Route 1: Italian-American Duplicity in Roots

Preface

Italian American Looking Man — “Kids in da Back” — AI Generated

Sometimes, it makes sense to start an ambitious project and then let it sit for a fair of amount of time, to cure, to mature. The process makes me think about what happens when roasting a picnic pork shoulder, a butcher’s cut that needs extra tender loving care when being prepared. Working with the shoulder cut can be tricky. The muscle is smaller, and at the same time, leaner and tougher, almost stringy. The cut itself is different from the meat sourced from hind legs, the area that corresponds to the ham, or the prosciutto cut as we would call it in Italy. This larger cut yields a roast that is easier, faster to cook, and is overall more tender. The shoulder cut instead requires extra cooking time, with modulated levels of heat, to ultimately create a perfect meal full of flavor, and the right level of crispness.

[Author’s Note: This is a live project, subject to frequent updates. Bookmark this page to follow its evolution from draft to finished product. See table of contents below for full set of chapters, all in draft state]

Now, while these first few words might sound like a preface to a carnivore's dream cookbook, it is not. Instead, this project of mine, an experiment in creative writing, this short book benefit from concentrated spurts of writing, of deep creative work, of memory recollection and…