Meat. Meat!

The first time I went to the Knoxville farmer's market, I noticed a remarkable lack of meat. Someone willing to raise and whack their own hogs, pigs, or chickens could make a killing.

Well, that guy exists, but only goes to the Oak Ridge farmer's market. Fine by me. Apparently their business from high-end resorts and eateries must buoy them enough that they don't need the Knoxville business. Laurel Creek Meats sells a remarkable variety of assorted cow, pig, chicken, turkey, and duck parts, plus more esoteric beasts as well -- goat, game birds, and Lord only knows what else. We picked up a pair of massive bone-in pork chops last week to grill today. These things were seriously huge -- over an inch thick, with a tremendous thick rind of fat on them.

Given our spartan kitchen, I just rubbed them with salt, pepper, olive oil, and some rosemary off the plant we brought with us. Turns out that was the right choice: the magnificent swiny taste of the meat shone through, and the fat rind crisped up gorgeously, the sweet fat balanced by the acidic woodsmoke. We rooted the sweet melty marrow out, scraped the dark, hugely flavorful meat from the bones, and were generally barbaric. Some grilled farmer's market summer squash rounded out the meal. (The patty-pan squash was particularly nice.)

I still think that what Laurel Creek needs the most is competition (although their prices were remarkably low for a de facto monopoly). We've found our meat vendor for the forseeable future, but someone must be able to turn out better sausage, or a nicer broiler chicken, or a hanger steak that will make me weep. Prove me wrong.