Pure Pork Awesomeness Totally Cookable Recipes from Around the World

417 Pages·2015·11.25 MB·English

by  Gillespie

ALSO BY KEVIN GILLESPIE
WITH DAVID JOACHIM
Fire in My Belly
Fire in My Belly

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION: KISS A PIG
Nº. 1
THIS LITTLE PIGGY
Nº. 2
PANTRY RECIPES
Nº. 3
ON THE SHOULDER
Nº. 4
LOINS
Nº. 5
BELLY AND RIBS
Nº. 6
HAMS
Nº. 7
SAUSAGES AND SUCH
Nº. 8
ODDS AND ENDS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
METRIC EQUIVALENTS
INDEX

My Dad had a cassette tape of this Ray Stevens song in his little yellow pickup
truck. When I was a kid, we’d ride around in the truck doing errands and he’d
play the whole album, I Have Returned. It’s all funny country songs with jokes
that a kid can understand. “Kiss a Pig” is upbeat and easy to sing along with.
Stevens sings about a pig that falls off the back of a truck, and he picks up the
pig and they become friends. He takes the pig to a zoo and a ball game. The pig
rides around in his car wearing a baseball cap. It’s funny. But the line that really
sticks with me is, “He was my buddy, he was my friend, he was my breakfast
every now and then.” That pretty much sums up my feeling toward pigs.
I love them as animals and I love them as meat. If I had only one animal to
eat forevermore, I would eat pigs. Like Bubba Gump and his shrimp, I have a
million ways to cook pork because I love it so much. I could eat a pork chop one
day, pulled pork another, and bacon the next, and they’d all taste completely
different. You can’t do that with chicken. Chicken tastes like chicken no matter
what part of the animal you eat. I love beef and lamb, but they don’t have the
amazing versatility of pork. Pork can be the star of the show or a background
flavor.
This book is not a tome on mastering pigs and pork. It’s a celebration of all
the delicious forms that this food can take. The whole world is in love with this
animal. They admire it and cook pork more than any other meat except goat.
Everyone can find something delicious here. You’ll find recipes for pork the
way it’s enjoyed in China, Germany, Mexico, Vietnam, Korea, Cuba, Thailand,
Greece, Italy, Spain, France, Austria, Scotland, and the United States. From the
United States, you’ll see preparations that originated in places like Kansas City,
Chicago, Indianapolis, and Sheboygan, Wisconsin. I’m hoping this book opens
some doors for people and gets them pumped about pork again. For a while
there, only super-lean flavorless pork was available to consumers. But the
quality and flavor just keep going up and up.
During recipe testing, I got excited all over again. There’s just no end to
what you can do with pork. Frying, roasting, braising, stir-frying, sausage-
making … it’s all here. And it’s not hard. I developed these recipes specifically
for everyday home cooks. A few dishes are more challenging, but mostly we’re
talking about things like A Really Good Cuban Sandwich (here), Sichuan Salt
and Pepper Pork Chops (here), and Slow Cooker Country-Style Ribs (here). For
special occasions or company, maybe you’ll pull out the Celebration Pork Rack
Stuffed with Dried Fruits (here), Vietnamese Spareribs with Chile and