By Richard Leong
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - American chef Aaron McCargo is hoping that bold versions of American comfort food will appeal to new fans.
The 37-year-old New Jersey native won his own show, "Big Daddy's House", on the Food Network in a grueling television competition last year. The second season, which started in January, features his twists on familiar fares like hamburgers and Buffalo chicken wings.
He spoke to Reuters about his passion for bold flavors and how to stretch the food budget.
Q: What is the biggest difference between the dishes you make in the new season and the first season?
A: "Buy something universal. For example, pork butt which is a very inexpensive cut of meat. You can have it with potatoes and carrots one night. Maybe you can shred it up the next night and make quesadilla. On the third night, you may want to make tacos or sloppy joe."
Or, if you're out of pork butt... just use fillet mignon.
__________________ Most of all, cook from the heart, and you’ll never be lonely when the dinner bell rings! - Chef Robert Irvin
But it's not refered to as being that way in the stores because they called it a shoulder.
Two things here though;
1. Isn't the butt boneless?
2. Isn't the shoulder a bone-in?
There has been some misconception on this at times.
Whole pork shoulders are not sold in the grocery stores. They are a massive hunk of meat weighting in around 16 lbs. and includes 3 to 7 rib bones along with the shoulder blade and the upper front leg. It is usually divided into subprimals, one of which is the upper part of the shoulder - the Boston butt, which is how it's sold in markets. And most butts are sold with the bone-in... at least around here. This is the cut used for pork roast and is the choice for pulled pork because it's marbled with enough fat to keep the meat moist.
__________________ Most of all, cook from the heart, and you’ll never be lonely when the dinner bell rings! - Chef Robert Irvin
I'm not arguing whether they are the same. It's just that butchers and supermarkets confuse that fact by naming the meat two different things.
But years ago, I used to think that the butt actually came from the pig's rear end.
I believe what you are thinking about is the subprimal cut called a "picnic shoulder" which is the arm or front leg of the pig. They can be sold bone-in, but are most often sold boneless. They are marketed as such in grocery stores - not as butts. A picnic shoulder and a butt are two different critters and I've never seen the markets confuse the two.
__________________ Most of all, cook from the heart, and you’ll never be lonely when the dinner bell rings! - Chef Robert Irvin
I used a boston butt not too long back to make pork machaca, for pulled pork tacos, I cooked it in a crock pot all day and it was soooo good, I gotta make that again. I described what I had made to a Mexican co-worker of mine and she said that I had made a pretty authentic, traditional dish pretty much the way that she would have made it.
__________________ MAC
Before you criticize someone you should walk a mile in their shoes, that way when you criticize them you are a mile away and you have their shoes!
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