thecoocoocook

I love slow recipes. I love how it pays off to take a breath, to be patient, to coddle and nudge instead of rush and push. It’s so unlike me. I’m like the roadrunner in the cartoon, only way fatter, not blue and a shitload less chirpy. I am ALWAYS late, running from client to client and pillar to post wondering where the time went. Even when I stop running and lie down I can’t slow down. As a kid I’d move my fingers, endlessly playing my piano pieces. As a grownup I still move my fingers, only now I’m endlessly typing. (If the world were fair my fingers would be still and my stomach muscles would be doing crunches – who needs thin fingers right?)

Perhaps it’s because I’m so hyped, so damn late, that my patience is so thin, my irritation so high. Dawdlers drive me crazy. Sunday drivers drive me ballistic. People who walk behind my car when I’m clearly reversing enrage me. Pedestrians who take their time to cross the street infuriate me. At night I lay in bed moving my fingers, imagining sticking them in the eyes of the asshole that came to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk today while his lizard brain tried to remember if he wanted to go left or right.

But with food I’m a different person. I slow things down. Take them down a notch. Turn down the heat. Throw away the timer and take out the calender. Because with food you are rewarded for that patience. Subtle flavours develop and grow and tough meat becomes succulent and tender. The pork in this dish, gently cooking away for 8 hours, is so tender they call it Pulled Pork, because you can pull it apart so easily.

Now if only I could slow cook myself. Become Pulled June. Instead of Panicked June. Learn to pause. And breathe. And practice slowing down.

Now hurry up and get out of my way already so I can start working on it dammit!

xx
J

PULLED PORK WITH TORTILLAS, THREE SALSAS, YOGHURT AND LIME

You can find this recipe at http://thecoocoocook.blogspot.com xx