Days of pork

Happy New Year all!

I saw in the dawn of 2009 in a converted barn in the middle of nowhere (also known as Wales) without internet connection or phone reception, but with thousands of stars blinking down from a clear, light pollution-free sky, warmed by an open (well, enclosed in a metal in, but that's not so poetical) fire, a sense of peace and calm and some lovely people. After I had done first-footing, we raised a glass or two, bade farewell to the old year and looked forward to the new. We discussed our ambitions for the 12 months ahead, and a real sense of optimism filled the room, and our hearts.

The first cloud of the year appeared on the horizon at around half an hour in. Having paid my first visit to the little boy's room, I passed the table on which our New Year's Eve buffet had been laid out and stopped dead. There, taunting me, was the gorgeous beef we had had. And which I no longer could...

You see, my first meat of the year was to be pork. Pig products seemed the best idea for week one, as there are so many of them, which, I felt, meant that I wouldn't get bored of just eating the same thing for a week. So, bacon, pork chops, pork joint, gammon, ham, brawn, trotters, all that kind of thing, would be fine, but the sumptuous bit of beef I'd had but a few hours before, was off limits. I couldn't even pick at the little cocktail sausages, as they had turkey in, apparently.

Thankfully, New Year's Day lunch had been taken care of, with an excellent joint of pork expertly cooked by Ben, with all the trimmings. I couldn't have asked for a much better way to start.

Since then, I've eaten pork products. The problem with these early parts of the blog is that I'm going to be having the more usual meats, just so that I can have them for the rest of the year. So, pork, beef, chicken and lamb, then, for the first month, which will lead to some fairly dull entries, as everyone knows what these things taste like, and how to cook them. It's when we move on to the more exotic things that life, and these pages, will get more interesting. So, for now, I'll just fill in some of the blanks on some other interesting things that have happened...

Firstly, I received a card from Mandoran, or Norwegian Jonathon as I call him in my head, outlining some ideas from his homeland for later meals. Now, for some reason, nearly all Scandinavian fish dishes sound like they'll be distinctly horrible, and these are no different. Herring with banana, cream and mayo sounds ok, if a little unusual, but then it gets really weird. Rakfisk (fermented fish, buried to rot) sounds particularly appetising, although not quite as good as Rakhai, which is fermented shark, apparently pissed on, and then buried to rot. Yum. And that's before we even get to dung-smoked fish... Still, I'll try to have a go at at least one or two of them.

I had also been sent another card from Emily in the US, with acrab cake recipe on the back. I will be making these at some point in the year, and I'll let you know how they turn out.

And finally, I discovered I had become a trend-setter. Mr Timothy Kennington got in touch to ask if he and his friend could do the same thing as me. Although they are having fewer rules, mainly because of the constraints of them being able to meet up to have a different meat every week, they are still going for the 52 meats in the year, and it makes me very pleased to know that I have given people ideas. Their exploits will be outlined at the website www.subsphere.co.uk, which is currently being updated for the challenge. I urge you all to visit and have a look, as I'm sure it will be a valuable resource for all devoted carnivores.

So there you go, my first entry of the year. I'm sorry it's not more interesting, but such is the nature of the (very tasty) beast, this early into the challenge.

Stay meaty.