found some pork fat (and a good burrito)
On our way to a used car lot in New Bedford last Saturday, we passed a small Portuguese market with a sign out front which said "Fresh Meat Daily" at the bottom. What happened next went by quickly but with the protracted clarity which so often accompanies life's more exciting moments.
engage turn signal
apply brakes and steer out of traffic
bring vehicle to a stop along the curb
apply e-brake
lock car
enter store

Inside the market is a jumble of various off-beat pantry items, wines and kitchen wares arranged over two or three aisles. I have found that just such a diverse huddle of food-stuffs, pots and pans and occasionally movies is the hallmark of any small grocery serving a community of people who can not find what they want at Stop & Shop or Walmart.

In the rear is the meat counter with typical offerings in the case: steaks, slab bacon, cleaned guinea hen etc. Hanging behind the counter are coils of 3 different sausages. The butcher is a handsome guy, still on the fair side of 40, a little unusual for a butcher. He says hello and asks what we're looking for. I pause and then for the schfourteen-teenth time in the past few months, the question "Do you have any pork fat?" passes my lips.

I have asked this question of every meat department in every grocery store that I've been in here on the Cape: Roche Brothers, Family Foods, Windfall Market, Guido's Country Market in addition to numerous Stop & Shop and Shaws. With the exception of Guido's, the answer is always a confused look which leads to some further explanation ("I'm looking for raw pork fat, like suet, but from a pig not a cow") which then leads to a tentative search through the meat case, often ending with the meat jockey handing me some salt pork. "Close but no CIGAR!!" I yell as I kick the man in the shin and strike him over the head with the salt pork. "While this is technically raw, as in 'not cooked'", I explain to the now prostrate pork purveyor, "it is indeed cured with salt. If I asked for raw salmon you wouldn't hand me gravlax would you!?"

To his immense credit, Guido knew what I was talking about and said he could get it with some prior notice. He then went on to explain to me that nobody buys primal cuts anymore. It's become common practice these days for markets (including his) to order cuts of meat that are already fully trimmed. It cuts down on waste in the shop and allows the bigger markets to hire less skilled folks to man the meat counter. Nice guy, Guido.

No such issue with the guy here in New Bedford near the used car lot. Eric (as it turns out) knew exactly what I was looking for but didn't have any, so sorry. He seemed confused that I'd be looking for it so I explained that I make sausage at home and can't find any in the regular supermarkets. At this point he grabbed a slab of ribs which had a fair bit of fat around the edges (the cut was untrimmed you see) and asked if something like that would work for me. I said it would and he set to work raiding the pork in his case, trimming off strips of fat. As he was getting started he asked if I wanted any skin included. What an awesome question.

While he was working I asked about the sausages hanging behind the counter. They are linguica (mild) and chorizo (hot), made fresh in the store. There's a purply looking one in the middle of those two which Eric says is made with internal organs. "Some people like it." he says with an incredulous look. While he worked we talked about pork, pork fat, making sausage, Jaun Cole's recent article in American Prospect and the dangers of getting involved in a land war in Asia. When all is said and done I have 6 pounds of pork fat in a bag ($0.99/lb) and a hank of chorizo. Thanks to a little memory jog from Reen, I tell Eric "Obrigado", which is met with a surprised and grateful smile as he says "You're welcome."

This is just the type of place I'd love to have close by to home, but at least I've found one that's not too far away. Now I've just got to use up the fat so I can have an excuse to go back there.

Oh yeah. We also found a cool little burrito joint called No Problemo downtown near the whaling museum. Good mexican food is about as rare on the cape as a good butcher so it was a special treat to have lunch there.