National Pulled Pork Day

Thogru / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

October 12th is National Pulled Pork Day in the United States.

This dish is an American barbecue dish at its base, associated with the American South. It can be slow-smoked over wood, normally outside, but it is most commonly cooked inside using a slow cooker. It is a very simple dish; the pork is slowly cooked until it starts to fall apart, then manually shredded, often just by pulling it apart with a fork. For the pork to reach the proper stage for "pulling" it must be cooked at the correct temperature range. Though a simple dish, it is also time consuming, as the cooking process requires hours. Once cooked, pulled pork is often used with a sauce. It is sometimes eaten on its own, but it is also used as an ingredient in other dishes; as sandwich filling, for example, or as a topping on burgers or hot dogs.

National Crown Roast of Pork Day

March 7th is National Crown Roast of Pork Day in the United States.

The crown roast is a dish made from the ribs of the animal in question, so in this case it's pork. The ribs are cut into several pieces, and then tied in a circle, with the ribs vertical. With the ends of the ribs all pointing upwards, and the circular appearance of the dish, it resembles a crown, hence the name. The ends of the ribs may be decorated; sometimes with little paper crowns, but apples are also used, as pork is often accompanied with applesauce. The space inside the ribs is also often filled, with stuffing being a traditional choice here. Whilst the actual cut of ribs may be called a rack, a rack itself is not a crown roast, although it can be served as-is. To make a crown roast will often require more than one rack of ribs; the actual size really depends on how large a crown roast is being made.

The dish uses up quite a substantial amount of pork in its preparation - although the exact amount does depend on how large a crown roast is being made - so it's definitely not suitable for just one person. It would also be unlikely to be cooked as an everyday meal, both due to the amount of pork, the preparation and the cooking time, so it would be most commonly seen on special occasions. It is possible to prepare the ribs into a crown roast yourself, but it's certainly easier to buy one that's already assembled.

National Pork Month

October is National Pork Month in the United States.

The pig is one of the oldest domesticated animals, dating back to at least 5000 BC, and pork is the name given to the meat from this animal. The pig is believed to have been domesticated from the wild boar in either the Near East or China. Wild boar, a wild version of the domesticated animal, can still be found.

Pork itself is one of the most popular and widely consumed meats in the world; however, there are a significant number of people who are prohibited from consuming it for religious reasons.

There are various different meats that are commonly consumed, such as loin, ham, gammon and bacon, as well as pork chops and loins. Pork is often preserved, and ham, gammon and bacon are all examples of preserved pork. Additionally, pork is also used as a base meat in other products, most notably sausages.

National Roast Suckling Pig Day

National Roast Suckling Pig Day is on December 18th in the US.

Now, this is a dish that seems very medieval, and it really isn't one that is suitable, or even possible, to cook in most homes. It's also much older than medieval, dating back many centuries prior to that, and it may even be older still, given that the pig was one of the earliest domesticated animals.

A suckling pig refers to very young pig slaughtered for food. This would then usually be roasted whole, perhaps on a spit - which is certainly out of the question in most ovens, but possible in restaurants and outdoor dining, say with a barbecue pit.

It is still cooked in many cuisines. After the suckling pig is roasted, it is also quite often served whole at a table, where bits are then carved off, or alternatively slices could be cut from the spitted pig itself, if outside. It isn't usually served as a smaller dish, because then it would be hard to tell that it was a suckling pig.

Needless to say, this isn't a dish that is popular with some people.

National Scrapple Day

November 9th is National Scrapple Day in the United States.

What is scrapple? It's likely that many have never heard of this dish. It sounds like it contains apples, but this isn't true, as the dish is derived from scraps of meat - pork - left over after the carcass was butchered.

Scrapple is an American dish, but it has its origins in other dishes going all the way back to Roman times. The first scrapple recipes are believed to have been created by German colonists to the Americas in the 17th and 18th centuries who settled in Pennsylvania, with that state and the surrounding being where the dish is most well known. It is also strongly associated with the Pennsylvania Dutch and the Amish.

The dish is made from pork scraps which are then combined with flour, cornmeal and spices and formed into a loaf shape. This loaf is then sliced, and the slices are fried before eating.

Scarpple is a dish that was intended to make sure nothing of the pig was wasted. The pork used in it would not have been used in anything else.