Yes, I ate a butt, and I liked it!

In this month's Esquire, Ted Allen writes about the under-appreciated pork butt. I'm not sure where the term "butt" comes from, but this cut actually comes from the shoulder, and is probably the least expensive part of the pig you can pick up at the butcher shop. However, it's also supposed to be the most flavorful given the high fat content marbled throughout.

Those of you unfamiliar with Allen may know him as the food and wine connoisseur from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and is frequently one of the judges on Iron Chef America. But he's also been a contributing food editor to Esquire for many years, and probably knows a thing or two about a good meal.

The article briefly describes a Puerto Rican style of preparing a traditional pork roast dish called pernil by stabbing a bone-in pork butt all over with a knife, slathering it all over with olive oil, garlic, salt, black pepper and oregano, marinating it for a day, and slow roasting it in the oven.

Sounded easy, so I gave it a try. Cooked it at 250 degrees for around eight hours overnight in a pan to let it roast in it's own juices while I slept, turned off the oven when I went to work, and turned it back on for an hour when I got back home to reheat it. The aromas that filled my condo that night had me salivating in my sleep, and really did a number on my wife's REM stages--she apparently had this dream of wild animals invading our home to get to the delicious meat cooking in the oven. What resulted was exactly as described in the article: "wondrousness" and "succulent, crispy-on-the-outside, fall-off-the-bone roast."

Give it a try if you're trying to impress your woman, and don't want to sit on your porch by a smoker all day long. She'll think you're a gourmet genius. I was mighty proud of myself after this one, yet it was so simple to do. Now that's what I call a man's recipe.

Oh, and the total cost of the 6 pound slab of meat I roasted? $5.80--that's cheaper than the meal I bought at Subway for lunch.