For The Record: Pork Deserves More Respect

I've been eating a lot of pork lately and want to talk about it.

I understand pork's not for everyone so by all means please don't take this personally. We're just talking protein choices and more specifically, the way we look at pork vs. chicken. 

A quick glance at the evolving above poll show about 4 out of 5 people prefer chicken over pork, which surprises me. I thought chicken would be hard to beat, but I didn't see a 30-0 blowout coming. So surprising that I decided to write out my thoughts on the comparison. Here's what I got. 

- Wings are probably the #1 chicken product. Obviously tenders also are such heavy hitters that I could just end the blog now and say I fucked up making this comparison. But here's the thing. I sincerely think wings are OUTSIDE the conversation of chicken vs. pork as a protein. Wings are their own separate category, above and beyond the source of their meat. Same thing goes for all beef vienna hot dogs. This distinction really opens up the conversation which is what I'd like to do. If we can't agree on that, then you're right: fuck me. 

- Tenders are included. So is any derivative of lunch meat although flavoring starts to get tricky. Do chicken enthusiasts get to claim the spread of buffalo to terriyaki? Maybe. But then who wins the fight for BBQ? Which elicits my exact point: you can't consider separately flavored meats unless it's a shared flavor. 

Virginia Baked Chicken doesn't exist Todd

- I'm not here to referee hypotheticals. Just laying the foundation to reel in the focus before the health nuts run away with all the chicken caesar salads. 

- Within that spirit, Chicken has more name brand recognition. I concede a balanced argument on the topic. People are naturally more drawn to poultry. Pork's dirty.

Joey porked that MILF

- Compare: chicken breasts. Prim and proper. Lean and healthy and typically the first step most people take in a health journey. There's a stronger, cleaner emotional bond to the bird. I understand that. But trimming away the figurative fat reveals a relatively bland protein source. Any time you go chicken, you need to go heavy seasoning or sauce or sauté or the like. 

- Conversely, a lot of pork products stand alone. Bacon/jugular meat comes to mind. A good shank speaks for itself. Some chops only need a light dusting and that's before we assume you can use a smoker. If that's on the table alongside chicken tenders, then pork deserves more consideration. Smoked butt on brioche? Yes please. 

- Christmas Ham. Not a Christmas Chicken. When it really matters, the whole family leans towards glazed pork. 

- If we get specific with cuisines, Mexican is better with pork. Italian takes chicken. Chinese splits the difference depending on MSG sensitivities. Most Baltics would say chicken but how much of that is choice vs. circumstance? 

- Pizza = sausage over the gourmet buffalo/bbq chicken MOST of the time. Not always, but given a choice between the two for life, most of you are going sausage. 

- Pulled pork anyone? Eggs Benedict for brunch? Tenderloin for supper? And did you hear Naperville Ribfest booked Pitbull again? 

- Take away the buffalo wing and we should really consider more depth and layers to chicken vs. pork. Again, I know there's emotional bonds and personal achievements tied to only eating grilled chicken. But enough for such a blowout? 

- I know in the next couple days I'm going to a butcher shop and I'm asking for pork lunch meat. He will shave polish ham to a translucent diameter and it will be delicious. Call me old fashioned but chicken simply cannot hold up in the same realm. 

- There's a lot of products and iterations that escape me right now, which is okay. Following my sentiment and instinct is enough and right now that instinct says we should be more open minded to pork vs. chicken. 

- Breakfast and lunch go to pork easily. Snacking goes to chicken. Dinner depends on a lot of factors at an individual level and that's where I turn it over to you guys. You won't hurt my feelings taking chicken emphatically. Just think twice about it before you say it's a stupid debate.

Then again I have been eating a lot of pork lately. This could all just be some recency bias. 

In either event, Go Bears.