Abenteuer nach schweinischer Art / Adventures of the Porcine Type

As I may have already mentioned in my previous Esskultur post, food is not only a reflection of the culture and mindsets of its particular social context, but is also often simply a reflection of availability. The drastic difference in prices between beef and pork here has pushed me to explore the wonders of Schweinefleisch. My favorite meats have always been lamb, chicken, and beef, but the extraordinary popularity and ubiquity of pork here has encouraged me to take a second look. The last few days, especially while I was travelling in Cologne over the weekend (more on that later, of course), have been met with lots of schnitzel. Even at a Croatian restaurant we ran into, just about every meat dish on the menu was pork. In my case, I ordered something named Pljeskavica, a glorified and absolutely deliciously seasoned pork hamburger patty. Pork's versatility is actually far greater than I previously expected or imagined, and I've had a few chances over the last couple of weeks to try my hand at preparing pork dishes.

One of the things I'm excited about is the discovery that a pork cutlet need not be dry, if done for juuuust the perfect amount of time. This of course I find only by luck, but when found, boy are the results amazing. =)

Lentil & cabanossi soup w/ Belgian endive + thyme, orange sauce, & orange marmalade pork chop w/ a side of (overcooked) leeks & almost-carmelized onions = mmmm..

The other dish that I prepared (besides simply pan-frying some groundpork or Hackfleisch like I always do) was something I came upon by accident in the grocery store: a robust-sized pork shoulder, as presented below in its early stages of preparation (slices of garlic stuffed into little pockets I cut into the meat):















Further seasoned:


I decided to braise this beautiful chunk of meat and decided to go on the semi-sweet rather than savory route to explore some flavors I've never really combined with my meats before. The seasoning palette was Apfelwein (apple wine - very common here, kind of like a cider), medium dry white wine, lemon, mustard, marjoran, pepper, rosemary, bay leaves, vegetable broth, and a spoonful of honey. Yet another picture of the process:

I braised the pork with apples and quince:And ended up with a pretty delicious meal (a very large one that I couldn't finish by any stretch of the term). The only problems was that the pork came out with too much acidity and not enough sweetness, something that I will try to change the next go-around.