Hog futures fell, capping the biggest weekly loss in three years

Hogs Post Biggest Weekly Drop in Three Years; Cattle Decline
2009-07-24 19:29:06.238 GMT


By Whitney McFerron
July 24 (Bloomberg) -- Hog futures fell, capping the biggest weekly loss in three years, on signs that favorable U.S.
weather is allowing animals to gain more weight, boosting prospects for pork supplies. Cattle also declined.
U.S. hog carcasses weighed an average 201 pounds (91
kilograms) yesterday, 2.6 percent more than a year earlier, Department of Agriculture data show. Unusually low temperatures in the Midwest this summer prevented heat stress, which usually causes hogs to lose weight, said Lawrence Kane, a market adviser at Stewart-Peterson Group in Elmwood, Illinois.
“We’re adding a tremendous amount of pork,” Kane said.
“The cool summer is making some very rapid efficiency gains,”
and slaughter rates are declining because of slackening meat demand, he said.
Hog futures for October settlement fell 1.825 cents, or 3.2 percent, to 54.575 cents a pound on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Earlier, the price touched 54.2 cents, the lowest for a most-active contract since Nov. 5.
The global recession and the outbreak of swine flu in late April have eroded pork consumption. This week, futures tumbled
9.9 percent, the most since July 2006. About 578.8 million pounds of pork were in cold-storage warehouses on June 30, up
9.2 percent from a year earlier, the USDA said July 22.
Temperatures in Iowa, the largest hog-producing state, averaged 7.6 degrees Fahrenheit below normal last week, the USDA said in a July 20 report. The July 13 to July 19 period was the state’s coolest on record, the agency said.

Got too many tomatoes? Add some bacon and make jam

Associated Press

Nothing says jam has to taste fruity. This sweet-and-savory tomato jam is spiked with smoked bacon, making it the perfect condiment for a grilled cheese. It also adds spunk to tuna salad and has just the right tangy flavor for burgers.

If you prefer a peppery kick, up the ground black pepper or add finely diced jalapeno peppers.
This jam will keep in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. The best bet is to refrigerate a small amount for immediate use, then divide the rest into small canning jars and freeze. It will keep for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
———
BACON AND TOMATO JAM
Start to finish: 2 hours (15 minutes active)
Makes 1 pint (sixteen 2-tablespoon servings)
1/2 pound smoked bacon
2 pounds very ripe tomatoes, cored and chopped
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
In a large skillet over medium-high, cook the bacon until crispy, about 5 minutes. Transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain excess fat, blotting it dry with additional towels as needed.
In a large saucepan, combine the tomatoes, onion, sugar, cider vinegar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, stirring often, then reduce heat to medium. Crumble the bacon into the tomato mixture.
Simmer until very thick, about 1 hour. Season with salt and pepper, as needed.
Let the jam cool, then ladle into jars. Can be refrigerated for 3 to 4 days, or frozen for up to 2 months. If freezing, divide the jam among several small jars. When ready to use, let a jar thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Nutrition information per 2-tablespoon serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 58 calories; 27 calories from fat; 3 g fat (1 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 7 mg cholesterol; 6 g carbohydrate; 2 g protein; 0 g fiber; 266 mg sodium.

First Ribs on My New Smoker

"Hong Kong Style" Pork Chops

We went to House of Fortune, Chinatown in Chicago. After having the perfectly fried Spring Rolls- two of them for 2.95, they were filled with Shrimp and Chicken-- I wanted to try just about everything on the menu. I decided to go with the only Pork dish on the menu that had a little "hot pepper" icon next to it. What I got was Hong Kong Style Pork chops, which I had never had. This is deep friend pork chops with some wonderful Chinese spices, and jalapeno's. I didn't even come close to eating the entire thing. Leftovers, I sliced it up, threw it on a pretzel roll, A++. Non-pork note, the hot and sour soup at this place was great, and it had about 8 pieces of baby shrimp, which we had never experienced in hot and sour soup. And the orange chicken, also fried- wonderful.

Billy Bob's Beach Barbecue - Gulf Breeze, FL

We drove right past this joint numerous times over many years on our way to Pensacola Beach, FL before we finally decided to stop and check it out. It is now one of our favorite must dos when we are down there.

Billy Bob’s certainly doesn’t look like your typical BBQ joint as it is a stucco-looking structure painted a blue-green teal color. The walls are decorated with a combination of pictures of their menu items and local photos, including a handful of the Navy Blue Angels which are homebased at NAS Pensacola.

Their BBQ is "Carolina Style" and includes pork, chicken, beef, brisket, sausage, and turkey. The expansive menu also includes salads, ribs, "taters", "dawgs", burgers and on the weekends, Prime Rib at market price. We always order the #1 Family Pack which includes 1 lb of pork, 1 pint side, 8 buns and all the sauce you want. We also add one additional side. We can make four fat sandwiches out of this. The pork is very lean. Not very smoky but still with great flavor. The baked beans, sweet and sour coleslaw and sweet potato fries are the best. The meat comes sauceless but they take their sauces seriously. The 3 different homemade varieties to choose from include a super hot one, a mild sauce and vinegar based sauce. I prefer a combination of the vinegar and the mild red one.

If you find yourself on the far west end of the Florida panhandle, this place is definitely a good stop for a BBQ fix. Apparently thy are now offering franchises in FL, GA and AL. I will be interested to see how that works out.

Follow up: Spareribs or spared pig?

Spareribs or spared pig: Will she be bacon?
Pig activists say a thousand swines no!

By Sara Gregory

LITTLE ROCK — The great pig escape is now the great pig debate.
Two weeks after walking away from her overturned ride to the meat packer and just over a week after wandering into a Pulaski County swimming pool and a shot at freedom, an 800-pound sow is now at the hub of a life-and death dispute: Though bred for the breakfast table (or the grill), should she, instead, have a home - somewhere other than the freezer?
The sow was part of a load of hogs traveling from Nebraska to a Little Rock processing plant that spilled onto Interstate 430 on June 22 when the truck overturned.

Neely's in Nashville

The 4th of July would be incomplete without bbq. I was in Nashville visiting some friends and we all went to Neely's for a delicious lunch. Dr. Clovenhoof has been to one of the Neely's in Memphis but the Nashville location has to be just as good. I got a rib plate with potato salad and baked beans. The ribs were tender and had a good amount of rub on them. I prefered the hot bbq sauce to the regular sauce on my ribs. The rub and the regular sauces had a hefty dose of spices and brown sugar and were delicious. The potato salad is some of the best I've ever had. It was tradional style but done to perfection. The beans also had a great brown sugar taste. I had some samples of other plates and the pulled pork bbq sandwich was outstanding. The brisket was good but not as good as the pork products we consumed. You might think that Neely's would be overhyped because of the family's recent tv show but the Nashville location did not let me down.

Jerry's Shade Tree BBQ Hot Springs, Ark

I had to stop at Jerry's Shade Tree BBQ in Hot Springs this morning. Some may say that 10am is too early for Que, but I disagree. Jerry had it rolling. We got a pulled pork sandwich and a couple of ribs. Both were excellent. Very smoky and flavored just right. He cooks on a couple of wood smokers behind the stand. No gas or electric smokers here on the roadside. The ribs were charred nicely on the outside and were good enough to eat without sauce like ribs are supposed to be. The sandwich was served in traditional Memphis style with coleslaw sauce and he added some kind of dry spice which was great. I usually include the weblink to sites, but this place just has a phone number. 501-951-2394. I give this place 4.5 out of 5 slabs. Great ambiance in a road side stand and great food. It is near the intersection of HWY 70 and HWY 290>

Taste of Chicago

Just got back from the Taste of Chicago.
http://www.explorechicago.org/city/en/things_see_do/event_landing/special_events/mose/taste_of_chicago.html

We did a quick run down there, were not quite in the mood to hang out with 40,000 people.
Ate at Sweet Baby Rays, I had the boneless pork rib, the little lady had the pulled pork sandwich, they were both delicious, and the Budweiser (ie Bud Heavy) was a perfect compliment to wash down the meal.

The World's Most Expensive Ham

http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/expensive215.html

An 8 pound ham can be yours for just $2000. It's no coincidence that ham in Spanish is Jam-on.