{"id":3127,"date":"2013-08-03T07:15:07","date_gmt":"2013-08-03T14:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/?p=3127"},"modified":"2013-08-03T07:15:07","modified_gmt":"2013-08-03T14:15:07","slug":"know-your-pork-the-nasty-bits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/03\/know-your-pork-the-nasty-bits\/","title":{"rendered":"Know Your Pork: The Nasty Bits"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Warning: images of hog offal to follow. Look away if you can’t handle it!)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Hog<\/a><\/p>\n

Head cheese. Liver p\u00e2t\u00e9. Grilled heart.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cooking and eating a whole hog from snout to tail<\/a> involves ahelluvalot more than just pork chops, ribs, and bacon.<\/p>\n

It requires getting over the need to have all your meat disguised in boneless, shrink-wrapped packages and get up close and personal with the \u201cnasty bits\u201d that we in the States usually shun.<\/p>\n

Our aversion to these cuts is unfortunate, as they are some of the most nutritious and flavorful parts of the beast.<\/p>\n

While cultures have traditionally prized these parts of the animal, they are now typically avoided due to the \u201cew\u201d factor of chowing down on something you last confronted in anatomy class.<\/p>\n

But if you\u2019re going the whole hog, you better be ready to cowboy up and cook these pieces up into tasty meals that will have you coming back for more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Head<\/h2>\n

\"Hog--Head\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is the part that really<\/em> freaks people out.<\/p>\n

Unlike frying up a boneless pork chop, there\u2019s no way of avoiding the knowledge that your food comes from a once-living animal when you are faced with a pig\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

Since it\u2019s a waste to let this part of the hog (which is full<\/em> of meat) go to waste, thrifty cooks from time immemorial have made the most of this large cut of pork.<\/p>\n

The head can be roasted, the jowls can be dry-cured and made into guanciale, but the most classic of dishes made from the pig\u2019s noggin is headcheese.<\/p>\n

Here, the pig\u2019s head is slowly simmered in a pot of hot water until it can be removed and all the meat picked away and shredded. The cooking liquid is then reduced down into a luscious, gelatin-filled stock and poured over the shredded pork and then cooled to set into a delicious terrine.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be making a basic headcheese from the hog head, and will fry up the cartilaginous ears as toppings for salads.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Liver<\/h2>\n

\"Hog<\/a><\/p>\n

When carnivores in the wild eat their prey, the first thing they consume is almost always the liver.<\/p>\n

This organ is tender and filled with nutrients. Up until the recent past, liver was still a prized hunk of meat in most cultures.<\/p>\n

Although the liver can be sliced thin and quickly fried, I\u2019d like to take it to the next level and make a p\u00e2t\u00e9 out of it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A p\u00e2t\u00e9 is a dish of ground up liver and spices that is used as a spread for crackers or bread.<\/p>\n

The Heart<\/h2>\n

\"Hog<\/a><\/p>\n

Things get a little more confusing with the heart.<\/p>\n

While most resources I\u2019ve found recommend grilling or frying thin slices of the heart, I\u2019ve heard plenty of people talking about braising it instead.<\/p>\n

This makes sense to me. Since the heart is such a hard-working muscle, I\u2019d imagine it is tough and needs a long, slow cook, much like a butt or ham.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, I\u2019m going to bow to peer pressure here and fry (or grill) the heart<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Lungs<\/h2>\n

\"Hog<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where I really get confused.<\/p>\n

Pork lungs seem to get no love from anyone, but what research I\u2019ve found suggests a slow and low cook to optimize the flavor and texture of this underrated organ.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m planning on doing a basic braise for the lungs<\/strong>, but interested to hear if anyone else has any suggestions. (Leave \u2019em as comments below!)<\/p>\n

The Other Pieces<\/h2>\n

There\u2019s plenty more to a hog\u2019s innards than liver, heart, and lungs, but that\u2019s where my personal stash ends.<\/p>\n

I was told that it is difficult to get the butcher to set aside these nasty bits, but I\u2019m grateful for what I got.<\/p>\n

Other innards you could get from a hog include:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Intestines<\/strong>\u2013Which can be cleaned and stuffed with ground meat to make sausage. I think I\u2019m going to track some down for this purpose.<\/li>\n
  2. Kidneys<\/strong>\u2013As far as I can tell, the kidneys are another tender organ meat that benefit from a quick sear. Too bad I didn\u2019t get \u2019em, but oh wells.<\/li>\n
  3. Blood<\/strong>\u2013Don\u2019t freak. Blood sausage is a traditional method of using the iron-rich liquid that pump\u2019s through a hog\u2019s veins.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    There\u2019s more. Bladder, spleen, tripe, and\u2026 er\u2026 Rocky Mountain oysters. (My hog was a female, so I didn\u2019t have the chance to try this \u201cdelicacy.\u201d)<\/p>\n

    Now that I have covered all the major sections of a hog<\/a>, from the front limb<\/a> to the rear limb<\/a> and the midsection in-between<\/a>, and now all the miscellaneous bits, I\u2019d like to move on to the basic methods of preserving a whole hog so that I can consume it all before it goes bad (and maximize flavor in the process!).<\/p>\n

    In the next article in this series, I\u2019ll take a look at the only rock that humans eat, and how it plays an integral role in lending flavor and enhancing the \u201ccookability\u201d of pork.<\/p>\n

    Until next time!<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    (Warning: images of hog offal to follow. Look away if you can’t handle it!) Head cheese. Liver p\u00e2t\u00e9. Grilled heart. Cooking and eating a whole hog from snout to tail involves ahelluvalot more than just pork chops, ribs, and bacon. It requires getting over the need to have all your meat disguised in boneless, shrink-wrapped […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[260],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-whole-hog-project"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3127"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3137,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3127\/revisions\/3137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}