What to do with ground pork?

[lulubelle]

I was so excited that the American Commissary had ground pork that I bought 3 pounds of it (Muslim country, pork is not easy to find) then I brought it home and realized that I don't really know what to do with it? Any ideas?

I have limited ingredients available, so think simple, but yummy.

Thanks,

lu

[cycloneillini]

Definitely meatballs. My Sicilian mother-in-law makes the best meatballs I have ever had, and she uses half ground beef and half ground pork. If she's lucky enough to find some ground veal she uses that too which makes them even better, but they are still wonderful with just the beef and the pork.

[edwinasam]

Pork meatballs with bacon, fresh mint and chipotle tomato sauce from Rick Bayless "Mexican Everyday."

[Demented]

Sausage.

[middydd]

Tourtieres or Pork Pie

http://www.recipesource.com/main-dish...

[kchurchill5]

What not to make. I use it quite often.

My favorites, many already mentioned so my apologies. Great ideas so far.

Meatballs are wonderful. I make a simple asian BBQ, by using either a standard BBQ sauce and adding to it or making from scratch. Great as an appetizer or over sesame noodles. Even regular spaghetti sauce it great.

I love to add some cheese, ricotta, a few herbs and stuff wontons and make ravioli. Serve with a marinara and it is wonderful.

I stuff pizza crust with some peppers, onions, mushrooms, cheese and make calzones.

Pork burgers are great with some onion, red pepper, seasoning and fresh herbs. Grill some onions and the end and serve with a spicy mayo (I like to add chili sauce to my mayo), lettuce tomato and serve on an onion roll and great.

Meatloaf of course, rathern than a tomato sauce I use a mix of brown sugar soy and honey to make a dark flavorful sauce.

Shepherds Pie, I'm not a huge fan but have made it with pork and I liked it much better than beef.

Tacos, quesadillas, burittos, etc....

And I make this crazy lasanga casserole, but with penne, and many of the traditional ingredients, but I do my twist with spinach, mushrooms and gruyere. All layered. It is a great flavor. It has a bechemel rather than a red sauce. Really good.

Last ... make some sausage patties. Add some fresh ingredients mix and freeze in small breakfast patties.

[lulubelle]

Thank you for so many great ideas everyone! I am thinking about making sausages as so many of you suggested, and also ravioli, since I just recently rediscovered my pasta maker!

Thanks again!

[Phoo_d]

I made a simple loose italian sausage following a recipe from the Paupered Chef that was really fantastic. We used the meat to make a slow cooked bolognese sauce that really turned out nicely. Since your meat is already ground you could just mix in the spices to create the italian sausage.
Here's the link for the sausage:
http://www.thepauperedchef.com/2009/02/fresh-italian-sausage-pizza.html
Here's the link for the bolognese:
http://www.phoo-d.com/2009/02/otbn-20...
Phoo-D

[Val]

Love the website! LOL "paupered chef"--very cute! Thanks phoo!

[bear]

Ants Climbing a Tree is a delicious, simple way to use ground pork. If you really can't get bean thread noodles, rice noodles or vermicelli would work in a pinch.

This recipe is pretty close to what I do. Maybe someone else with chime in with an authentic version.

http://sunflower-recipes.blogspot.com...

[novelgazer]

Third the call for making sausage -- I'm a big fan of the Homesick Texan's <a href="http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/200... sausage patty recipe</a>. Or use that sausage (or some other loose sausage recipe) to make a bread stuffing for a chicken, or to roll in another cut of meat or something.

[sarah galvin]

Make Vietnamese spring rolls. They can be rolled and frozen, to be cooked after defrosting, if you like.

[MrsCheese]

I always make my meatloaf with 1 lb ground pork and 1 lb ground beef if you happen to have any ground beef on hand. When we get ground pork from our CSA I always use it in meatloaf or meatballs.

[Jane917]

won tons
potstickers
meat loaf
meat balls
larb

[Val]

If you like tofu, ma po tofu is just fabulous...it doesn't use a lot of ground pork, though...only 1/4 pound. Ground turkey can be subbed for the ground pork. If you need a recipe...there a many on this board or I'll give you the one I use posted by Mabziegurl here a few years ago.

[coastie]

yu shiang pork with or without eggplant...or when I make some meatballs I use 1/3 pork. Everyone is rt on with the potstickers , dumplings - stuffed cabbage, peppers etc. Especially like the 1st post - I make a lot of fresh sausage and its so much better.

[mrbigshotno.1]

Dirty rice!

[alkapal]

pork and shrimp dumplings/potstickers

thai "larb" -- ground pork with garlic, lime, chilies. http://www.thai-food.com/recipes/lahb_gai.html

spaghetti sauce, adding fresh ground fennel seed, crushed tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, onions, maybe some sauteed eggplant.

some variant of an east european dish, sauteed with onions, adding smoked paprika, some cayenne, then off the heat, stir in sour cream, and serve over egg noodles.

my mom's sauerkraut and "porcupine meatballs" recipe: http://www.chow.com/recipes/13527?tag...

[Kagey]

I was going to suggest the Thai Larb dish too. Or a more improvised version where you saute some sliced garlic and chili, then add the pork and some fish sauce, then when cooked sprinkle with cilantro, mint, and/or Thai basil and spritz with lime. Serve with lettuce leaves to wrap. Yum.

[alkapal]

larb is so refreshing -- and is really easy to make. for the quickie version, i don't necessarily do the toasted ground rice.

[grandgourmand]

Potstickers are great. Mix in some chopped shrimp, cabbage, etc.

[atheorist]

Can you get any stuffable vegetables? Cabbage? Peppers? Squash?
Soften chopped onion if you can get it. Add the meat and cook it, season with what have you. Stuff the vegetable and bake.

[Orchid64]

Tex-Mex dishes, like burritos, that are commonly made with ground beef are even better with pork.

You can also make pot stickers (gyoza) with it or a variety of Asian pork recipes.

[mcsheridan]

Oh, yeah! Potstickers! And those could be frozen as well, to satisfy pork cravings for some weeks beyond purchase.

[Gio]

If you have garlic, ginger and a cooking oil like peanut or olive you could do a simple stir fry with assorted sliced vegetables, plus a few chiles and some of the minced pork. Fry in stages then add some soy sauce and rice vinegar at the end and some kind of thickener to make whatever sauce in the pan less soupy. You can substitute and play around with different spices. Serve over rice.

Some other things that come to mind are meat loaf, tomato and meat sauce for macaroni, cabbage rolls, burritos, chili

[hill food]

yeah, I was thinking a Thai-ish stir fry with basil over rice or rice noodle. (add the basil at the very last moment if you can get it,

[JoanN]

I haven't tried them, but people who have rave about the Grilled Pork Burgers from "Sunday Suppers at Lucques." You might have to substitute for, or just leave out, some of the ingredients such as chorizo. But I'll bet they'd still be good.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/rec...

[MMRuth]

Yes - they are fantastic. Someone else also made them into meat balls.

[newfoodie]

Old thread, but I finally made these burgers last night. Absolutely delicious and well worth my effort. I think next time I will also make the romanesco and aioli to complete them.

On a related note, I have to say how much I enjoy reading the old COTM threads. Even when I get into a book two years late, I still enjoy going back to see what recipes other people have really enjoyed!

[mcsheridan]

If you have a freezer available, make sausages and extend the bounty.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/din...

(You may get stalled at an ad when using this link; just refresh/reload and you'll get to the recipe.)

[chef chicklet]

Chinese Lions head soup, takes advantage of a lot of pork, the meatballs can be larger than usuall. It's a braised pork meatball and cabbage dish.

You could make Lumpia or Egg rolls, and save half for something else.
Or make sweet and sour meat balls. Ground pork, jis ust about the best thing there is.