On 9/3/2014 6:25 AM, Moe DeLoughan wrote:
> On 9/2/2014 1:35 PM, Janet Bostwick wrote:
>> In the meat case today was a commercial-looking box entitled "Hormel
>> Pig Wings." 4 pounds . The directions were to put them in the crock
>> pot for 4 hours, pour off extra juice and add barbeque sauce. Serve.
>> I've gotten commercial stuff before from Cash and Carry. It's a plain
>> white box and inside is one large plastic bag holding the meat
>> contents. That's what this was. The 'wings' looked like pieces of
>> rib. Anyone else seen this?
>
> Invented by Bob File, who also trademarked the 'pig wings' name. The
> Apperts (the commercial food production company that is the primary pig
> wing producer) mentioned in the article at the link below is one of the
> places I regularly visit on my foodie runs. I've never bought the pig
> wings, though I've thought about trying them.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/di...stes.html?_r=0
>
>
> From the article:
>
> Appert’s gets the fibulas from a plant in Sioux City, Iowa, that
> separates them from the rest of the shank and cuts some of them into
> two-ounce portions, using a saw developed by Mr. File. Appert's workers
> tumble 2,000-pound batches in a paddle mixer that helps force a marinade
> of water, salt and "natural pork flavorings" into the meat.
>
> Mr. File calls this process "the plump."
>
> "Pig Wings are really lean," he said. "If we didn't give them a plump,
> you wouldn't be happy with the product."
>
> From there, workers roll the wings into convection ovens. After six to
> eight hours at 180 degrees, they emerge plump and brown, ready for
> restaurant cooks’ interpretation. During that long berth, the meat
> retracts to form a mass at one end and, at the other, a virtual bone
> handle: the so-called stick that defines Mac’s Eskimo pie.
>
> That bone-as-handle notion is integral to the appeal of Pig Wings. It
> recalls the drumette portion of a chicken wing. It plays off the
> popularity of stick-mounted foods, from old-school fried corn dogs to
> new-school fried chicken gizzards. With that in mind, some restaurants
> have begun selling deep-fried ham shanks as carnitas-on-sticks or
> carnitas lollipops.
>

Ooooh, carnitas lollipops?

I'm in.