Pricing the whole hog

“When you buy whole animals, you can’t help but think of every part of them as being equal. If I pay $4.75 a pound for a pig, it is $4.75 for fat, $4.75 for shoulder, and $4.75 for loin. I don’t throw away the loin and I don’t throw away the fat. We always look for ways to use a little animal fat here and there to make it economical to buy expensive animals.

When you have pigs, you have lard. Somehow lard has a bad rep. (Maybe the phrase “lard ass” is partly to blame?) What I like about it is that a little goes a long way to add depth to a dish. It works very well for sautéing vegetables over high heat that are going in a braise and it’s great for browning meat.”

Excerpted from: Russell Moore’s “This Is Camino”, a book I strongly encourage you to rush out and buy. Right now. I’m re-reading it again, as I love his touches with food, the tweaks he makes and the total adherence to a “no waste, circular restaurant economy”. Highly recommended. And it’ll arrive in plenty of time for the holiday period as well if you click this link.