Pork

A good way to enjoy watching the Summer Olympics is to snap on the television, put the recliner in the deep-comfort position and order Chinese takeout. I started my Olympics regime about a week early by ordering three versions of Moo Shu Pork, then settling into a recliner and alternately nibbling on the pancakes stuffed with meat and vegetables and working the remote control. Best Bite The Bamboo House Address: 26 Cranbrook Road, Cockeysville Phone: 410-666-9550 Hours: 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, noon-midnight Friday-Saturday The gold-medal winner.

The Bel Air Downtown Alliance will hold its seventh Maryland Barbecue Bash from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and noon to 10 p.m. Saturday in the Mary Risteau State Office Building parking lot. Nearly 50 barbecue grilling teams from as far away as Texas have signed up to compete for $10,000 in prize money as part of the Maryland State Barbecue Championship, sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. Chefs will arrive early Friday morning and spend nearly 24 hours cooking chicken, ribs, pork and brisket before the judging by a panel of certified officials begins at noon Saturday.

When my family migrated north from South Carolina, they brought with them precious culinary traditions passed from one generation to the next. Take rice, for example: It was rare not to find a pot of this starchy Southern staple on the back burner of my grandmother's stove. Another was the scrumptious vegetable stew that we called "granddaddy's soup," consisting of fresh corn, fresh tomatoes, fresh limas and fresh okra. And then, greens - mustards, turnips, collards or any combination of the three, served with hot pickled peppers on the side.

You may feel like the new Clementine in Hamilton is deja vu all over again in a good way if you enjoy the SoBo Cafe in Federal Hill. After all, Winston Blick, who is chef and the owner of Clementine along with his wife, Cristin Dadant, headed SoBo's kitchen for a decade. The restaurants look somewhat different but have much of the same feeling: a neighborhood gathering place where kids are welcome, but also where you'll get grown-up food. Clementine, so named to suggest both the Southern nature of the food and its French and Spanish influences, is stylishly done up with dark blue walls, wooden chairs and tables, a pressed tin ceiling, revolving ceiling fans, terrazzo flooring, and an attractive charcuterie case in back.

Stir-fry is one fine standby. With quick chopping, mixing up a simple sauce, then cooking over the highest heat possible, a stir-fry dish dashes to completion well within 40 minutes. And it lends itself to creative variations. Like using whatever leftovers lurk in the fridge. Or changing from a white rice base to black. Or adding the best veggie from the farmers' market, such as the now-in-season asparagus. A standby, yes, but certainly not same-old, same-old. Leftover pork or chicken roasts can work here; just add the julienne cooked meat at the end of cooking.

The minute that the weather turns summery, the air should be filled with the smoke from barbecue cookers. So on a recent sunny afternoon I drove around the Baltimore area, sniffing for smoke and eating pulled-pork sandwiches. I found several, including two very good ones. Smokers Barbeque Address --2833 Baltimore Blvd., Finksburg Phone --410-861-8675 Hours --10 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday The pork in this $5.25 sandwich was dry and somewhat chewy. It was helped by a tangy sauce.

It's vibrant green and looks like a small, underripe tomato hidden under a delicate, paperlike husk. Peel back that wrapping to reveal firm, slightly sticky flesh with a scent faintly reminiscent of freshly picked herbs. Take one bite and the sweet-tart flavor rings with plum, apple and citrus notes. The tomatillo, a close but very independent cousin of the tomato and cape gooseberry, is known by several names, including husk tomato, jam berry and Mexican green tomato. Although the tomatillo is widely available year-round, its main season is May through October.

We used sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil in a pesto to dress up these easy pork medallions. If using dehydrated sun-dried tomatoes, rehydrate first in a cup of hot water for 15 to 20 minutes until soft. You will have plenty of the sun-dried pesto left over for another use, such as spreading on bread for an appetizer or snack. A California pinot noir would go nicely with this. Joe Gray writes for the Chicago Tribune, which provided the recipe analysis. Pork Medallions With Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Makes 2 servings 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained, oil reserved 1 clove garlic, roughly chopped 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, julienne 2 tablespoons capers, drained 1 pork tenderloin, sliced into 1-inch thick medallions 1/4 teaspoon salt freshly ground pepper 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 cup each: white wine, canned chicken broth Place sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, basil, capers and 2 tablespoons of the reserved oil in a food processor.

There are few more satisfying dishes than a souvlaki. Roughly translated from the Greek as "little swords," souvlaki are sold on the streets of Athens as hand-held snacks, according to the Greek cookbook The Olive and Caper by Susanna Hoffman. The cubes of meat - pork, lamb or beef - are marinated in lemon juice, oregano and olive oil, then cooked quickly on a grill. In Baltimore, souvlaki often appear as a sandwich, with the meat wrapped in toasted pita bread, mixed with sliced tomatoes and onions and lubricated with a generous portion of tzatziki, a sauce made with yogurt, garlic, cucumber and sometimes dill or mint.

Meat in the middle. Soul on the edge. Pork belly inspires thoughts like that for me. Maybe it's just the fat rushing to my brain. But when I introduce someone to pork belly - to soft meat surrounded by fat that is meltingly tender on the inside and crisp on the outside - what I usually hear (through the moans) is, "That is to die for." "Yes," I reply cheerfully. "And with that in your arteries, it won't be long." Pork belly, of all things, has become a food-world darling. Wait - isn't pork belly the stuff that's traded as a commodity on Wall Street?