Don Memo's tacos al pastor

Tacos from the Don Memo's food truck on 38th Street between Walnut and Sansom Streets. This food truck is perhaps one of the slowest trucks ever-- you can get there at any time and it will still take at least twenty minutes. I don't like the carnitas (too fatty, not crispy), but the al pastor is nice. Also the "spicy" is a tangy tingly but not super hot spicy. 

Twenty minutes +$2/taco.

porkalicious v3 carnitas revisited

With a 5lb pork butt from Martin's Quality Meats and Sausage located in Reading Terminal Market, one of my favourite purveyors of meaty products possibly bc they have one of the oldest guys still working behind the counter. I didn't like this one as much as the first time around, not sure if it was because I added even more hot peppers or if it was the unhappy meat.

Porkalicious v2

Splurged on a Berkshire pork butt from Meadow Run Farm via Reading Terminal Market's Fair Food Farmstand that took 2+ days to defrost in my fridge.

Salt & pepper on the pork for a few hours, then browned on all sides. Sauteed some onions, 2 carrots, then added 1 c. chicken broth, 2 green serrano peppers, some peppercorns, crushed allspice, lightly toasted cumin, cloves in a teaball, juice+zest from 1 giant orange, dropped the orange in for fun, braised for 300 degrees for 3hrs uncovered and another 2 hrs uncovered, chopped up the roast into some giant cubes to break it up. Once a lot of the braising liquid evaporates, the pork starts to fry in its own fat. SIZZLE.

Served with an excess of guacamole (five avocados is apparently too much for 4 ppl), salsas from Prin, sour cream, tortillas and unfortunately no air conditioning (now installed!). Also a pineapple that I made Katherine cut up. Starter of cheese crisps (browned cheese).

porkalicious sunday

My brother and sister-in-law visited a little while ago and we hit a bunch of restaurants including Jose Garces' Amada tapas restaurant for the:

COCHINILLO ASADO FOR 4 OR MORE
Whole Roasted Suckling Pig, Grilled
Green Onions, Herb-Roasted Fingerlings,
Garbanzos con Espinacas &
Rosemary White Beans
38 per person
*must order in advance

I thought the sides were the lowlight. If I were to do it again, I would probably ask to hold the green onions, garbanzos and white beans and just get more fingerling potatoes instead (I don't know if they would do this. And this is probably not what you should do if you are interested in eating a healthy balanced diet). In contrast to the lackluster sides, the suckling pig was FANTASTIC. I have eaten a lot of roast pork in my lifetime, and this was really well executed roast pork (juicy and porky flavoured meat, melty fat layers, crispy crispy skin). Carved at the table, we wish we had gotten nibbles while impatiently waiting for chef to finish. Worth trying once.

Platter with lots of crispy skin, some skinny rib bones.

NAPOLEÓN DE MELOCOTÓN
Poached Peaches, Sheep Cheese
Mousseline, Caramelized Puff Pastry,
Peach Verbena Consommé

PASTEL CON ESCABECHE
Warm Brown Butter Cake,
Seasonal Fruit Escabeche,
subbed in Hazelnut Ice Cream

apple cider pork braise

5 ingredients not including salt/pepper. Easy.
Cider braised pork shoulder, Gourmet 2001