Hospitals and other institutions love lean pork. Dietitians make the menus and they love high protein with low fat. Pork tenderloin in a fruity glaze kind of thing. People who aren’t stuck in the hospital or in an institution don’t like it so much.
I see loin chops at Costco without a speck of intramuscular fat. People who eat this crap won’t live longer, it will just seem longer.
My current project is learning to roast pork shank or pork knuckle. It’s got everything you could want. Skin, fat, connective tissue, meat and bone. The Germans get the outside crackling golden brown and hard and crunchy. The plentiful fat bastes the meat as it slow roasts. Pork for life!
I hadn’t tried pork shank but I often cook lamb shank in a crock pot. I’ll have to look for it locally.
Some of the best pork I’ve had recently was Alentejana pork in Portugal. It has great marbling and a very rich flavor. Acorns make up a big chunk of their diet.
Always on sale and very little waste.
They can be tasty but it's best to cook them hot and fast (roasted, rotisseried, or grilled over charcoal,) and remove them from the heat at 140F, reaching 145 with the carry-over. Any hotter and they dry out because they are so lean.
We cut them into tender, juicy 1/2 inch slices and drizzle them with gravy. They're also good in sandwiches.