My Lucky Day

I've been an avid blog reader the past couple of years. While I've wanted to create my own blog for quite some time, I've never found the right motivation. One of my favorite blogs is Cleveland Foodie, a Cleveland food & restaurant blogger. She recently posted a contest on her blog to win a copy of Micheal Symon's new cookbook Live to Cook. She asked her readers to post a comment telling her their favorite part of the pig to cook with and why. She then picked the best post and gave a copy of the book to the winner. As you probably already guessed, I won the book! What can I say, I love to cook and like Michael Symon, pig just happens to be my favorite food. Yes, THE WHOLE PIG! From bacon to pork chops, ribs to pulled pork, cracklins to ears, I love it all! The winning comment I posted on Cleveland Foodie is at the end of this blog post.

Cleveland Foodie quickly shipped me Live to Cook and I was hooked from the minute I opened it. The book is the perfect combination of great recipes, cooking technique, and stories from Michael Symon's past. It is a fun book to read and is an inspiration in the kitchen. Typically when I get a new cookbook I flip through it, look at the pictures, read a few recipes, and put it on the shelf where it stays. I wanted to make sure that didn't happen with this book. Inspired by Carol Blymire from the blogs French Laundry at Home and Alinea at Home, I've decided to cook my way through Michael Symon's Live to Cook and document it through this blog. Through this process I hope to improve my ability to prepare simple, delicious food, while improving my technique and maybe even inspires some readers to become more creative in the kitchen. Wish me luck!


Special thanks go out to Carol Blymire for the "At Home" blog idea, Michelle from Cleveland Foodie for a copy of the book, and of course Michael Symon for writing Live to Cook.


Here is the comment I made to win the book on Cleveland Foodie:

Is this a trick question? I don’t think there’s a bad part of a pig to prepare. I guess it might be easier to name my least favorite part of the pig to cook (ham) but even that is delicious when it comes from a quality hog.

I just ordered a whole Berkshire hog to split with one of my friends from Bluebird Meadows. I’ve tried many local Berkshire cuts of meat and Bluebird Meadows is hands down the best. I highly recommend checking them out. They sell at Crocker Park Farmers Market or I’d be happy to pass their contact info on to

My favorite parts of the pig to cook are below in no particular order.

1. Bacon / Belly – Enough said. I can’t wait to get the belly from my hog to cure my own bacon!

2. Bone in Chops – Simply seasoned with salt & pepper and grilled over lump charcoal. Doesn’t get much than this cut for me!

3. Ribs – I’ve only recently begun experimenting with ribs. Pretty simple to make, but definitely a time consuming process to make them right. I like to rub them down with my homemade BBQ rub and smoke them low & slow (4-6 hours). Half way through I like to baste them with a mop sauce consisting of apple juice (or cider) and some other spices.

4. Tenderloin – Definitely not my favorite cut, but this versatile cut is great to prepare a quick meal during the week when there’s not time for an elaborate meal. It really takes on the flavor of whatever you marinare/rub/etc on it. My personal favorite preps are lightly marinated in olive oil, rosemary, garlic, salt & pepper or rubbed down with my homemade BBQ rub and grilled over lump charcoal.

5. Shoulder / Butt – Probably my personal favorite to prepare, definitely a labor of love. I love to smoke a nice, big Berkshire butt for 14+ hours (depending on the size). Start off by making my own spice rub by grinding many different kinds of dried chilis + spices to create the perfect rub. Then smoke it low and slow over a combination of apple, oak, and hickory wood. This versatile cut is also great for braising in the dutch oven and turning into pork tacos.

I am so hungry now, thanks for the great topic to write about! I can’t imagine what Symon’s book would inspire me to do with my pig!

About the Cook

I am not a chef. As the title states, I am simply a cook...at home.


I've never been to culinary school. I have not worked in a restaurant kitchen. I don't think I've even taken a cooking class, unless home economics in high school counts (thanks Mrs. Crumley). But for whatever reason, I have always loved to cook. My first memory of cooking goes back to when I was about 12 years old and we were about to take a trip to a family cottage in Canada. I remember making homemade spaghetti sauce with my Mom's help to take with us to the Canadian wilderness. 


Most of the cooking I did during my teenage & college years involved a blue box, plastic bag, or delivery food. After graduating from college I moved back home with my Mom for a year or so. She kept the pantry & fridge full and in return, I did most of the cooking. My cooking has evolved over the years and I now prepare just about everything from scratch. I am a big supporter of the local food movement. I try my best to eat what is in season and to buy as much as I can from local farms. I have belonged to a CSA - Community Supported Agriculture the last two seasons, I am a frequent shopper at the local farmer's markets, I buy in bulk and freeze or can produce from our local farmers produce auction, I purchase most of my meat and eggs directly from Plum Creek Farm (chicken, veal, duck, turkey, & eggs) and Bluebird Meadows (pork & beef), and I occasionally even forage for food in the wild. I feel very blessed to live in an area of the world that has so many wonderful, high quality farms and other food sources.
 

So now I start my next culinary adventure, cooking my way through Michael Symon's Live to Cook. Through this process I hope improve my ability to prepare simple, delicious food, while improving my technique. As Symon says on page 18 of the book, "In the end, great food is nothing more than this: great ingredients and sound technique." I hope you find my blog chronicling this adventure interesting and that it inspires you to follow the words of Michael Symon...live to cook.