by D. Kearney Sparano

Created on: January 29, 2009

My passion for cooking is growing vastly. As some know I recently hosted a dinner party for a couple of friends who came home for the holidays. The menu was French and rather pork heavy, the dishes that took some doing were the rillettes and the cassoulet. It took some doing but I was able to get pretty much everything that I needed. That being said if some of the items could have been found at the local King Kullen things would have been easier.

Here are the bulk of the items:

Pork Belly, Duck Fat and Pork Rind

I was able to find these items after much searching and visiting several specialty stores. The pork belly was key for both the rillettes and cassoulet, luckily though I was able to find salt pork at a local Italian butcher. The duck fat and pork rind were needed for the cassoulet. I was able to get the rind at a German pork store, which I will now go to for all my pork needs and I couldn't find duck fat, but I was able to get goose fat. All in all the dinner came out very well.

Aside from these items there are others I would love to see carried.

Jamon Spanish air dried ham. It's aged longer then prosciutto and supposedly has an even better flavor. My desire for this has been growing ever since I started watching the show SpainOn the Road Again with Mario Batali. Supposedly the taste is even more intense and amazing.

Duck- I can buy a chicken. I can buy a turkey; I would like to buy duck.

For that matter I would like an all around better selection of meats including venison, boar and rabbit. A wholly improved butcher section would be excellent. The idea of getting what Bourdain calls "the nasty bits" would be really cool. Frankly getting any sort of special cut or specialty meat would be excellent.

Limoncello would be nice to get at the grocery. Frankly having a liquor store would be nice. I've been to south and the west, I've seen it done.

If we lived in a perfect world I would love to get Mallorcan lobster. As well as other imported Spanish seafood, because I've heard it is amazing and even better in its natural oils. I don't know why but European seafood just tastes better to me then American and local.

Luckily for me though my supermarket is pretty well stocked. It has a good butcher section. I was able to get duck confit legs and demi-glace, a good variety of cheeses and breads and over all I am happy, but a man can dream and always want more.

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