That’s Some Pig

The season for the Urban produce box has slowly wound down, leaving us all excited for what’s coming in the spring/summer of 2010. In the meantime though, many of us continue to purchase individual items from the Farmer’s Fresh Market. I recently bought a whole pork shoulder, which came from ‘Glen-Finished’ pigs from the Searcy farm. Glen-finished means that not only have these special pigs been pasture-raised, but they have also been allowed to forage in the woods – something all pigs naturally love to do! The diet of these pigs has consisted of vegetables, grass, roots and berries, acorns, sweet potatoes and grain, which results in some of the most flavorful, tender pork you could imagine.

The shoulder roast from one of these pigs played the starring role in last night’s supper. I slow roasted the meat at 300 degrees for about 5 1/2 hours. Halfway through I added mushrooms, some onion, and a little chicken stock to begin work on the mushroom gravy. The meat was amazing, tender and so full of flavor. Nothing like the mushy, flavorless meat you see from a Smithfield pig. On the side we had buttermilk mashed potatoes (using my all time favorite spud, the Kennebec). And buttered peas with carmelized shallots. I also made some buttermilk rolls using a recipe I found in this month’s Saveur Magazine. It was the perfect Sunday supper.