Fat free half and half and the flipside: pork rillettes, oh the fatty goodness

On my trip to the grocery store today I was in the dairy section, buying cream (for mashed potatoes) and half and half (for nutella crepes), when I came across fat free half and half.  I muttered out loud “Are you fucking kidding, isn’t that the point?” but fortunately the woman nearest me was so into her milk maid search for the furthest expiration date that she didn’t notice.

But seriously, what is fat free half and half?  Isn’t it by definition half milk and half cream, thus it necessarily must contain fat?  I’m having a hard time getting my head around the concept, but that could be because I’m coming down with a cold.  And besides, who would want such a product?  If you don’t want fat, stick to the skim milk or whatever white,  flavorless and watery alternative already exists.

Totally separate from my discovery of fat free half and half (or FFHAH as it will now be known because I’m getting sick of typing it out), I’m also making pork rillettes today.  Or rather I’m cooking the meat today and tomorrow I shall finish the pork rillettes.  The process is really very simple and is available in Jacques Pepin’s Techniques:

I bought country style ribs (I didn’t feel like stopping by the butcher for a small amount of pork shoulder, and lord knows you can’t find any other pork shoulder in the grocery stores other than that shit Smithfield pushes off, despite the fact that I live in the south, but that’s another post) at Whole Foods from some local farm.  I wasn’t going to do it today, but I was already at the butcher counter buying pork chops to stuff for dinner tonight, and noticed that the country ribs had enough fat on them.

I came home, cubed the meat up and removed the few bones, placed the meat in a pot, added 1 garlic clove, salt, pepper and enough water to cover by an inch.  The meat is still simmering away – it’s now hour three, just two more to go.

I’ll let the meat rest overnight in the fridge then break it apart tomorrow and sort of mix it /emulsify it with its own fat so that it’s spreadable.

I’m sure there are fancier recipes out there, but rillettes being a peasant food, I thought I’d start with the most basic and least fussy recipe and keep it true to what it should be, pork and pork fat spread on bread.

A loss for the Triangle

Yesterday I read that the restaurant Enoteca Vin closed its doors for good, possibly as a result of the economy (it seems one of the owners was also an owner of the Carolina Wine Company – you can read about its demise at Dean’s blog here, the comments are interesting as well as it seems many people are owed thousands of dollars).

We stumbled across Enoteca Vin last May when we were down here trying to decide if we really wanted to move here, and were impressed by the quality of the food.  Sadly we never made it back there to eat, though we had every intention of doing so some time in the future.

Apparently the owners are looking to sell the restaurant, but in this climate how many people are going to be willing to purchase a restaurant that just closed, no matter how good it was (especially when all the employees who made it what it was are all gone)?