Try some Mississippi-made port products like this pork shank and grits.
Try some Mississippi-made port products like this pork shank and grits. By JULIAN BRUNT/SPECIAL TO THE SUN HERALD
Try some Mississippi-made port products like this pork shank and grits. By JULIAN BRUNT/SPECIAL TO THE SUN HERALD
Coast Cooking

Coast Cooking

Creative dishes with the Coast in mind

Coast Cooking

Coast Cooking: Try some Mississippi-grown pork products

By JULIAN BRUNT/Special to the Sun Herald

November 19, 2015 04:35 PM

Dale Stevens is passionate about his hogs. He spends every spare moment he has, when not working for NOAA, at his Sand Ridge Farm near Lucedale, and if you have ever had the good fortune to try his pork, you will know why.

He raises a heritage breed of hogs called Red Wattle. They graze, and feed on more than 20 acres of oak woods and fields planted with delicious and nutritious things to eat. It is hard to imagine a better life for a hog, and it is just as hard to imagine anyplace further from the industrial farms that raise the pork available in many stores. 

Try Dales pork at Vestige in Ocean Springs, or buy some for yourself by calling 601-766-3578.

PORK SHANKS

4 pork shanks

1 quart water

2 teaspoons salt

2 large onions

2 glasses red wine

Combine the salt and water, add the shanks and brine overnight in the refrigerator. Chop the onions, add to a large oven-proof pot, add the shanks, then the wine and roast at 300 f until tender, 3 to 5 hours. Serve with cheese grits. To make a creamy sauce, whisk cold butter into the reduced wine.

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About Coast Cooking

Coast Cooking is written by Julian Brunt, who comes from a family with deep Southern roots. He is a food writer and photographer with regular columns in the Sun Herald, Mississippi Magazine, South Mississippi Magazine, eat.drink.Mississippi Magazine and See South Mississippi Magazine.