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Food Thread: Snow-Roasted Pulled Pork!

Pork Butt has become oddly scarce around here, and even more irritatingly, relatively expensive. You damned hipsters ruin everything!

I found a very nice one at a local market, and as my one consideration to the impending weather catastrophe of biblical proportions ($50 says I get one foot of snow...not the two+ feet forecasted), I am making slow-roasted pulled pork.

If you look closely you will see a piece of parchment paper on the rack, which supposedly will keep the pork butt from sinking into the rack and making more of a mess. I have never tried it, so we shall see!

As for spices? Eh...I'm winging it. Salt, pepper, Mexican Oregano, paprika, some chile powder, garlic, and probably some other stuff I have forgotten. But it smells great, and I am looking forward to a large portion of it with some beans and cornbread as a reward for snow-blowing the 93 feet that the hysterics are predicting.

By the way, this will be an abbreviated Food Thread, because I was watching a hockey game this morning instead of writing it!

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I think that the current hysteria over food additives, spearheaded by RFK Jr. is overblown. Yes, some of these additives maybe be unhealthful for humans. Or not. We really don't know for sure.

But...I am a big fan of eating foods with as few ingredients as possible, for aesthetic and culinary reasons as well as health.

FDA moves to ban BHA — an additive used in processed foods such as meats and bread

Marion Nestle, professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, said she wants to know how the FDA plans to evaluate BHA for safety.

Previous toxicology studies on BHA have relied on lab testing and animal experiments, and it’s not always clear how well those results translate to humans, she said.

Human studies aren’t really possible, she added, noting that they’d take too long, cost too much and raise major ethical concerns.

The problem is that food is so hyper-politicized that it is difficult to separate fact from fiction, or propaganda! For instance, pushing animal welfare may seem to be a noble and caring pursuit, but it has many malign influences on the food supply chain, not least of which increasing the price of food. That might not be a huge deal in America, but the people on the margins will struggle, and some will die.

And of course the real goal of many in the animal welfare movement is the outlawing of meat production, because "MEAT IS MURDER!"

Tasty, tasty murder!

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I am a big fan of manly drinks like the Martini and the stirred Manhattan (shaken Manhattans are for effete pseudo-Texans), but a well-constructed cocktail is usually going to be tasty, no matter what its reputation.

I have a friend who used to be a successful bartender, and often when we sat at his bar he would make what many would consider "girlie" drinks for me, just to make me squirm with embarrassment. Sadly for him, he was excellent at his craft, and they were always tasty! Hell, his chocolate Martini was a revelation!

So here is a good beginning for what many would consider the quintessential girlie drink; the Cosmopolitan Cocktail. I would cut the Cointreau in half and replace it with more vodka, but it's a start!

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Keens is a New York City institution, and an absolute hoot! Elegant dining it is not, but it is fun nonetheless, and the food is solid (and pricey, but it's NYC!). and this makes me want to go back! $525K flag that covered Abraham Lincoln’s casket finds home — in NYC steakhouse
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Inflation bit us all firmly in the ass under the Biden/Obama dictatorship. Yes, inflation is down, but for many foods, prices are not. So economizing is more important for many people, and this website does a reasonable job at showing how we can eat fairly well without breaking the bank. One thing I don't like is the reliance on packaged foods that are far more expensive than their homemade equivalents. Vegetable broth? Come on...how tough is it to make?

But Cheap Eats is still a good place to start if you want to economize but don't have enough cooking experience to do it on your own.

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A friend graciously gave me some genuine grown-in-the-USA garlic, and I tasted one clove and planted the rest, because my pathetic failure last year is an anomaly...right? I hope so, because it's in the ground (actually, a large pot), and it had better work this time!

In case it doesn't send all of your excellent home-grown garlic to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.

Rumor has it that the Bourbon Bubble is bursting. I have seen no evidence of decreasing prices, but maybe the bursting started somewhere else! I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.

The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty or fifty years, but it is worth it!