As published in Ojai
Quarterly magazine, Spring 2014
Pork: Revelations about the Whole Hog
Photo and preparation by Bill Snider. |
I was in seventh grade when I
first learned that eggs fried in bacon fat aren’t just delicious, they’re a transcendent
revelation.
I attended seventh grade at a
tiny backcountry school in northeast San Diego County. My class was combined
with the eighth grade, and my teacher had us all in one small room all day
long. In between science, math, P.E. and social studies, Mr. Seeman mixed in a
ton of reading and writing. When I went to high school, I was ahead of the
curve, having already read most of the classics. I could also write haiku and
diagram the heck out of a sentence.
Mr. Seeman was a byproduct of
the sixties, and a sort of hippie Renaissance man with an expertise in multiple
subjects. After teaching us how to cook garlic chicken, he promised to treat
the top students to a camp-out in the desert, complete with a campfire
breakfast the next morning. On the menu: eggs fried in bacon fat and toast with
boysenberry jam.
Game on, I thought. I dreamed about boysenberry jam and studied my
brains out, getting hung up on poetry. I didn’t like rhyming poetry one bit
until the day Mr. Seeman handed out copies of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot. The prose
not only drew me in with its rhythms and beats, but wow, what a story! The next
day, he brought in a record player, dropped the needle and played the poem. It turns out that writer Gordon Lightfoot, to my
absolute amazement, was a musician! Mind blown.
I earned a seat on Mr. Seeman’s
VW bus to the desert. He and his wife bunked in the van, and the 12-year-olds
slept under the stars, dazzling each other with our new knowledge of the
constellations. The next morning, true to his word, he fried eggs in bacon fat,
and soon came the moment I’d been waiting for. He opened the door to the little
cupboard where the jam had been stashed in the van, and it fell right onto the
floor; shards of glass and purple goo flew everywhere. I’d never known such soul-crushing
disappointment.
And that, my friends, is how a
food writer with an unreasonable fondness for folk music is born.
These are the stories my husband
listens to, and upon hearing them, he satisfies my nostalgic tummy with the
perfect meal. The bacon fat makes him think of pork, so he decides a
pulled-pork sandwich is in order and slow cooks a pork tri-tip all day in cider
vinegar, garlic and brown sugar. He likes his coleslaw on the side, I like mine
inside the sandwich.
Pork is the quintessential
comfort food – indulgent, flavorful and versatile. The smell-memory of sizzling
bacon conjures feel-good emotions followed by strong hunger pangs that must be
satiated immediately. In Ojai, we have plenty of places to feed your soul and
satisfy your pork cravings.
Feast Bistro
254 E. Ojai Avenue
640-9260
Chef and owner Susan Coulter is
sure to give me a fair amount of ribbing about singing the praises of my
husband’s pulled pork sandwich, and I’m not trying to curry favor when I say
that hers is damn good. It’s no wonder it’s been awarded Best Sandwich by
readers of the local paper several years running. Specializing in New American
cuisine, Coulter also features a new pork dish every season that makes my mouth
water. Typically, it’s slow cooked until succulent and served up with creamy
polenta or mashed potatoes, but she’s also been known to prepare it in a bright
and spicy green curry with fresh local vegetables.
Diaz Bakery
217 East Matilija Street
640-7439
217 East Matilija Street
640-7439
I know, I know, what’s a bakery
doing in the pork run down? Though they are best known for their traditional
Mexican pan dulce, fruit-filled empanadas and apple fritters the size of a Wham-O
Frisbee, this family-run bakery knows pork, specifically, carnitas, which
translates to “little meats.” The pork carnitas are fried and served either on
tortillas, or, even better, on a torta with their own homemade bread and the
traditional accompaniments of diced white onion and cilantro. Also in the
pastry case, paying homage to their most popular dish, are crunchy molasses
pig-shaped cookies – delicious dunked in milk or coffee.
Scratch Food Truck
www.scratchventura.com
Fairly
new on the foodie scene, this gourmet food truck features produce and meat from
local farmers and ranchers. The menu includes hand-formed burgers, smoked
chicken tacos, coconut grilled chicken burritos and more, all prepared with
creativity and sustainability in mind. Pork takes center stage here, though,
and no one does pork better than chef and owner Tim Kilcoyne. He usually buys a
whole hog from a small local rancher and finds unexpected ways to prepare it. The
house-cured porkstrami with caraway mustard slaw and the smoked pork with
peanut butter and strawberry jam are game changers. Don’t miss the hand-cut fries
with Kilcoyne’s own homemade ketchup. You can usually catch him here in Ojai on
Sundays next to the farmers’ market.
Westridge Market
802 E. Ojai Avenue
646-8220
What I like best about this independent
grocery store with a full-service butcher in the back is that they sell single
slices of thick-cut bacon. I’ll buy four slices and render the fat so that I
can enjoy my bacon now, and later, when I get a hankering, I can use a teaspoon
of the fat to fry eggs or sauté green beans with a little olive oil added.
Rainbow Bridge
211 East Matilija Street
646-4017
An article about pork in Ojai
would not be complete without mentioning ethical sources. Rainbow Bridge is an
upscale hippie market that carries pork and other meats that are sustainable,
vegetarian-fed and humanely-raised and slaughtered with the strictest handling
protocols. Not only that, the meat is extraordinarily tender and flavorful.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m
going to spin some Gordon Lightfoot and take a big bite out of this pulled pork
sandwich.
For more on Ojai’s food scene, go to www.facebook.com/DishingOjai.