[wtf] ground pork

so, i'm a poor ass pos and it's come to my realization in veritable poverty that beef is expensive. i noticed, lying next to my dearly loved bovine products, slaughtered swine in the form of ground pork.

i've used ground pork in chinese dumplings (along with cabbage, carrots, green onions, chili paste, etc) and it's fucking amazing in that fashion, but when i attempted to make tacos with ground pork as a substitute it came out tasting excessively lean and lacking in flavor.

is there some magic to utilizing pork so that it doesn't taste so void of flavor, or is it simply that ground pork doesn't have the same variety of potential applications that ground beef does? if i could simply switch one for the other that'd be awesome, but i've gotta be missing something here

whenever i use a flavorless lean ground meat, i make an 'umami paste' out of small amounts of different things with high glutamate content: soy sauce, mustard, worcestershire sauce, fish sauce, brewers yeast, shrimp paste, vinegar, etc. not enough of any one thing to identifiably affect the flavor, but enough to make it taste meatier. i also usually add a bunch of olive oil, but if you're really into it, you can grind up some fatback to mix in.

also have you tried ground lamb ho HO

Idk about where you live or what market you're shopping at but where I live in CA ground pork is very sad and sounds like yours(pretty sure its just the super lean pork sirloin). Ask them to grind up a pork shoulder and you'll have all the flavor/fat you could want.

i like where your head is, niga

i would buy pork shoulder but again, poor

huh interesting. Here in CA pork shoulder is pretty much the cheapest meat you can buy second only to meat served under the 3 second rule.

i just assume that's the case. we'll see what happens

I've used pulled chicken for tacos before and it works well, just cover it in a small pot and put it in the oven with a little chilli powder, pepper, and paprika, toss some beer on top (or wine) and let it simmer for a bit till it falls apart.

make a taco season or just buy some add water or some kind of broth if you feel fancy. add cooked meat and reduce the liquid ... you will have flavorful taco meat in no time.

works great for chicken as well.