Recipes

If you are a fan of the F-Word, you know your Berkshire pork from Gordan Ramsay's infamous backyard Berkshire's, Trinny and Susannah.  The flavor and texture of Berkshire pork sets it apart from other breeds. It has a distinctive, rich, buttery taste with unparalleled juiciness, tenderness and depth of flavor. When you cut into Berkshire pork you see dark red, rich color with exquisite intramuscular marbling. As you know, here at the Sporting Road château, we only post these recipes for our family and friends.  We aren't advertising, selling anything or have any ulterior motive other than posting the best recipes we have found in our travels along the Sporting Road throughout the word.  Our pork belly commodity trader friend, Steven Wiskow, was so excited about his new Tender Belly pork products that he gave some to us to try here at the château.  As I turn down making money from this site, as any gentleman should, and since the author remains anonymous, we'd tell you if they suck, as we only feature the best recipes here for our family and friends.  But, as it turns out, this Berkshire pork doesn't suck, in fact you can't find any better pork, anywhere. Tender Belly writes: We work in partnership with a co-op of 30 Iowa farmers (all small, family-owned farms) to supply us with the finest meats available. The methods used to procure the meats are environmentally responsible and fully traceable with strict codes of responsibility and humane animal husbandry in effect. The animals are naturally raised and humanely processed locally. The animals are fed a 100% vegetarian diet, with no rendered animal byproducts, no antibiotics and no hormones. Our product is the first cut at

If you think that cooking bacon in the microwave is a bit déclassé, as we did, try it for yourself.  We picked up this technique from Jacques Pepin who writes, "I learned how to cook bacon in the microwave oven from my wife and I now never cook it any other way.  It's easy and crisps the bacon uniformly." While you can use a bacon microwave tray which have been around for some time now, we find them unnecessary and they still have the tendency to splatter.  We find that two paper towels on a plate, laying the bacon side-by-side and two more paper towels on top of the bacon work just as well as the specialized tray, and it avoids any splattering.  Cook on high for 4 minutes, then do 30 second intervals, until it is as crisp you like it. If you are not using the best bacon on the planet, Tender Belly Bacon, you can also brush the top of the bacon with maple syrup or honey to impart a delicious taste.  If you have some Tender Belly, nothing else is needed as it already has their special seasonings and mojo added to these special tender belly bacon cuts.  Bon appetit! Tender Belly writes, "Truly great bacon is the most honored legacy of a glorious tender belly! The heritage pigs we use for our bacon are from Iowa and are naturally grown: NO antibiotics, NO hormones, NO gestation or farrowing crates and they’re fed a 100% vegetarian diet. With their exceptional meat to fat ratio they are the perfect belly. Our signature maple and spice rub is applied, the bellies are dry cured and then cherrywood-smoked to perfection. We spared no expense with ingredients, process

For an interesting article on the tradition of Saint Valentine's Day (there are actually three such saints and the legends are old and varied) visit http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day.  After sending your loved ones a handwritten card and bringing them some flowers, how about serving them a meal at home.  At the château, we serve this Valentine's Day favorite five-course French meal: Steamed Crab Legs Salade Cheese Fondue Steamed Lobster Brussels Sprouts Chocolate Fondue Café and Brandies