Leave the beautiful region of Calabria and travel north to the much beloved Tuscany or Toscana and you’ll find biroldo or sanguinaccio – a traditional blood-based salumi.  Biroldo is a pork blood sausage and you’ll often find it infused with raisins, pine nuts and cinnamon or flavored with fennel (blood sausage is also referred to sanguinaccio in many part of […]

Grilled Fennel-Crusted Pork Chops Pork in the US used to be an awful affair.  That is to say, the meat was often tough and lacked the well marbled (and fatty) composition of pork found in Italy and France, for example.  Fast forward about 20 years and pork chop aficionados can find high quality chops (and other cuts of pork) with […]

(photo: diced up and waiting for the pan!) UPDATE: 4/2/10 Annelle Williams is the winner!  Contest is now closed! I’ve written on virtues of salumi, but to my surprise I haven’t waxed philosophically on sausage – that other ideal representation of the almighty pig. Italian Sausage, as it’s referenced in the States, is often grilled, used in stuffings, soups and […]

Given the recent news coverage surrounding the swine flu outbreak I thought a tasty pork recipe would be in order!  Now don’t get me wrong any flu that gets the World Health Organization’s level 4 pandemic alert should be taken seriously (wash your hands and run away from folks who cough incessantly), but I’m hoping folks do not stay away […]