pat willard

Pig kunckles!
The fat knob above the feet, which I hear are great too: you braise then grill them, but what's suppose to make them truly a treat are all the small bones in the, well...toes, that you gnaw and suck on to your heart's content.

But back to the knuckles. I've only seen them sliced, not whole, at least not in America. When I spied them at the butcher's or market, they didn't look like anything I'd want to get involved in--thickly rimmed in fat, vewry little meat--what was I going to do with them?

But then I got bored and finally took one home with me. Set it up on the stove in some broth and tomatoes, various but not a lot of seasoning then I forgot about it and went out to prune the rose bush and wonder who or what was stealing my pansies. Then I remembered, and ran back to find the liquid was down to just a puddle. The fat was melting; the meat was pushing away from the center. The marrow was puffing up from the center of the bone.

I took it out, laid it on the table, freed the meat of its white Elvis- like belt of fat and sliced a sliver of the meat, carrying it on the edge of the knife to my mouth.

Silky flavor, not gamy at all, flesh softened by the fat, the marrow a butter spread. You wouldn't want to hide it's lights under a heavy sauce, or barbecue (though people do). I'd want it all by itself...crisping the fat to little cubes and mixing them in with mashed potatoes or turnips.

Totally smitten. Can't be talked out it.

1. You'll find things you thought were permanently lost--including the wonderful happy photo of friend/​niece/​lover who not only no longer speaks to you but who never ever wants to hear from you again--lose 5 minutes in hopeless depression.
2. The matching earring/​shoe/​glove that you loved but thought long lost so you threw away its mate--lose 3 minutes stamping about.
3. Discover on the shelf you just dusted a small book of Elizabeth Bishop's poem--lose a good 15/​20 minutes over that one.
4. While cleaning the refrigerator, get hungry, make a tunafish sandwich--absentmindly leave refrigerator door open and don't realize it because when you sat down to eat you find that an old Audrey Hephern movie happens to be on. Meanwhile, things are defrosting in fridge--lose 20 minutes seeing the end of the movie and 15 minutes cleaning up the mess.
5. Finally get to the bedroom--last room. Drag the vacumn in. Pick up all the shoes in and around bed--under, too. Pick up all the work-week's necklaces, perfume bottles, slips, hairpins. Try on a few new earrings, rearrage hair, think about how your face is getting new wrinkles every day: moisterize. Finally, plug vacum in. See life flashing before your eyes. Discover you don't have the heart/​strength to go through with it. Must lie down for just a wee bit--2 1/​2 hour spend dreaming of far away things.

Jet's Play-off Game They're Losing at Half Time Meal

For the chicken:
1 chicken cut up into pieces
buttercream (preferred) or egg white (if you're whimpy)
1 box of any kind of crackers you have on hand, blended with about 1 cup of flour
any spices you want--recommend pepper, cayennen, cumin, etc
Oil--olive oil is all I use

For potatoes: yukon golds are good: 4 large ones will do about 5 people
sour cream
butter

Chicken:
Dry each each with paper towel.
Soak in Buttercream or egg whites.
Start heating the oil in skillet--you can tell it's hot enough if a bit of scallion browns when you drop it in.
Take out each piece of soaked chicken and dip in flour/​cracker mix.
Slip into hot oil. Let fry until dark (turning every now and then for evenness). Remove to newspaper (drains well), and hold in a low oven (190/​250 degrees) while you cook the rest.

Potatoes:
Cut into quarters. Cover with water.
Bring to a boil and gentle boil them until they're sort of done--not mushy, not hard.
Drain.
Place back into pot and add a big pat of butter. Once butter melts, add a good spoonsful of sour cream (depends if you're on a diet--which you shouldn't be to eat this meal in the first place--and the superball is coming, anyway).
Now you can either use a mixer and whip the potatoes up or just smash them with a whisk, fork and/​or wooden spoon. This gives a rougher texture that's kind of cool.

In any case, add some more butter, and maybe a tiny spoonful more of sour cream.


Serve folks however many pieces they want with the potatoes. Bring the hot sauce. Refill their drinks. Have dessert/​at the very least vast quanitities of chocolate ice cream on hand. It's gonna be a bumpy night.

Less brief description goes here

This time around, a meal you just need when things are looking bleak--or not.