Two weekends ago I went to this Puerto Rican restaurant in NYC called Sofrito. It definitely wasn’t diet friendly, but I had a Groupon that would have expired if I didn’t use it, so I went. I didn’t attempt to stick to my diet while I was there, because seriously, where’s the fun in that?

For dinner I ordered the pernil con arroz y gandules – roast pork with rice and sweet plantains. I was stunned when the waiter served me my meal:

I am not exaggerating when I say that this piece of meat was the size of a football. It was insane! Definitely not the portion size that one expects when going to an upscale NYC restaurant. It was even crazier in comparison to the plates that were served to my friends.

But I wasn’t complaining. On the contrary, I was looking forward to all the leftovers. After I finished eating (I ate about a quarter of the meat that was on my plate), I started cutting the meat off the bone in preparation for asking the waiter to wrap my plate up for me. After all, it was a big ass bone, and I didn’t want to lug it around in my bag all night.

Then my friend had what I considered to be the Best. Idea. Ever. Seriously, I was embarrassed that I didn’t think of it myself. She said “Why don’t you bring home the bone and make pork stock with it?” Doh!!!

So that’s exactly what I did. After grazing on the meat for the next few days, I finally threw the bone and a few remaining chunks of fatty meat into a pot with some onions and spices to make some stock.

It was an EPIC FAIL. I forgot to turn the flame off on the stove before going to sleep! When I woke up the next morning there was a faint burning smell in my apartment, and it eventually led me to the kitchen, where I discovered the charred remains of my pork stock. I was so upset with myself.

On the bright side, at least I didn’t set my apartment on fire.

So here is my *untested* recipe for pork stock. I make no guarantees that it’s any good. If you make it, please let me know how it turns out!

Pork Stock

Ingredients:

• Leftover pork bones
• One or two onions
• Celery (or celery flakes)
• One tsp. garlic powder
• One bay leaf

Directions:

1. Put the bones in a pot and cover with water.

2. Add onions and spices and bring to a boil. After 20 minutes turn the flame down and let it simmer for several hours. (But NOT overnight!)