Time-shifting in the kitchen

Time-shifting has become so commonplace that you may have trouble recalling just what that once-groundbreaking term originally meant. Coined in the early days of programmable VCRs, the term referred to setting your recorder to capture a TV show while you were out doing something else—assuming you could figure out how to program your VCR, of course. With the advent of TiVo and menu-driven digital video recorders (DVRs), nobody has to endure the shame of that blinking "12:00" any more, and time-shifting is something most of us take for granted.

But how do you time-shift in the kitchen? As we were preparing for the Week of Eating In, we started by looking at all the things that, in the past, might have prevented us from cooking. There's something every day, right around dinner time.

So we fell back on a saying I coined while working on my first book back in the early Nineties: One day spent thinking before you start working saves five days spent working before you start thinking. It's true for books; it's equally true for dinners.

My brilliant and adorable wife drew a grid on a sheet of paper and sketched in the times of our conflicts. With this visual aid to help us, we figured out who had time to cook what, and when—a task we usually leave till 4:30 or so on the day. And the result was at least semi-miraculous: we came up with awesome things to cook, and a schedule that permitted us to cook, serve, and eat together every day this week.

Tonight's meal will be carnitas: a classic of Mexican cuisine that I've enjoyed for 30+ years. I first tasted this treasure in Mexico City in 1978, at a time when virtually no U.S. Mexican restaurants served it. It starts with a pork shoulder roast like the one shown at the top of this column; you simmer it in seasoned liquid for hours, a simple back-burner task. The house smells wonderful all day with the aromas of dried chiles, cumin, garlic, bay leaves, onions, and one of our special additions, a bottle of beer to the cooking broth. Best of all, this $8.84 pork roast cost about what a single combination plate of carnitas would set you back at a local Mexican restaurant.

And even when factoring in the sides (sliced avocado, corn and flour tortillas, chopped lettuce, grated cheese, and salsa), you can't beat the value. Especially considering that this nearly seven-pound pork shoulder will make enough to have a huge feast for four this evening, at least one lunch for the rest of the week, and probably still fill a freezer bag to be turned into another great meal at some future date.

We'll post photos of the finished product, of course, but for now, dinner is in the big Le Creuset and I'm wondering how soon I can start in on lunch...