D and I are hosting a small "un-conference" at our house in a couple
of weeks. The plan is to think about the future of this little town.
I want the people in attendance to think about locally produced foods
as part of our un-agenda. So we'll serve them some locally produced
pork three ways:

1. Home-cured prosciutto from a ham we bought from a nearby hog
farmer. I'll wrap pieces of local melon with it.

2. Home-cured bacon. I'll crumble it in a salad with local pecans and
greens.

3. Pork chops from the same local producer. I'll brine them and
season them with mustard and rosemary before roasting them in the
propane smoker.

The dumb part for me was that we had to drive to the farmers' market
in Frisco to buy the chops. The hog farmer's wife was there selling
their meat, so that's where we bought it. This in spite of the fact
that their farm is 30 miles closer to Cow Hill than Frisco is. She
drove to Frisco, and we did, too. Call it a market inefficiency. But
it was nice to chat with the pork lady. She was interested in Michael
Ruhlman's "Charcuterie," which she hadn't heard of. Wrote his name
down. And I placed an order for ten pounds of belly to be delivered
in a couple of weeks..

Besides the pork, we also bought some ground lamb from another
producer (whose farm we drove past to get to Frisco), some tomatoes,
and some eggplant. I don't remember where they were grown. Probably
next door. We also picked up a tuna steak, which I'm almost certain
was not locally produced.

We got lunch at a place on Preston Road. I had a good time passing
judgment on the relative quality of the cosmetic surgery in evidence
on the faces of many of our co-diners. There certainly are a lot of
lifted faces in Frisco.

The car's thermometer read 104 on the way home. The meat was frozen,
and in a chill chest in the back.

It was get-in-front-of-Mike-and-drive-slow-and-stupid day on US
Highway 380, and the citizenry were having a ball with the
festivities. Nobody was not talking on a cell phone. Many were also
knitting. I think one young couple was starting a family. But the
long drive gave me a chance to think of something else to do with the
pork I have.

I've cut the meat from the ham bone, and we've pretty much picked the
bone clean. (I took it and a knife to a gathering at a bar last night
and my companions had at it between beers) The majority of the ham is
in the freezer for safe keeping. That bone will not go to waste. I'll
saw off a piece and use it to season some black eyed peas.

A time/temp sign near a traffic light here in town read 105, but the
car said it was down to 102.

Tonight, I'll slice the tuna into four rectangular segments, wrap them
in nori, and pan sear them. I'll serve them with a soy dipping sauce.
One vegetable will be a cabbage slaw made with soy sauce and sesame
oil. Not sure what else yet.

--
modom

I have long maintained that Texans are not easy to love: we are, like anchovies, an acquired taste.
-- Molly Ivins
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