I told the wife that I wanted to go into Samrong Thap village to pick up a few kg of pork butt. I'm still new to smoking and wanted to do a pulled pork for my second attempt. She asked, why? Just call <unintelligible name> and he will bring to us here. I did not know that.
I had just learned from her that I can pick up the horn and order whatever I need, pork wise. Apparently, <unintelligible name> is a farmer/rancher local to our village and slaughters a pig every day to bring to market. With 24 hours notice, he will reserve whatever cuts you want, and deliver to residents of the village at no additional charge. (perk of living in the same village, I guess. Or maybe he gets to cut out the middleman. Dunno.)
So, next morning at 8:00 am sharp, a motorcycle with sidecart/cooler pulls into the drive. 3 kg butt (piece of loin still attached to get the weight up I suppose) , 1kg loin, and 1 kg fat (fat was mostly jelly. As I understand, not really good for sausage. Oh well, me happy anyway.) I am assured that it was alive the prior evening. He takes pride in that fact, and works though the night to get the freshest to market as possible. To the touch the butt was well chilled, but I only know how it was received, not how quickly it was cooled. Also, the butt came boneless. They process using knife/cleaver, 100%. No saw work at all. So, no bone-in hams in my future.
Not wanting to wait, I hacked a sliver of loin and pan fried with butter to go with breakfast ...and was... disappointed. Tough. Flavor is okay, but... meh. Yeah, I understand that there are a lot of factors that might cause this. Cooking style, slaughter technique, cut of meat, health/age/condition of animal, phase of the moon, how you held your mouth, etc. can all affect tenderness.
I did a little internet search and found that some people, in order to get the pork more tender, will put fresh cuts into vacuum sealed bags, and refrigerate for a couple of days, before freezing.
Most Americans that just shop at the local Costco, or even their local Butcher Shop will not need to concern themselves with this, I suppose. So, I direct my question to those that deal with freshly processed.
Question: Of those that process their own, is this something that you do? I wrapped in plastic for a day or so and might have noticed a difference. Hard to tell as I was using a different cooking technique. Also, hard to tell from only one datum.
Will it be in my best interest to order a couple of days before needed, rather than the night before, in order to allow for this 'aging'?
Thanks,
-sterling
As an aside:
In the U.S. I always lived in the country, rural areas, so didn't have a childhood where the Ice Cream man came driving by. I was literally an adult before I saw one for the first time, and think I was as excited as the kids. You can imagine my surprise when, I, here, even further in the boonies, now not only have two Ice Cream carts that come by, but also a vegetable cart, a fish monger, a desert cart, a soup seller, a roasted corn cart, one with grilled meats, a lady selling several Thai dishes in plastic bags, and now pork on demand. We truly live in an age of miracles...
-dsr
I had just learned from her that I can pick up the horn and order whatever I need, pork wise. Apparently, <unintelligible name> is a farmer/rancher local to our village and slaughters a pig every day to bring to market. With 24 hours notice, he will reserve whatever cuts you want, and deliver to residents of the village at no additional charge. (perk of living in the same village, I guess. Or maybe he gets to cut out the middleman. Dunno.)
So, next morning at 8:00 am sharp, a motorcycle with sidecart/cooler pulls into the drive. 3 kg butt (piece of loin still attached to get the weight up I suppose) , 1kg loin, and 1 kg fat (fat was mostly jelly. As I understand, not really good for sausage. Oh well, me happy anyway.) I am assured that it was alive the prior evening. He takes pride in that fact, and works though the night to get the freshest to market as possible. To the touch the butt was well chilled, but I only know how it was received, not how quickly it was cooled. Also, the butt came boneless. They process using knife/cleaver, 100%. No saw work at all. So, no bone-in hams in my future.
Not wanting to wait, I hacked a sliver of loin and pan fried with butter to go with breakfast ...and was... disappointed. Tough. Flavor is okay, but... meh. Yeah, I understand that there are a lot of factors that might cause this. Cooking style, slaughter technique, cut of meat, health/age/condition of animal, phase of the moon, how you held your mouth, etc. can all affect tenderness.
I did a little internet search and found that some people, in order to get the pork more tender, will put fresh cuts into vacuum sealed bags, and refrigerate for a couple of days, before freezing.
Most Americans that just shop at the local Costco, or even their local Butcher Shop will not need to concern themselves with this, I suppose. So, I direct my question to those that deal with freshly processed.
Question: Of those that process their own, is this something that you do? I wrapped in plastic for a day or so and might have noticed a difference. Hard to tell as I was using a different cooking technique. Also, hard to tell from only one datum.
Will it be in my best interest to order a couple of days before needed, rather than the night before, in order to allow for this 'aging'?
Thanks,
-sterling
As an aside:
In the U.S. I always lived in the country, rural areas, so didn't have a childhood where the Ice Cream man came driving by. I was literally an adult before I saw one for the first time, and think I was as excited as the kids. You can imagine my surprise when, I, here, even further in the boonies, now not only have two Ice Cream carts that come by, but also a vegetable cart, a fish monger, a desert cart, a soup seller, a roasted corn cart, one with grilled meats, a lady selling several Thai dishes in plastic bags, and now pork on demand. We truly live in an age of miracles...
-dsr
