Thursday, May 8, 2014

dealing with leftovers this week!

Next came the remains of our Easter ham.

Damn modern skinny pigs, anyway!  This came from our "local" pastured-pig farmer; his ground pork is positively wonderful, but his ham was a disappointment -- too lean, and therefore dry.  The leftovers got shoved into the back of the fridge where things tend to freeze ... and was nearly forgotten.

But there's no way under the sun i'll waste a pound and a half of ham, even if it IS as dry as ... modern porkchops tend to be.  :-P  Deviled ham -- that's the ticket.  And a way to add GOOD fat to a cut that often contains the wrong kind, if any at all.  Check it out:

DEVILED HAM

1 1/2# ham, food-processed fine
3 small sweet pickles
1/4 c. dijon mustard
1/2 c. mayo
4 oz. melted unsalted butter
1/2 t. pepper
1/4 t. allspice
cayenne pepper to taste

To the ground ham, add the pickles, and process till everything is the texture you like.  Add everything else, and mix thoroughly.

...I think it'll get used up enthusiastically!

10 comments:

  1. Could be mixed into an egg salad!

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  2. Yes, mixed with an egg salad sounds good to me.

    I like ham and it is tasty with that little bit of fat on .....but I agree with you waste not want not I think the saying is.

    Enjoy.....

    All the best Jan

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    1. I see us making "sandwiches" with ribs of romaine lettuce, too. maybe scooping it up with slices of cucumber? lots of choices!

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  3. You are now speaking my language. How does the butter work?

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    1. it just makes the mixture moist and spreadable -- and of course adds the je ne sais quoi of BUTTER. :-)

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  4. Sounds like a delight :) I do wonder how pastured pork taste like. Normal pork always taste a little "off" to me....

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    1. a lot is going to depend on the pig's actual diet I think -- being true omnivores, pigs eat whatever they can forage, dig up, or find, including carrion.

      in the days before garbage disposers and collection most families kept a pig to deal with all the kitchen waste (composting is a comparatively modern "invention") -- byproducts from cheese manufacture, poultry guts (since they bought them not-dressed or raised their own), vegetable trimmings, leftovers and so on allowed them to raise their own meat on WASTE! all they needed was a yard and the price of a piglet.

      the farm we patronize augments their pigs' diets with grain, and they raise a combination of popular modern breeds. heritage breeds eating mast in a forest will taste different, but both are better than feedlot pork! acorn-fed is supposed to be delicious, and peanut-fed even better, but I've never been privileged to try them. :-)

      a friend in Texas shared some wild pig meat with me -- it was "stronger" than farmed meat, but not really gamey. no telling what the little guy had been eating!

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  5. My last trip to the Philippines with my wife (that's where she's from) I discovered that they have the fattest pigs in the world. They have a dish called liempo that is pork bellies grilled over an open flame forever. It's got a bit of bacony flavor but it's very fatty. I'm not sure how they raise their pigs but I'm sure it's not in a feed lot. Most everything is done traditionally there. This was a few months ago, before I realized how poisonous gluten was in my body, but because they don't have all the processed foods that we have, I experienced a lot of the same benefits of a gluten free diet. Even though they do eat bread for breakfast nearer every morning. Still anything but the SAD is an improvement. The SAD influences the entire world, our "saturated fat will kill you" message has spread to all four corners of the world. It really is "sad".

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    1. ooh, can you get the liempo recipe for us? i'd love to try making it!

      it's such a pity that pigs have been bred for less fat in the US -- makes the flavor so much less intense! pork, even more than beef, needs to be fatty to be really good!

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