pork help please

[Rosendula]

I became vegetarian at age 15 because I didn't like the taste, smell, sight or texture of meat, and had not long since discovered it was dead animal. I then didn't eat meat for 22 years, until very recently. Although I have been cooking meat for my family, I haven't cooked joints of pork because OH was told something about it that put him off as a teenager. Things change, and I started eating meat and we were both curious about pork. I located my 'local' butcher, some 3 miles away, and asked his advice about what to buy and he sold me a leg. Well I cooked it OK, but I really didn't like the taste. It was so strong. OH didn't like the taste either. The joint was so big it took our family of 5 three evening meals plus sandwiches at lunch time to get rid of it (we had a Sunday lunch, a curry and put some in some ravioli). I was feeling quite miserable by the end of it and could have quite easily gone back to being veggie.

Thing is, bacon doesn't taste that bad, and neither do pork sausages. So can you please tell me, is the leg a particularly strong tasting part of the pig? Are other joints less ?

[pumpy]

Hi Rosendula, i think you'll find that pork has a very distinct flavour, & if you haven't eaten it for a while, then it will be notably strong. Especially if it came from a butchers(real meat) as opposed to another source. We like pork served with spinach, as the flavours seem to compliment each other. ( oh bugger, i sound like Gordon f*****g Ramsey!).

[Loobyloo]

Have it in a stroganoff or with a cider and mustard sauce.

I'm not a huge fan of the flavour of pork but if its in a sauce its fine

[Elizabeth]

There are different flavours between the joints. Some pork meat is quite white e.g. the eye of loin (as a roasting joint or as chops) and is more expensive. Other joints are a darker brown and have a more stringy texture e.g. shoulder.

The whiter meat I find to have a more subtle flavour.

Leg tends to be somewhere in the middle, with both lighter and darker coloured meat.

Personally I like it all. If a darker meat, like shoulder or belly cook on a low temperature, long and slow. Then all the fat, which holds a great deal of the flavour, gets cook. I also love the crackling - hubby doesn't.

Hope that helps. If you go to a butcher then just ask - I have always found them very helpful and they never mind if I ask a 'dumb' question.

[StripyPixieSocks]

If you're not bothered about the fatty aspect Pork Belly is quite mild.

Wash it, dry it and put it on a rack to cook, smear a teeny amount of oil over it and sprinkle with a bit of salt and bake until golden brown and crispy!

I was vegetarian for 16 years and I'm still not over keen of strong meats myself particularly beef but I started with Chicken then ventured into Pork and I tended to have them with some kind of sauce to cover the taste for a while as I too stopped eating meat because I didn't like the taste!

[Rosendula]

Ah, thank you. I didn't know that about the white and dark parts. I did tell the butcher I bought it from of my situation, and it was the leg he recommended. I guess his tastebuds are different.

Beef, SPS? I started with beef and found it quite tasteless (and therefore acceptable). So far though, I've only had supermarket, frozen beef joints, so I might change my mind when I've tried it fresh from the butcher.

It turns out that I have a more local butcher, only about 1.5 miles away (I mistakenly thought it had closed down a while ago). I've just spent about half an hour in there discussing various things, and he seems like the kind of bloke I could ask daft questions without feeling stupid. I told him about our pork experience and he couldn't understand it, saying that he's never noticed a strong flavour to pork. We came to the conclusion that it's because he's been eating it regularly all his life, whereas it's a new flavour to us and therefore more noticable. We're going to have a break from pork for a month or so before trying it again, then we'll try a different cut (and much smaller, just in case).

I'm so pleased to have 'found' this butcher. Not only am I supporting a local shop, all the product he sells are produced locally in Yorkshire.

[Millymollymandy]

This is interesting because I struggle with pork too sometimes. What I can't understand is why I absolutely adore bacon, like pork sausages and can happily eat pork chops (well cooked so that all the fat is crunchy) and will eat roast pork which seems to taste OK when hot.

However, cold roast pork is another thing. When my husband was slicing it up the kitchen smelt bad and it really turned my stomach. I have to force myself to eat it smothering it with pickle to take away the taste which I find quite repulsive.

One time also in England my mum had some pork chops which were so strong tasting that I couldn't eat them at all. I wonder whether wild boar has that kind of over strong taste? I also couldn't eat sausages at all in the Netherlands because they had THAT taste.

I have the horrible feeling that a decently produced free range pig would taste much stronger whereas the much milder taste that I prefer comes from intensively farmed pork (big business in Brittany). Pork is ridiculously cheap here.

[Loobyloo]

I know what you mean MMM, which is why I always smother pork in sauces, I hate chops with a passion! I've also had to work really hard at eating lamb, I wouldn't touch it at all for years because of the flavour (i think I was scarred by the strong mutton in scotch pies as a child, ew!) but now I quite like it.

I've had wild boar with pasta at a restaurant and it was lovely, not porky at all, more like a mild beefy flavour?

[invisiblepiper]

I agree - I,m not veggie - but I can't stand the smell of pork - cooked or otherwise.
Love bacon though -strange

[Millymollymandy]

Well I'm glad to have found I'm not the only one who has a problem with pork.

I only really like chicken breast although I will eat the darker bits. However the only time I will eat turkey is for Xmas with cranberry sauce and then only the breast. I wouldn't touch the meat any other time of the year cos it is too strong for me.

I don't go NEAR any kind of game, duck, goose, bambi, pigeon you name it because the taste is just so strong plus in any event I'd rather see the wildlife alive round here - although everything seems to have disappeared in the last 2 years thanks to the bloody hunters.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

We had eight-hour pork for tea this evening - and MMM is right; it is insanely cheap in France.

But I agree: as a cured meat (bacon, hams, dried sausage) pork is King, as fresh sausages or as mince (for meat balls or meat loaf) it is peerless, but as a roasted or stewed meet I frequently find it disappointing.

My meat ne plus ultra is goat, but that is not the easiest thing in the world to come by, so I usually settle for lamb.

[Cligereen]

Strange isn't it?... I find some pork is fine and smells and tastes fairly bland. Other times it can smell very strongly of the pig (as in the pigsty). It doesn't seem to matter which cut of pork I get, it is always unpredictable until it has been fully cooked...and then it's too late. We have given up buying pork now because of this as we were throwing half the stuff away.

I wonder what causes it. Is it the breed? is it the feed it was given? - it's a mystery to me.

[frozenthunderbolt]

Pork from a sow is less strong tasting and smelling than from a boar.

get pork fillet and sear it. then braise for 1 and 1/2 hours in apple juice and cinamon. lovely!