Cooking with Pork Neck Bones

I love pork neck bones. They are the perfect solution to soups, stews, rice casseroles, bean dishes and a wide variety of chilies.

Most grocer’s carry this product on the meat counter with other cuts of pork. You might have to seek out a grocer with a diverse ethnic customer base. They are amazingly cheap, from $.79 to $1.29 a pound. You can get them fresh or smoked.

The smoked product is easier to deal with just put them in a pot of water or stock and boil them with your beans. When the beans are tender (about 1 ½ hours) fish out the neck bones and let them cool. Then uses your fingers and thumbs to pick all the succulent meat from the bones. Add the meat back to the pot with a mirepoix of vegetables and you have a perfect pot of beans.

Fresh neck bones are even more interesting. I season them lightly and roast them in the oven with a medley of vegetables (onion, carrot, celery, tomato) for 45 minutes. When they are browned cover them with cool water and bring them to the simmer. Cook for a couple of hours then strain, save the bones. Now you have a rich stock on which to build your soup, stew or chili and a nice pile of tender meat after you pick the bones. Neck bones have very little fat and after simmering you can skim the surface of the stock for any oily residue, if so inclined.

The old country adage goes ‘meat is always sweeter close to the bone.’ When you cook with neck bones you always mine the best morsels of meat and gain a fine broth to boot. The stock is known colloquially as ‘pot likker (liquor).’ This is often used to produce a ‘mess of greens’ and then the whole mélange of pork meat, beans, rice, greens and cornbread is brought to the table for an festive celebration.

Here’s my recipe for white man’s pork & rice.

2 lbs. fresh pork neck bones
2 onions
4 cloves garlic
carrot
celery
turnip
tomato
green pepper
1 can chicken stock
½ pound cleaned spinach
1 cup brown rice

Season then brown the neck bones in the oven with a few pieces of onion, carrot, celery and tomato. Then cover and simmer in a pot for an hour. Strain off the stock. Use one cup of the stock with one cup chicken broth to cook the single cup of brown rice. Pick the meat from the bones and return to the remaining stock, add the rest of the chicken stock and a half cup each of chopped onion. carrot, celery, turnip and green pepper and the minced garlic. Cook till all the vegetable are tender then add the spinach and cook down till it wilts and the mix is hot. Put a scoop of the brown rice in the bottom of a bowl and then add a ladle or two of the pork mix. Season this with salt, pepper and a sprinkle of hot sauce. Serve with corn bread.