My dear C –
Grocery shopping while hormonal is similar to grocery shopping while drunk. I bought a pork shoulder this morning. Nearly 5 pounds. Or is it a pork butt? It is a bone-in pork shoulder that was sub-labeled as a pork butt. And indeed the internet tells me that pork butt comes from the pig’s shoulder. How confusing. Cuts of meat often are.
The other day I was at a butcher shop and a customer was asking if NY steak is tender and the guy behind the counter thought she was asking if it was tenderloin. I wanted to say it all depends on what you do with it…. but I refrained from ahem butting in.
I don’t know if/when I’ve cooked a pork shoulder before. I used to cook pork tenderloins with fennel braised in orange juice as a line cook but this is a different story and it’s been a couple decades. I did buy a fennel bulb at the market. Along with a $10 bag of mystery produce at my favorite (organic) stand that has yielded: A lovely bunch of Tokyo turnips with excellent tops, chard, several small & lovely lettuces, a tiny red cabbage, nice arugula, cilantro (which – not knowing, I bought another cilantro in my hurry), a sad bag of end of season (thank you, California) tomatoes, a celery, a a delightful broccolini, plus an excellent assortment of peppers. Nothing to sneeze at.
I don’t nearly ever cook pork anymore, living as I do with a no-pork-person. But I thought I might make myself a nice dinner and for some reason decided – a 5 lb cut of pork is the way to go for a simple solo meal. I’ve just frantically salted it and put it back in the fridge.
It’s 4 pm on a Sunday in the December of my late middle age and I have no idea what I’m doing with my groceries or my life. At least I’m contemplating that in peace. It’s so comparatively quiet after the stormy days. And I’m speaking literally here. San Francisco had a tornado warning. The first in its history? We also got a tsunami warning last week-ish.
I’ll let you know how it all goes.
Missing you
M.
PS here’s most of my haul from today
PPS I’m using this recipe because I love its tone and I’ve thrown in the sad tomatoes. And my beans are some delightful brown speckled variety that have been sitting in the pantry for a bit…
This is a 2 minute pre-soak…
Under construction…. The beans are in there…
And then I threw in some onions and peppers and there’s garlic in there, too. We shall see. Oh adding some bay leaves (collected from people’s ornamental bushes) and coriander seeds because I have too much.
Now we wait.
Tender Gluttons 