I’m not sure a pig farmer can admit this, but I don’t like ham. Well, sometimes I do, if it’s sliced really thinly. I think it’s a texture thing more than anything else, but a big thick slab of ham, no matter how it’s cooked, just really turns my stomach. That’s a problem when what’s left from the pigs we slaughtered two years ago are all smoked bits. Hmmm. We really need to eat them up before our next slaughter date, you know?
So I took a smoked shoulder, slow cooked it out in the oven on the grill at about 250° for just over 4 hours until it was basically falling apart. Then I shredded it pretty finely and smothered it in barbecue sauce, served it on homemade rolls with a pickle and called it dinner. It was sort of lip-smackingly delicious and that’s saying something from someone who doesn’t like ham!
The next morning, I did the same thing with the shredding part, except this time instead of barbecue sauce, I added tons of extra sharp Cabot cheddar cheese and folded it all into an omelet. The smokiness was just right, and the texture was something I could deal with. I usually like eggs over easy, not scrambled, with that whole texture thing again. With some of my homemade jam and bread, it was a really nice brunch and the weather was lovely enough to eat it out on the balcony. I love summer, which seems to finally have arrived.
My brother and his girlfriend are visiting us this week, and she’s a vegetarian, which is going to push my abilities a little bit. The garden isn’t producing much besides lettuce and radishes yet, though it’s all growing well. I think I will hit the Keene Farmers’ Market on Tuesday and see what they’ve got going. I’ve got a leg of lamb defrosting for the meat eaters, and we had a fabulous mushroom hunt yesterday, so I’m thinking some sort of risotto sounds good.
I don’t eat meat or eggs, but I do like the idea of using the same things for multiple meals in such different ways. That’s something I always struggle with when trying to use leftovers.