my intention to do more of that.
How about you? Do your new year’s resolutions include feeding yourself well? Will you join me in focusing, not just on nutrition, but on giving yourself the time you need to connect your body, soul, and palate to that which nourishes you?
Bold Sizzling Pork Tacos
Inspired by a recipe from New York Times Cooking
(Enough to feed 6-10 people very well)
Ingredients:
5lb Grass Fat Farm pork shoulder roast (Boston butt or picnic)
3-5 dried ancho chilies
2 teaspoons whole cumin
1 tablespoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
6-8 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
4-8 tablespoons lard
Directions:
1. Remove most, but not all, of the fat cap from your roast. I left about ¼ inch.
2. Cut the meat off of the bone. I use a sharp narrow blade. Don’t worry about doing this well. The pork is going to be cut into small pieces so it’s okay if you cut it off the bone in several pieces.Without the bone and the fat cap, you should be left with about four pounds of pork.
3. Cut the pork into small strips, ½ inch by ½ inch by 1-2 inches. Include all the intramuscular fat in these pieces. It’s good for you and it’s part of what makes this dish delicious. Put pork pieces in a large bowl.
4. Toast the cumin. To do this, heat a small pan over medium-high heat, put the seeds on the pan, and then stir them around for 30-60 seconds. When the cumin becomes fragrant, remove it from the pan.
5. Blitz the toasted cumin in a food processor or blender. Or, you can grind them a bit with a mortar and pestle. Either way, the goal is a coarse grind. Add the cumin to the pork.
6. Remove the stems from the chilies and pulverize them into a powder in a blender or food processor. Add the chili powder to the pork.
7. Add the salt, pepper, and garlic to the pork. Use your hands to thoroughly combine the spices and the meat. Cover and refrigerate for 24-48 hours.
8. Heat a heavy cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. Add two tablespoons lard. Once the lard has melted you can begin frying the pork. Do this in batches, as overcrowding the meat will cause it to steam and steamed pork will not achieve the desired texture. Turn/stir the pork every two minutes or so. Each batch should take about 6 minutes to cook. After you cook each batch, transfer the meat to a covered dish to keep warm.
9. Serve with warm tortillas, pickles, sour cream, cabbage, salsa, limes, cilantro, hot sauce, cheese, or guacamole. Or eat it by itself. It’s that good.