As many of you know, I have one test for viability of a political solution to any problem. Does it require coercion? If not, I’m listening. If there is a gun required to implement your plan, you are wrong, every time. If it is a good idea, people will do it.
This recipe was born of what was popping in the garden. Seasonal cooking really elevates when we allow the ingredients that ripen together to drive the menu.
Becoming proficient at growing your own food requires many failures. You can research for years, read all of the books, and listen to all of the podcasts, but nothing Improves your skill like killing things, in the garden. This was my experience with strawberries.
The nixtamalization of corn is tribal chemistry at its finest. Etymologically, nixtamal is "ash dough". The idea is that by cooking dried dent corn in an alkaline solution, you turn it from toxic cardboard into food.
In the context of the human time line, the era of refrigeration is but a blip. Widespread availability of electric refrigerators is younger than 100 years.
When processing a pig you will find two distinct types of fat. On the outside, just under the skin, you will find the back fat. This fat is critical for adding moisture to sausage made from lean meats (don’t worry, we’ll get to that in future posts…). On a heritage lard hog, there is a lot of it.