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Complete Book of Pork: A Guide to Buying, Storing & Cooking the World's Favorite Meat

This is an excellent book. I really wanted to give it a perfect 10, but I've given it an 8 instead, for reasons I'll explain below.

STRENGTHS:

* This is a solid book, written by an expert on the topic - a butcher and an acclaimed expert sausage maker. He knows his stuff, and he does a passable job of passing along some very useful information ... such as the real story about trichinoa and how to protect yourself without ruining the meat by overcooking, how to spot substandard pork that wasn't slaughtered properly and/or which is getting a bit old/off, how to grind meat without ruining it, etc. That's important stuff which most authors neglect to cover in reasonable depth, if at all.

* Good explanations, and well written head notes for all recipes.

* Tasty, well honed recipes, from around the world, and using good techniques and varied seasoings. I also like the fact that the author borrowed Julia Child's "Master Recipes" system, for covering with one swell foop many recipes at once that differ only in their seasoning/ingredient profile ... the technique is the same, so describe the technique, so that all the related recipes are just variations on a theme. It's the culinary equivalent of give a man a fish vs teach a man to fish.

COMPLAINTS:

* Once again, here is a book that's broken down by chapter, but within those individual chapters all recipes appear to be in random order ... and there's no recipe index to help you shop for, much less find in a hurry, a given recipe, even if you know what you're looking for. I mean come on ... how hard can it be to rename recipes like (this is a fictional example) "Billy-Bob's Foot Stompin Tamarind Tenderloin" into say "Tenderloin, Tamarind Marinated", and then sort the whole chapter alphabetically so that everything appear by order of cut and key ingredient/flavor ? If you wanna include a "Billy-Bob Foot Stompin ..." credit somewhere, the place for such things is in the head notes of the applicable recipe, NOT the title. In general I'm not really concerned with who "Billy-Bob" (or whoever) is ... if I want a recipe for, say, tenderloin, I want to be able to do it easily, without having to flip page by page through entire randomly ordered chapters to find it. It's a recurring peeve of mine with a lot of culinary books.

* The author includes a credit for Lisa Weiss. The dust jacket identifiers her as a graphic artist and food stylist. HOWEVER, aside from a diagram of a pig (and it's basic primal cuts) in the in-leaf, there are NO PHOTOS and NO GRAPHICS anywhere in this book. I was a bit disappointed that a hardcover book that includes a overview of meat butchery, and provides recipies for things like ribs, pates, terrines, roulades, and the like (all of which CRY OUT for full color photos) ... for a book like that not to have a single picture is ... well, words fail me. Why even bother mentioning a food stylist / graphic artist if there are no graphics in the book?

* I also wish the author had devoted more space to basic butchery in his opening chapter, in which he covers only the basic primal cuts of pork. He could have, and should have, given information on how to do things like the following (this is just one example):

> How to buy a whole bone-in loin roast primal, ask the butcher to shave off the chine bone, and then do any number of things to it when you get it home ... such as transform it into a standing rib roast or crown roast (photos please !), break it down into nice thick chops (hence the removal of the chine bone earlier), or how to debone it entirely into a boneless loin (and butterfly and stuff it ... photos please) and make other uses of the bones. I know how to do all those things, but most readers dont - and a book claiming to be "The Complete Book of Pork" should cover such things. I also dont see any recipes for offal yet ... but I'm still reading.

BOTTOM LINE: This is a great book. Despite it's omissions and shortcomings, it's a solid 8 from me, due to it's solid techniques and flavors. I'm looking forward to cooking my way though it. Recommended.

Well, I haven't read this book, but I can vouch for Aidell's absolutely delicious andoullie (sp?) cajun sausage, which I first started eating when I lived in the San Francisco area, and which has recently become available at grocery stores in here Dayton. Good Stuff!

Well, the man isn't known as "The Sausage King" for nothing.

I have a grinder at home, a good set of knives, and I love to get down and dirty with primals like picinic shoulder and boston butt (both are well suited for ground dishes), so I'm especially looking forward to his chapter on sausage.

Anyway, the book is recommended ... worth buying, despite the flaws.

CLONG: On a whim, I made a small test portion of Aidells' "L.A. Chorizo" sausage, for lunch today. Very tasty. Incidentally, it's fairly easy to test sausage recipes with the following technique. De-bone 2 nicely marbled and very fresh pork chops, dice to 1/2", spread cubes on single layer of aluminum foil, and par-freeze for 20-30 mins until firm & dryish, but not hard. While the meat and work bowl are chilling, make your spice, salt and her blend, season the meat when it's chilled, pulse it in a food processor, add whatever liquid is called for (if any), and then pulse until finely minced. Remove from FP, knead briefly, press into thin patties, saute in a little oil, then drain on paper towels. Figure that 2 small chops will yeild about 8 oz of meat, which is usually enough for a 1/6th or 1/8th size batch of most of aidells sausage recipes. Takes about 35 mins, start to finish, about half of which is actual hands-on time ... so it's actually only about 15-20 mins of work during that stretch.

The texture is not quite the same as running it through a proper grinder (which I do have, BTW), but it works in a pinch for testing recipes for flavor/seasoning.

Thanks Brad, I will have to try that sometime (and you have definitely tempted me to look into this book).

1 more tip on the food processor method ... separate the fat from the lean, and mince the fat very finely, before recombining it with the meat (prior to par freezing). The reason is that food processors tend not to chop it very well unless it's frozen very firmly, so you have to help it a little with a few extra strokes of the ol knife.

p.s. IMO, Aidells' food processor description doesnt call for quite enough chopping ... meat that comes out of a 3/8" plate on a grinder is actually finer ground than meat that gets chopped to 3/8" in a food processor. Grinding and dicing are not the same. I'd take it down to just under 1/4", when it actually starts to hold together, if you're using a food processor. In any case, I think he just gave the food processor instructions as an after thought, not because he actually does it himself ... he's definitely the kind of person who always grinds, regardless of how small the amount.

The other thing I like about his book is that he plays up on the need for people to learn how to appraise meat quality, and he encourages people to seek out and develop a relationship with their local butcher.

I was reminded of that just this morning - while out for a walk (to loosen up my sore back), on a whim I walked into my local butcher shop. My fridge was already well stocked, and I didn't really need anything, but the pork chops in his case looked wonderfully fresh ... they were nice and dry/firm, and still rosy pink - very unlike the sort of pale, limp, soggy and insipid looking chops you typically see in a supermarket. Aidells call the appearance of the latter "PSE" ... short for "pale, soft and exudant". So anyway, I grabbed 4 chops on a whim (2 for dinner with my wife, and 2 for grinding and testing a sausage recipe for lunch), and then I commiserated with the butcher about the steadily decreasing quality of lamb and pork in our area supermarkets. Case in point - up until 2 years ago, it was still commonplace to be able to get whole leg of lamb that was nice and firm and dry, and very fresh. Lately, everything comes already broken down into half legs (useless for stuffing), and it's usually already boned out and in cryovac bags ... meaning it's been stewing in it's own juices, often for days, and some places even freeze and then thaw it ... the result is meat that dark, wet soggy, mushy, and (if previously frozen) bitter from the burst lymph node(s) that weren't removed ... and it cooks up shrunken, dryish, and tough. Feh.

The bottom line is that as supermarkets rely more and more on meat that's already pre-processed (often sloppily so) earlier on in the supply chain, the gap between the quality at your local butcher store (usually good to excellent) and the quality typical at regional supermarkets (usually good to merely fair, abd sometimes downright poor) is getting wider.

Aidells' book is timely in that regard, because the more people get educated, and insist on better quality, the more likely it'll be that supermarkets will actually listen, and that area butchers will continue to stay in business.

Sadly, local butchers are a dying breed.

In any case, I asked my butcher to call me back with some prices on whole saddle & legs of lamb ( I can save money by cutting my own rack and loin chops for Easter), and whether or not he can get fresh kidneys.

Customers like me are a dying breed too.

I made 2 more recipes from this book so far ... pork tonkatsu, and marinated pan-seared pork chops with orange and thyme. Both came out excellent.

I'm 1/3 of my way through the book, and I've upped my enjoyability score from 8 to 9.

Brad wrote:I made 2 more recipes from this book so far ... pork tonkatsu, and marinated pan-seared pork chops with orange and thyme. Both came out excellent.

I'm 1/3 of my way through the book, and I've upped my enjoyability score from 8 to 9.

Regarding that 2nd recipe (pork chops with orange and thyme) that I'd previously tested ...

Yesturday, I did my first family BBQ of the season, and I adapted Aidells's orange & thyme recipe. This is from memory, so I apologize in advance for any minor errors or omissions:

MARINADE/BRINE:
* Eight Bone-In Pork Chops (I had my butcher cut them extra thick, or roughly 1.75")
* 1 qt Orange Juice, ice cold
* 1/2 cup kosher salt
* 1/4 cup brown sugar
* 1/4 cup soy sauce
* 2 cloves garlic, crushed & minced
* Grated zest of 2 oranges
* 3-4 cups water, ice cold

WET RUB:
* 1/3 cup orange juice
* 3 tsp Dried Thyme (preferrably home grown), freshly crushed
* 3 tsp Black Pepper, freshly ground
* 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

1. Arrange chops in a single layer in a tray just big enough to hold them.
2. In a sauce pan, dissolve dry ingredients of marinade in a little of the orange juice, over low heat. Remove from heat when dissolved, and stir in remaining orange juice and water (both ice cold).
3. Pour marinade over chops - there should be enough to just cover the chops by 1/4 inch. Cover the tray with lid or plastic wrap, and refrigerate 3-4 hrs (but no longer, or the orange juice will begin to 'ceviche' the chops).
4. Assemble the 'wet rub' in a small jar, close it, shake until well mixed, and set aside until needed.
5. one hour before it's time to cook, drain the chops (discard marinade), pat dry, brush wet rub generously on all sides and edges, and let chops rest at room temperature, uncovered, to shed most of their cold.
6. Preheat oven to 350F, and prepare your charcoal fire. Wait til coals are ashed over. You want a VERY hot fire for this, because you're going to sear the chops, but not fully cook them. When ready, oil the grate (using tongs and a small clean rag moistened with vegetable oil).
7. Place chops on grill, taking care not to crowd them. Sear approx 60 sec on first side, turn chops 45 degree and grill for another 60 seconds on same side (for attractive grill marks, and also to prevent burning), then turn chops over and repeat on side 2. Then turn chops on edge, and grill the bone side for 30-45 seconds, and then the fat edge for 30 sec, and remove from grill. The chops should appear well seared and crispy in places, but they'll still be rare inside.
8. Transfer chops to a slotted broiler pan, and bake in oven at 350F for 5-15 mins (depending on thickness), or until an instant read digital thermometer indicates 140F in middle of chop.
9. Remove from oven, let rest 5 mins, then serve in a platter, arranged in an interwoven 'guard of honor' formation (you can only do this with extra thick chops - thinner ones will simply fall over if you try this), with tongs for self service.
10. To eat, debone the chop by running your knife along the inside of the bone, separating a chop into a rib, and a boneless chop. After gnawing contentedly on the rib until it's shiny and bare, slice the boneless round, fan it out, and dig in.

They came out excellent - crispy and savory on the outside, juicy and tender on the inside, and with just a faint hint of pink in a wide and evenly distributed zone in the middle.

Next time I may cut them even thicker ... a full 2" (roughly 2 fingers thick).

In any case, Aidells's book is once again highly recommended. Most of his recipes for chops can be easily tested with boneless loin, cut 1/2" thick, and simply pan-seared ... that way you can test several recipes at once. If you like em, then you can always do em again in the full-out format (full size bone-in rib chops, cut 1.5" thick, grilled over charcoal, and then finished over indirect heat or on one's oven).

I revised the recipe I posted above to include the soy sauce, which I accidentally omitted when typing it up.

I softened the review at the top of this thread a bit. I was in a dark place in my life at the time (parents dying) and some of that caused me to blow certain 'nits' a bit out of proportion.

My friend's doing a whole pig roast in a caja china box roaster next weekend (I'll be assisting, and learning as I go). Too bad the author lives so far away, or I'd be inclined to see if I could swing him an invitation.

Anyway, my friend and I already have dibs on the head.