Description: Pork belly is a flavorful cut that is popular in Italian, French, Chinese and more and more in Southern cuisines. A hot commodity on the futures market, pork belly is very tasty but can also be fatty. It may be braised, turned into soft, rich shreds called rillettes, turned into confit or made into a terrine. It is the cut from which bacon and salt pork are prepared.
Meat Characteristics: Pork belly is a very fatty, tough, flavorful cut.
How much should I buy: A whole pork belly weighs about 18 pounds, a skinless pork belly weighs about 13 pounds. Allow 4 to 8 ounces per person.
Common Flavor Combinations: Bay leaves, caraway, cilantro, cinnamon, cumin, fennel, garlic, leeks, paprika, sake, soy sauce, star anise.
2 tablespoons bacon grease
½ cup minced onion
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ cup cider vinegar
1 cup beef stock
1 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon hot sauce
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
Melt the bacon grease in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, cumin, and cayenne and continue to cook until the onion is softened, about 3 minutes. Add the vinegar and stock and increase the heat to high to bring to a boil. Stir in the ketchup and hot sauce, then reduce the heat to medium-low, add the salt and black pepper, and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
1 15-ounce jar mayonnaise (about 1½ cups)
¼ cup distilled white vinegar
1 tablespoon apple juice
Juice of ½ lemon
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk well to combine, then serve over barbecue chicken.
Store any remaining sauce in an airtight container, refrigerated. Stir before serving.
1 cup ketchup
1 cup Heinz chili sauce
⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons of Frank’s Red Hot or Tabasco
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dry mustard
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons finely grated onion with juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon liquid smoke
Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring often, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 20 minutes. Serve immediately.
Allow any remaining sauce to cool to room temperature and store in an airtight container, refrigerated.
1 teaspoon oil
1 tablespoon grated onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup yellow mustard
½ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon celery seeds
1 teaspoon hot sauce
Place a saucepan over medium heat and add the oil. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Whisk in the remaining ingredients, stirring well to combine. Cook over medium heat until bubbles break the surface. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve immediately.
Any remaining sauce should be left to cool to room temperature, then store in an airtight container, refrigerated.
1½ cups distilled white vinegar
½ cup cider vinegar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons red pepper flakes, depending on desired heat level
Warm the vinegars either in the microwave for 30 seconds or on the stovetop. You are warming them only, not boiling. Add the remaining ingredients, stir to dissolve the salt, and pour the mixture into a jar. Set aside for at least 1 day to let the flavors fully meld, then serve.
Store any remaining sauce in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. Shake well before using.
“I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a “thing-oriented” society to a “person-oriented” society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”
On this day Robert Goddard, the father of American rocketry, conducted the first rocket test flight from his new laboratory in Roswell, New Mexico (December 30th) in 1930. The new laboratory and launch site was partially funded by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution. On this date Goddard’s liquid fuel rocket launched to a height of 610 meters (2,000 feet) – a new record height for his rockets, and one that he would soon break…
Named after a standard HTTP error code, 404 has come to mean: 1. To misplace something. 2. Someone who is clueless. 3. An Internet error or missing page.
This is the cosmic tree, the “ideogram of Scandinavian mythology” (Mircea Eliade). It corresponds to the Skambha, the cosmic pillar of the Vedas, to the Saxon Irminsûl, and to the World Tree of the Sámi people in Lappland. It is also called Læraðr and Mímameiðr (“Mímir’s Tree”). It is an ash tree, the center and support of the world that it summarizes and symbolizes, the source of life and all knowledge, and all fate. Neither fire nor steel can scathe it, and its fruits heal the womb ailments of women.
Living beneath its three roots are men, frost giants, and the dead in Hel’s realm. According to one tradition, one of its roots leads to the world of the Æsir in the sky. This is where the springs of Urðr (a Norn), Mímir (a giant), and Hvergelmir (the source of all rivers) are located. The dragon Niðhöggr also lives here. The second root goes to Jötunheimr, the world of the giants, and the third to Niflheimr, the world of the dead.
An eagle perches at its top. This is most likely Hræsvelgr (“Carrion Eater”), the flapping of whose wings gives birth to the winds—as well as the falcon Veðrfölnir (“Ash Covered by the Wind”?). The squirrel Ratatoskr climbs up and down the trunk. Five stags graze on its branches: Dáinn and Dvalinn (“Death” and “Torpid”; these are also dwarf names), Duneyrr (“Downy Ears”), and Duraþrór and Eikþyrnir (“Oak-thorny”), as well as the goat Heiðrún. Eight reptiles gnaw on its roots: Niðhöggr, Góinn, Móinn, Grafvitnir, Grafvölluðr, Grábakr, Ófnir, and Sváfnir (we may note in passing that alliterations are generally a sign of the antiquity of the elements). Each day the Norns sprinkle water and light clay over Yggdrasill. The Æsir customarily hold their deliberations beneath the cosmic tree near Urðr’s fountain.
Yggdrasill ensures the vertical coherence of the world, while the Midgard Serpent guarantees its horizontal coherence.
Mark Bere Peterson’s Counterculture, Urban Legends, Paganism & Witchcraft 