pork tenderloin on the coals

pork.  pig meat.  Growing up I used to really dislike it (parents made really fatty, dried out pork chops-svinekoteletter and other poorly made pork), but now that I live with a hog farmer (grisebonde) who loves to barbecue and grill (do you know the difference?) and makes amazing food, I love pork!  Jeg elsker svinekjøtt! And I bet a lot of you do too!  Vegetarians aside, who doesn’t like a thick slice of smoked, crispy bacon with their french toast?  Or a thick, juicy pork chop to accompany sweet corn and bread.  Or perhaps a bacon explosion (not sure who thought it was a good idea to create this, but it is many pieces of bacon weaved through each other filled with lots of ground pork and more bacon.  If you wish, you can stuff it with other tasty things, such as jalapeños and cheese).  Actually I have yet to try it, which I am happy about because it looks to me as if a small slice might cause a massive coronary upon consumption.

As the girlfriend of a grisebonde, I have learned a few things about griser (pigs) and svinekjøtt (pork, or pig meat) and I want to tell you about one of them: humans consume nearly hele grisen (the whole pig), which is not true of all other animals.  I am not sure if I would venture to eat griseføtter (pigs feet) or griseører (pigs ears) or the insides, but some cultures do.

So let’s learn a few more griseord (pig words):

en gris is a pig

svinekjøtt is pork meat

believe it or not, bacon is bacon

svinekoteletter are pork chops

svinestek is roast pork

svinepostei is pork pie

en svinemørbrad is a pork tenderloin

en pølse as you already know is a hot dog (60-70% ground pork)

skinke is ham

spareribber are pork spare ribs

Have any of you ever had prosciutto?  I made a pasta dish with prosciutto the other night and my boyfriend, of all people, hated it.  In fact, thought it was so gross he couldn’t eat for the rest of the night.  I liked it, oddly enough.  It does have a very odd, distinct flavor, so I get that someone would either like it or be disgusted.  Just curious if any of you have had it, liked it, and would like to recommend a dish with prosciutto in it.

Keep eating pork despite the continued media coverage of the H1N1 virus!

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