Apples and Pork

I’ve always been a fan of the combination of apples and pork. Dates back from a childhood where my mom never served pork chops without a side dish of applesauce. You do know the easy way to peel fresh ginger, right? With a teaspoon? Just lightly scrape off the peel? Like I said, easy.

Redeye Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Black-Eyed Peas

And finally – a fabulous recipe from Linton Hopkins of Restaurant Eugene. It ran in Bon Appetit back in February 2012. You could just do the peas and tenderloin if making the gravy seems like too much, but for a meal when you want to impress someone with fabulous Southern flavors, this would be a beautiful thing to make. It’s complicated, but so representative of the kind of cooking that’s made Hopkins an Atlanta treasure.

Country Style Sausage with Fried Apples

Yes, you can make sausage. Yes.

This recipe is adapted from “American Cooking: Southern Style” by Eugene Walter. A nice recipe if you don’t have a meat grinder. You can hand chop the pork or use a food processor to finely chop the pork. Just be sure not to process it too much. You want to use a fatty cut like pork shoulder (not pork loin) so you get the ratio of fat to lean needed for sausage. Go to Riverview’s booth at your favorite farmers market and buy some pork shoulder. Come home and make sausage.