Since Pork Off 2010 was officially announced, with me being the first (possibly only...) contestant submitting a dish, the traffic to my site has significantly increased. The two days after publishing my bacon lattice pork bomb sausages traffic actually doubled. Amazing what a silly post and some people re-tweeting on Twitter can do.
Worshipping the pig!
Originally uploaded by jACK TWO, made available through Creative Commons, thanks!
Anyway. Since I am a big fan of the pig I figured I should list my favourite five recipes with pork in them. Well, by necessity it of course becomes the top five dishes I have written a post about on my blog. There are other favourites I make often like sticky pork ribs (great for steaming in oven until done, then finishing off on an outdoor barbecue for that great sticky crust), Tuscan fennel rubbed pork belly (amazing), bobotie with pork mince, Swedish browned cabbage with lots of lardons... Excuse me, I am just going to get something to wipe the drool from my keyboard.
When it comes to pork I like mine really fatty. While I used to worry about fatty meat, recent scientific findings have completely convinced me there is no need to cut back on saturated fat. Au contraire.
Among pork lovers there is this mythical cut, bacon like yet not, called lardo that I therefore would love to try. If you happen to know anywhere to get it in London, do please leave a comment!
So without further ado and no particular order, for all you pork lovers attracted here by Pork Off 2010, here are my favourite five blog posts with pork in them.
Creamy pork with garlic mushrooms
This pork chop dish is really simple to cook, yet returns such an amazing result. It also has a really clever method making sure all you need is a plate and a frying pan so for the washing up haters out there this is perfect.
Tomato and carrot soup kissed by the sun
Some day my pretentious title giving will have to come to an end. While this dish may not sound very porky, there is a good chunk of bacon added for protein and flavour.
Another non porky sounding dish, yet without lots of great rashers of bacon it falls flat on its face. I recommend getting some really nice pork from Ginger Pig for this, not just your average Tesco Danepak watery crap.
Baked pork chops with a porcini and creme fraiche topping
Yes, it is a Delia recipe and no, I am not ashamed. While this is a bit more finicky than the pork chop recipe above it is so tasty. Fun to make too, any dish that ends up in a package you have to open up before serving gets bonus points.
Last but not least;
Flesh pancake, the classic Swedish oven baked dish
Yeah I know, the title is a bit lost in translation... I guess "oven made thick pancake" is more mouth watering but I like the zombie connotation of "flesh pancake". When I was a kid in the 80s we were served this a lot in school.
Sure, school kitchen means canteen grub, but this dish seems to lend itself very well to industrial cooking since I and many others developed a deep love for it. Cheap ingredients, simple to make, really rewarding pay off. Requires lingon berry jam, which you can get at Scandinavian Kitchen at Great Titchfield Street. Go there, try their open sandwiches, or forever be sorry.
Now I am going to go make me a bacon sarnie.
