Soul Food · main

Smothered Pork Neck Bones and Rice

Smothered Pork Neck Bones and Rice reads richness 7.8, umami 7.4 and allium 4.5 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Soul Food main, about 3 hr 41 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 8.0 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 2.7 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 3.8 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 2.8 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 8.0 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 4.9 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Richness 7.8 · Umami 7.4 · Allium 4.5 · Salinity 4.4 · Sourness 3.8 · Sweetness 2.6 · Smoke 2.4 · Herbaceous 2.3 · Warm Spice 1.6 · Bitterness 1.4 · Earthy 1.3 · Funk & Ferment 1.3 · Floral 0.9 · Heat 0.9 · Nutty 0.7

What's in it (16)

• pork neck bones — 1600 g
• salt — 10 g
• black pepper — 5 g
• sweet paprika — 15 g
• all-purpose flour — 60 g
• bacon drippings — 74 g
• yellow onions — 450 g
• green bell pepper — 160 g
• celery — 150 g
• garlic — 21 g
• pork stock — 1200 g
• bay leaf — 1 g
• thyme — 2 g
• apple cider vinegar — 15 g
• long-grain white rice — 400 g
• flat-leaf parsley — 20 g

Time & effort: about 3 hr 41 min · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 63.8 kcal, 1.1 g protein, 2 g fat, 10.7 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (7 steps)

1. Smothering is a technique before it is a recipe: brown the meat hard, build a gravy around it in the same pot, then cook it down low and long until the meat gives up and the gravy is the point. Neck bones are the cut this technique was built for — cheap, bony, gelatinous, and unimprovable by any faster method.
2. Rinse the neck bones and pat them dry. Season them all over with the salt, pepper and paprika and let them sit at room temperature 30 minutes so the salt draws in. Dredge them in the flour and shake off what does not cling; the flour left on the meat is what will thicken the gravy later.
3. Heat the bacon drippings in a heavy Dutch oven over medium-high until it shimmers. Brown the neck bones in two batches, 5 to 6 minutes a side, until they are deep mahogany and release from the pan on their own. Do not crowd them and do not rush this — the brown crust in the bottom of the pot is the entire flavour of the finished gravy. Lift them out.
4. Drop the onions, bell pepper and celery into the fat and cook over medium, scraping the bottom constantly, 12 minutes, until the onions collapse and go golden and the stuck brown bits have dissolved into them. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more, just until it smells sweet.
5. Return the neck bones and any juices, pour in the stock, and tuck in the bay leaves and thyme. Bring it to a bare simmer — a blip every second or two, no more — cover, and cook 2½ hours, turning the bones every 45 minutes. The meat should be falling off the bone and the gravy should coat a spoon. If it is thin, uncover it for the last 20 minutes.
6. Fish out the bay and thyme stems. Stir in the cider vinegar off the heat; it will not taste of vinegar, it will taste like the gravy finally woke up. Taste for salt. Spoon the bones and a great deal of gravy over hot rice and scatter the parsley.
7. Substitutions: lard can stand in for the bacon drippings; chicken stock can stand in for the pork stock.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Smothered Turkey Wings with Onion Gravy — Southern
• Machanka (Pork Rib and Sausage Dipping Gravy) — Belarusian
• Bulbianaja Babka (Baked Grated Potato and Bacon Pudding) — Belarusian
• Feijoada à Portuguesa — Portuguese
• Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf with Ketchup Glaze — American

Keep reading: what richness, umami, allium mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.