I was at the Japanese grocery store yesterday when I saw they had pork butt on sale. Not the whole bone-in shoulder which can be gargantuan and would feed a whole family, but a single log they had boned, rolled and tied for roasting. I didn’t exactly know what I would cook it with, but pork butt is one of those things that if you cook it long enough, it will be good no matter what, so I just bought it anyway. The last time I made pork butt was a few years ago at one of Sterl’s house parties when I cooked two full shoulders for about four to five hours and then shredded the meat and made bbq sauce for some killer pork sandwiches. But they didn’t have molasses at the Jap market, so I wasn’t going to be able to go that route. No matter. When I got home, I just started throwing a marinade together with whatever I had. It ended up being soy sauce, honey, shallot, garlic, toasted sesame oil, garlic powder, onion powder, rice vinegar, ketchup and two little star anise pods. After a taste, I realized it was still way out of balance; too salty. I was going to try adding some OJ to it, but as I opened the fridge I noticed I had some Welch’s grape jelly. Perfect! I remember way back in my Boston days, my dear friends the Kilroys once made some awesome meatballs in a grape jelly sauce that really opened my mind to using jelly as an ingredient. A couple huge spoonfuls of that grapey goodness into the marinade and it was perfect. Poured it all into a ziploc baggie and put the pork butt in to marinate. I was a little pressed for time though, as pork butt really needs hours of slow cooking, while the Yanks-Sox game was going to be on soon. I let the pork butt marinate for an hour and then broke out my pressure cooker. A quick sear of just the meat and then I added marinade liquid. There didn’t seem to be enough liquid in the pot, but I didn’t want to alter the flavor by using broth either, so I decided to just add some water before I locked down the pressure cooker and let it work its magic. An hour later, I opened it up and checked the resutls. The marinade had cooked down to a perfectly thick consistency and the pork itself was incredibly tender. If it hadn’t been tied up, it would have probably fallen apart during the cooking. I plated it, removed the string, shredded the meat with just two forks and drizzled a little of the sauce over it. It was slightly salty, slightly sweet, almost a little reminiscent of Chinese char-siu (the red roast pork you see in restaurant windows in Chinatown). Fantastic. Too bad that was the only thing good about last night; the Yankees lost and got swept by the Red Sox. Booooo!

In another “sweet” story, last weekend I went to see my friend Yayo’s band Kultura Etilika. They’re a shredding Latino rock band who last year (or was it 2005) won a battle of the bands contest on the Spanish channel Univision. But they ended up getting rid of their lead singer after a gig at Mi Cabanita and I was afraid that would be the end of a truly exceptional band. Even though I never understood the lyrics to their original songs since they were in Spanish, they played some really catchy thrashing music and could mix it up and play excellent cover songs too. Well last weekend they were back in action with a brand new singer and I’m happy to say they sounded better than ever. The depth of musical talent in these parts of Westchester is truly impressive. So many great musicians who have just never caught the right breaks to make it big, but who could totally hang with anybody musically. Seeing Yayo playing drums for Kultura Etilika’s hardcore stuff, you wouldn’t believe he’s just as comfortable playing contemporary jazz. And all of his band mates are *that* good. At one point in between songs, just on a lark, I looked at Yayo and shouted “Sweet Home Alabama!”. He looked at his guitar player, they shrugged their shoulders at each other… and started playing it! PERFECTLY!!! Hearing them just ease right into that guitar intro actually made me giddy, not because I’m a big Skynyrd fan or anything, but just because it *is* a cool guitar lick, and it was even cooler that Kultura Etilika was playing it. Got me excited in the same way I get hyped every time I hear the first few bars of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”, which btw is the goddamn best song intro ever (hey what can I say, I was an 80’s child alright?!). So anyway, in the middle of this Latino rock show, they just shifted gears and played some Skynyrd, just because we were all having fun and they rolled with it. They covered it so well and to a standing ovation, that after the show was supposed to be over, Hector asked them to play it again, and that’s what they closed with. Sweet Home Alabama. Sweet.