Meaty Meditations

Good afternoon Cyberspace.

I'm going to warn you now - this post may offend you if you are a vegetarian or a vegan. Last night I had an excellent meal. Roasted ham, scalloped potatoes and homemade baked beans. My girlfriend's mom is a baking virtuoso and her baked beans are amazing. My girlfriend's father is incredible with pretty much everything else (although we recently had a bake-off and he made a red velvet cake - how am I supposed to compete with that!?) - together they're a real force to be reckoned with in the kitchen. Anyway, to get to the meat and bones of my post, (see what I did there?) last night's meal got me to thinking...if  I were limited to one animal that I could consume for the rest of my life, what would it be?

I'm not going to lie to you and say that I've never thought about this question before. It's actually come up quite often as a topic of conversation (my friends and I discuss some strange things). My answer was always cow. I mean think about it - the many different cuts of steak, beef ribs, beef tenderloin, beef ribs, hamburger, and did I mention beef ribs? It's so versatile. And delicious. With the additions of beef stock and beef gravy, I thought it was enough to propel beef right to the top of the list - but not anymore. 

Some of the folks I've discussed this with have actually suggested chicken. Now don't get me wrong, I love chicken. I love chicken breast (it tastes like whatever you want it to), I love chicken wings, I love roasted chicken and I love fried chicken - but I feel like I'd get bored of chicken all the time.

Some people have mentioned other delicious creatures - duck, lamb, moose, turkey, etc - and those are all great choices.

For me (and it took me a loooong time to make this decision) pig is the only answer. All of the different parts of the pig taste completely different. There's so much variety on the pig that I don't think I could ever get bored. Pork tenderloin is incredible. Roasted ham is delicious, and makes for some of the best sandwiches there are. Don't even get me started on pork ribs (ribs are my favourite - I don't know if you picked up on that or not). To top it off, the pig even has an ace up its sleeve (yes...as if the species itself was wearing a shirt) - bacon. Who doesn't love bacon? It enhances the flavour of everything. Baked beans, hamburgers, eggs, salads (caesar for example), steak - everything is better with bacon!

You might be wondering what brought on this inspiration - it was the leftovers. I went to get a drink last night, noticed the tupperware dish in the fridge full of savoury roasted meat -  and had to reach in and grab a piece. I haven't been able to open the fridge door all day without eyeing the damn container. So I just thought I would share my thoughts on this topic with you.  I'd love to hear what you think about it.

Peace and Love
The Critical Stranger

As always, thoughts, comments and suggestions are encouraged and appreciated!