Valentine's Steak

My initial research for Everything But The Oink included looking at an awful lot of butcher's diagrams of segmented pigs.  As with all things on the internet there was a glut of images and a lot of them were less than useful.  I did find enough information in the end to compile my Cuts list, but one cut stood out as a special occasion piece of meat.

The valentines steak is cut from the loin and, at its heart, it is a double thick loin chop which is butterflied.  You end up with a romantic heart shaped steak, which is perfect for your St. Valentine's Day romantic meal.

Any decent butcher should be able to provide you with valentines steaks.  I got mine from B & J Callard's on Leeds Kirkgate Market.  I had to order them as he had already butchered all of the pork loin that they had when I went in on Saturday.  Still, I got the steaks in good time for Valentines day.  I served the pork with purple sprouting broccoli, cheeky midweek roast potatoes and of course the ubiquitous apple sauce.

Cider Braised Pork Loin Chop

Last Saturday I took the bus into town so that I could buy the liver and onions for that evening's meal.  I was so surprised at how cheap my bill came to in the butchers* that I panicked and also bought a couple of pork loin chops.  I was so flummoxed by the low price of my offal that I asked for chops without specifying pork or lamb.  I left feeling rather sheepish.

The pork loin chops went into the freezer as I didn't know when they would be cooked, but I needn't have been so hasty.  Meal planning on Sunday afternoon saw them being needed straight away.  I usually grill pork chops** but I wanted to try something a little different in the name of Everything But The Oink.

During the Olympic Food Challenge I braised a lot of food and it always made a delicious meal***.  I thought that braising the chops would be a nice way of cooking them and provide a delicious gravy to boot.  I'm going to try and avoid the cliché of apples and cider with as many pieces of pork as possible, but braising chops in cider with apples had to be done.

I based the braise on one of Nigel Slater's simple suppers, omitting the juniper, sage and whole apples.  As I expected, the chops were perfectly cooked and the gravy was superb.  The loin provides a lot of the pork that we eat, from chops to back bacon.  Along with cooking the other parts of the pig I'm going to try to add more variety in how I cook my pork.

*under £1 for two slices of pig liver and three rashers of smoked back bacon.
**we do eat a lot of pork chops.  This is probably why I want to eat more pig this year, to try to redress the balance. 
***give or take the pigs trotters braised in sauerkraut.

Liver, Bacon and Onions

Before I embarked on this challenge to eat everything that pigs have to offer I checked with Z that she would be happy to come along for the ride.  When we first met, Z was a vegetarian and I couldn't cook.  A lot of water has passed under an awful lot of bridges since them.  I am now at my happiest when cooking and Z is a card carrying member of the "I like my steak bloody" club.  She is not happy to eat all meat though.  Lamb is still firmly off the menu, as is offal.

I was braced for Every Thing But The Oink to be vetoed before it had even begun but, to my surprise, Z said yes.  I'm not however, prepared to eat pig parts for the sake of it.  I want to try and celebrate each cut and make meals that I'll return to time and time again.  Offal is cheap after all.  If I'm to convince Z that we should eat more of it I'll have my work cut out.

Tonight I've cooked the first of the "fifth quarter" cuts, liver, and Z has dodged a bullet by handily arranging to go around to a friend's house for the evening.  I have cooked with pigs liver recently, making pate for Christmas, but that was last year.  I wanted to enjoy the flavour and texture of the liver so I decided on the traditional meal of liver, bacon and onions.

I'll admit that this is a meal that I have never cooked before.  I found this recipe by the Hairy Bikers and, with a glass of wine in hand, set about cooking up a feast.  Frying floured meat and onions is hardly a tricky task but I'm glad I followed their recipe.  The resulting gravy was possibly the best I have ever made and I'm not too proud to admit that the addition of tomato ketchup is a good idea.  I can't imagine that this will be a dish that Z will ever warm to, but I'm a huge fan and will be having liver again.