The other white meat

Did you miss me? I missed all of you. I'm back now and look what I found in my inbox...

"Dear Heritage Foods USA Supporter,

In a recent article, food journalists Matt and Ted Lee said that pork neck is going to be the next big thing. It is a food they say that exudes taste, even more than the most succulent chicken wing. Well, today we are offering pork neck for sale so that you can be at the forefront of this culinary trend! We have been selling our neck wholesale, wondering what chefs were using it for. Now we know, this might just be the tastiest part of the pig. The neck has great connective tissue and a lot of cartilage that makes any sauce or casserole perfectly thick, rich and flavorful.
Below is a pork neck recipe from one of the great meat curers in the USA: Taylor Boetticher from the Fatted Calf in Berkeley and San Francisco, CA. Taylor runs his entire meat curing program on heritage pork. His products are absolutely delicious: www.fattedcalf.com."

Pig necks? I'm gonna have to try them. In case you're wondering how to cook Pork Necks, here's a recipe....

Spicy Pork Neck Ragu from Taylor at Fatted Calf in CA

Ingredients:

• 5 lbs. of pork necks
• Olive oil
• Salt
• 10 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
• 3 cayenne peppers, stems removed
• 1 cup of crisp white wine, unsoaked (Lenn Devours - please help - what is unsoaked wine?)
• 10 basil leaves
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 4 lbs. of roma or early girl tomatoes, cored and cut into quarters

Salt pork necks liberally. Preheat thick bottomed saucepot and slowly brown pork necks with a small amount of olive oil - do this in batches if necessary. It is important not to overcrowd the pot. Remove the necks to a tray and keep aside. Once all the necks are browned, slowly sauté the garlic just until soft. At the last minute, stir in the cayenne peppers just to mix them around with the garlic. Deglaze with the white wine, making sure to scrape off all the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine by half, add the chopped tomatoes, basil leaves, and dried oregano. Simmer the sauce for 25 minutes. Blend sauce on high speed with an immersion blender or in batches in a tabletop blender. Bring the sauce up to a low simmer, and add the pork necks back into the sauce.

Simmer over a very low flame for another three hours, stirring occasionally. When the meat on the pork necks is tender, remove from the sauce and let cool slightly. If the sauce is too thin at this point, turn up to a brisk simmer to reduce to desired consistency. Check the sauce for seasoning and adjust accordingly.

When the pork is cool enough to handle, pick out the meat from in between the bones and fold back into the sauce. Use to dress bucatini, penne, or spaghetti and dust with plenty of Pecorino Romano and fresh oregano.