By Julie Murphree, Arizona Pork Council Representative
We cure, grill, oven roast, indoor or outdoor rotisserie, pan sauté, stir-fry, braise and slow cook pork. Did I forget anything?
So, in a word pork is an incredibly versatile protein meat. The variety of recipes you can find doubly verify that pork is an excellent meat to cook with that offer a versatile line up of menu items.
Arizona Pork Council and the National Pork Board recently investigated Arizona families’ top choices in pork dishes they either like to cook or order.
Drum roll, please. Here are Arizona’s top pork choices for the 2021 season.
- Pork Chimichangas (slow cooked pork for the Chimi)
- Sweet and sour pork (stir fry)
- Sonoran Hot Dog (cured and grilled)
The Sonoran hot dog, according to Wikipedia, is a style of hot dog that originated in Hermosillo, the capital of the Mexican state of Sonora, in the late 1980s. Tucson, Phoenix and elsewhere in southern Arizona have made this special hot dog a serious food item in our state. It consists of a hot dog that is wrapped in bacon and grilled, served on a savory-style hot dog bun, and topped with pinto beans, onions, tomatoes, and a variety of additional condiments, often including mayonnaise, mustard, and jalapeño salsa. Of course, we in Arizona have our favorite restaurants where we can get one.
So, in Arizona as elsewhere, pork is seriously versatile. And another treat to recognize in Arizona is that we are quite culturally diverse with our pork. We celebrate it all!