Folks, we’ve hit the bottom of the barrel. With the help of Kayla at The Butcher and the Baker in Fayetteville we are officially out of EVERYTHING porcine except for fatback, pigs feet, and smocked ham hocks. Everybody knows that fatback and smoked hocks are great for collard greens and we won’t have any good collards till this coming winter however there are other things you can do with those cuts. Before I talk about that though, let me tell you about feet.
I made pork stock (foot soup as SWMBO called it) and used two pigs feet in the stock rather than pork bones. I simmered the stock for about 24 hours, drained all the chunky bits, and froze the stock in vacuumed bags. Easy! Darling Wifey decided to use some later for a recipe and folks, let me tell you, that stock was jello! I don’t mean it was thicker than the watery stuff you get at the store, I mean you could stick a spoon in it and it would hold it upright. It brought a richness to her cooking you just can’t get any other way. If you’ve never tried homemade stock before, get a couple of feet from us, they are on sale, and find out what real stock is all about. Pork stock isn’t something you can buy in the store like chicken or beef stock. If you aren’t sure what to do with it, there are some good ideas here and a recipe here. You can substitute pork stock for pretty much any stock you would use. It’s a neutral taste and not “porky” but it’s oh so rich.
Now onto fatback. Here is a quick blurb on fatback from Fine Cooking. Have something a bit too lean, add some fatback to make it awesome. Think fat is bad for you? Then read this, or this to learn the truth. Your brain is 60% fat. Give it what it needs. We have a ton of fatback left, it’s time to give fat a try. If you are cooking for your family this weekend, sneak some fatback into the recipe and watch them react to the flavor when it hits the table. Fat makes everything better.
Lastly we have smoked ham hocks. The best breakfast I ever ate was red beans and rice, sitting in a little hut in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. I can’t promise you the view I had, but with some of our smoked hocks, you can have the red beans and rice, plus a whole lot more. Check out these recipes for some ideas.
I can hear you saying now, “But I want PORK CHOPS, wrapped in bacon! When are you going to have that?”
The next pig we have processed will be used at our event on June 28th. If you want some porcine goodness that you don’t even have to cook, then get your tickets now. After that, we have some more pigs that are a few months from being done. We are currently looking to buy some more feeder pigs and should be back in stock going forward.
We also have the first of our cows ready to process. He’s going into the family freezer, but we may sneak a few cuts out for you to sample so good news, meat is on the way.