Pork

A spiedo is a kitchen spit over an open fire that is most often used for cooking whole animals, particularly chicken. Spiedino—;literally "little spit"—refers to food cooked on skewers, which is how we like to prepare pork loin. Grilled briefly over a smoky fire, the meat takes on an addictive char that counterbalances the sweet, mellow soffritto of pine nuts, garlic, and currants.

Unlike most braises, these ribs aren't browned before they're simmered. The long, slow simmer tenderizes the meat, and the ribs get their brown, shiny exterior from a soy and brown sugar marinade. The ideal drink pairing? Ice-cold Thai beer.

Southern-style pecan rice and an escarole salad are great accompaniments.

If you can't secure any Big Island wild boar, use some free-range pork instead. If you've got the time, try to order a boar shoulder from Texas-based Broken Arrow Ranch—a favorite of chefs like dean Fearing—or send for a full-flavored heirloom pig breed like Berkshire or Red Wattle from heritage Foods USA (brokenarrowranch.com and heritagefoodsusa.com).

Home turf: New Mexico
Local flavor: Southwestern-style chili is all about the chiles (with an "e"), as in this pillar of regional cooking, chile verde. The chiles are green and mild (New Mexico's famous hatch chiles are perfect), and the meat is pork. Tangy tomatillos balance the chiles and coat the slow-cooked pork. To up the regional cred, serve it "Christmas" style—with a combo of green and red chiles.
Make it a meal: Serve with warm corn tortillas, avocado and spinach salad with honey-lime vinaigrette, and a dark beer like Negra Modelo (Mexico, $8 per six-pack). If you can find it, use dried Mexican oregano in this recipe. It has a smoky flavor that dried Mediterranean oregano doesn't have. Look for it at Latin markets.

The meat for these “shepherd’s” tacos is commonly seen roasting on vertical spits displayed with pride on street stands throughout Mexico. The spits are usually topped with a pineapple, which is thinly sliced and served in the tacos. This method of cooking meat is identical to that used for the spit-roasted lamb (shawarma) brought to Puebla, Mexico, by Lebanese immigrants in the 1930s. The technique was copied by the Mexican taqueros (taco masters), who substituted pork for lamb. The original stand for tacos al pastor still exists in Puebla, with vertical spits of pork still revolving in front of its huge wood-burning hearth. This recipe makes two dozen tacos to serve 8 persons with big appetites, or more as part of a taco party platter. Note that the pork must marinate overnight before cooking.

The slight sweetness delivered by the cream in this sauce complements the sweetness of the pork loin, a characteristic intensified by roasting. The mustard in the sauce offers just the right balance of tartness. Accompany the pork loin with sautéed apples and roasted potatoes.

For the best texture, don't overwork the meat mixture and use Parmesan that's ground to a fine powder ( use the processor or the rasp side of a box grater). For more heat, add 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper to the sauce.

This terrific dish is made in one large deep skillet. A sweet-spicy broth infuses the meat and the veggies with rich flavor. Ask your butcher to cut the ribs for you.

This Italian spot in the city's Germantown neighborhood is known for its house-made salami and mozzarella. And because this is the South, these folks know their pork. The rich, Italian-inspired pork terrine with the southern-style sweet-tart green tomato sauce is a delicious blending of what this restaurant does best. Timing note: The conserva needs to chill overnight.

Nduja, a spicy spreadable salami, is incredible with the pork.

The inspiration for this recipe comes from poc chuc, a grilled pork dish from Mexico's Yucatán region. Brining the pork chops prevents the meat from drying out on the grill.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from The Barbecue! Bible 10th Anniversary Edition, by Steven Raichlen. To read more about Raichlen and barbecue, go to our feature The Best Barbecue in the U.S.A. Barbecue means different things to different people in different parts of the country. In North Carolina it means pork, or more precisely smoked pork shoulder, that has been grilled using the indirect method until it's fall-off-the-bone tender, then pulled into meaty shreds with fingers or a fork. Doused with vinegar sauce and eaten with coleslaw on a hamburger bun, it's one of the most delicious things on the planet, and it requires only one special ingredient: patience. My friend and barbecue buddy Elizabeth Karmel makes some of the best pork shoulder I've ever tasted. Elizabeth comes from Greensboro, North Carolina, where she grew up on pulled pork. Her secret is to cook the pork to an internal temperature of 195°F—higher than is recommended by most books. But this is the temperature needed for the pork to separate easily into the fine, moist, tender shreds characteristic of true Carolina barbecue. Elizabeth doesn't use a rub, although many of her compatriots do. (I personally like a rub, but I've made it optional in the recipe.) A true pork shoulder includes both the Boston butt (the upper part of the leg with the shoulder blade) and the picnic ham (the actual foreleg), a cut of meat that weighs fourteen to eighteen pounds in its entirety and is used chiefly at professional barbecue competitions. The recipe here calls for Boston butt alone (five to six pounds), which, thanks to its generous marbling, gives you superb barbecue. The appropriate beverage for all this? Cold beer or Cheerwine (a sweet red soda pop).

Editor's note: The recipe below is from How to Grill, by Steven Raichlen. To read more about Raichlen and barbecue, go to our feature The Best Barbecue in the U.S.A.