satisfaction (recipe: cream of roots with smoked pork jowls)

A few weeks ago, a friend and I were comparing our favorite local farms when I mentioned my frustration with that king of meats: bacon. Local, pastured bacon is very, very expensive, so prohibitively expensive that I can rarely justify buying it. My friend asked if I'd ever heard of pork jowls, and explained that a local grower, Inland Ranch, sells them for half the price of bacon with a similar flavor. She had so many good things to say about this unusual smoked cut, I couldn't help but remember to ask for them while we were at the farmers market.

So I came home with this package of smoked pork jowls, at $6 a pound. I was hopeful as I opened the package and fried them up, but I was frankly blown away by the flavor, which seemed to me more complex and interesting than bacon. Pork jowls are also a bit more salty than bacon so I wouldn't consider them a straight substitute; they're probably too salty to eat alone, but as an addition to complete meals they're unbelievably delicious. Like most hog cuts, pork jowls give off lots and lots of rich, nutritious fat, which I saved in a Mason jar for the next morning's eggs... which were easily the best fried eggs I've ever had in my life.

I'm converted. 

I had no plans for the jowls when I brought them home, but I knew I wanted to make something with a ton of vegetables. I genuinely love vegetables and could happily live on them alone if my body would tolerate it. At this time of year, I'm drooling more than usual over my seed catalogs, fantasizing about what I'll do when I get my hands on this luscious, curvy tomato, this ripe, delicious pepper...

When I was first learning to cook, it was my regular practice to dump a bunch of random vegetables in a pot, cover them with canned vegetable broth, and cook them to death. That was my “vegetable soup,” and bless Jeremy's heart that he always ate this sloppy mess without complaint. I still love vegetable soup, but I like to think I'm a bit more sophisticated as a cook now. When I have a lot of vegetables I like to combine them with flavorful herbs, a rich broth, white wine, and yogurt, and let me tell you, topping such a soup with an intense smoked meat brings it all together.

And I believe that this ingredient provides satiety as well. It's true that when I first went vegan I ate very little because everything was so fibrous and filled me up very fast. But in the long run, it seemed I could never eat enough. Common were the nights when dinner would leave a hole in my stomach, so I'd cook up a big pot of brown rice and eat the whole thing with Jeremy, perhaps amended with hot sauce and vegan "mayo," and still I'd feel hungry.

A pot of soup of this approximation, made with soy yogurt and a bit of olive oil, would leave me so unsatisfied I'd inevitably run for a chocolate bar or worse later in the evening. Now I finish a soup of hefty vegetables with a conscientious scoop of rich, fatty meat – enough to provide flavor and leave my belly quiet and content. 

This soup makes use of the storage foods of winter. I never peel my vegetables if I can help it, so the chopping doesn't take too long. My kids had three bowls of this soup so I'd consider it kid-friendly, a good way to squeeze in lots of vegetables. If you don't have access to smoke pork jowls, you can substitute pastured bacon, perhaps cutting the amount in half to keep it affordable. 

Also, please find real sour cream for this recipe. The container should list only two ingredients: cultures, and CREAM. Not "skim milk powder" or a long list of thickeners and stabilizers. If you can't find real sour cream you can make your own, or substitute whole milk yogurt.

Cream of Roots with Smoked Pork Jowls

1 onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 parsnips, chopped

1 celery root, peeled and chopped

1 turnip, diced

1 rutabaga, diced

1 russet potatoes, diced 

1 c. white wine

4-5 c. chicken broth (just enough to cover)

1 c. sour cream

8 oz. smoked pork jowls or pastured bacon 

handful of snipped chives, to garnish

Heat 2 T. butter and 2 T. olive oil over medium in the bottom of a large soup pot. Add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes, stirring regularly to prevent sticking.

Add the vegetables and pour in the wine. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook for about 5 minutes, until some of the wine has cooked off. Add the broth, just enough to barely cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil, then cover the pot, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, until the vegetables are fork-tender.

Meanwhile, fry the jowls over medium heat until crispy and brown. Pour off the fat (save it!) and drain the jowls on a paper towel. Chop into bite-size pieces.

Turn off the heat under the soup. Use an immersion blender or regular blender to process until mostly pureed. Return the pot to the stove and stir in the sour cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve in warm bowls, topped with chives and strips of pork jowl. Enjoy!

This recipe is shared at Real Food Forager.