Rosey and I have been friends since we met at UMO in the late seventies. Last weekend, her sisters and I met in South Thomaston, as Lynda’s husband Joe had flown to Florida to play some baseball. Lynda and Joe live in a house on Patten Point that is warm with pine, rich with art, and has generous windows that frame the sea and islands. We all arrived late on Saturday, just ahead of the storm; Rosey and Kathie from Rhode Island, Chrissy from Lamoine, and I from New Gloucester. Our grocery bags foretold a weekend of feasting, merriment, and cheer.
From the kitchen we could see Lynda through the French doors in her study, on the phone in front of her monitor as we began unloading bags, locating a corkscrew, and slicing crescents of lime. Ten minutes later and Lynda was still on the phone, occasionally gesturing apologetically to us. When she joined us, we learned why.
Joe is a gravedigger, and cemetery overseer for South Thomaston. Just prior to our arrival, Lynda had received a call from Hutch, the local funeral director, saying that Joe had to dig a grave for Andrew Wyeth, who had died the day before, January 16, in Pennsylvania. He was coming home to Maine to be buried. Therefore, Lynda had been arranging flights; Florida to Portland wasn’t too bad, Portland to Owl’s Head a bit more complicated. But she did it, and reunited; we gathered around the island and commenced to kick off the long weekend.
There was an array of food that sustained us through the storm that left up to 20 inches on much of Maine. We began with several pounds of salmon pink Maine shrimp, right off the boat, which we dipped in a blend of white vinegar and melted butter. Seeded crackers were drawn through garlic hummus, and then we ventured to town for crisp wood-fired brick oven pizzas. The next night Rosey made dumplings with three dipping sauces (ginger, one with orange and garlic, and one hot and spicy) and a vegetable lo-Mein. For lunch we delved into a cast iron Dutch oven full of out of this world Pulled Pork, the recipe of which follows. Serve on any time of bread or sandwich buns.
————————————-
Ro’s Pulled Pork
3 tablespoons canola oil
4 lbs. boneless pork shoulder
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 cup cider vinegar
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup molasses
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon Worchestire sauce
1 teaspoon dried mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Heat oil in large cast iron pan or casserole and sear all sides of the pork.
Transfer meat to Dutch oven or crock pot. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of fat, and add onion, cooking until golden. Add vinegar and stir, scraping pork bits off bottom. Add remaining ingredients, stir to combine and heat until it bubbles. Pour over the pork in the crock pot and cook high 4-5 hours or 8-10 hours over low heat. If using a cast iron Dutch oven, low and slow is the key – 225 degrees for about 5 or 6 hours.
Pull the pork apart and give a nod to the memory of America’s most revered realist painter, Andrew Wyeth. He is now a part of Christina’s World, as he rests at the edge of the field at the Olsen house, next to Christina and her brother Elvira.