Give Me Some Food

I served raw pork!

No, this wasn’t a bad dream, this was a dinner, here, last night, in my apartment, with my husband, his best friend from high school and his wife. Thank God this wasn’t the first time I’ve cooked for them.

Pork! You scornful lover- didn’t I nicely season you and serve you with sautéed apples and a pomegranate dressing? Didn’t I show my love?

I know what you are thinking out there.

Why didn’t you just get a read on your meat thermometer?

I don’t have one.

I know, I know, but when you have a husband that likes everything raw, a meat thermometer just seems like a luxury that my small kitchen can’t hold. I know they take up no space. Ok- I have no excuse. My name is Kristen, I serve raw pork and I have no excuse.

To my defense, when serving individual cuts of meat, I always cut one open in the middle and see what’s going on inside. Then I serve that one to myself because it has become ugly. The chop I cut in half had a touch of pink and looked perfect. Time for dinner. Well at least for Aaron, Felix and myself.

When Christian cut her pork chop open, it was raw. Raw. She was really polite and said she just liked her meat “overdone” and could I put it in for a few more minutes- but this thing looked like I had only seared it. So I cooked it about 10 more minutes thus increasing this chop’s cooking time by about 1/3. The other chops were pretty good. I didn’t understand what this maverick chop was doing trying to be lame and uncooked. I was pretty embarrassed. I think I need a support group.

What’s even worse is that Aaron has worked at Manresa in Los Gatos. Yes the Manresa that has been getting so much press lately for being one of the best restaurants in the world. That’s the one. The meal we had there about a year ago was among the top five of my life. Aaron knows so much about food.  I bet he even knows how to not serve pork raw.

So what’s the lesson in all of this? Have a fabulous dessert. Seriously. If you end on a good note all will be forgiven. At least that’s what I’m telling myself. I’ll post the recipe for this fabulous dessert tomorrow.

Oh, yeah, the other lesson will manifest itself today when I buy a flippin meat thermometer.