So, I just had a most uncomfortable post-eating experience.

I slow cooked a shoulder of pork for around five hours, turning it every hour, basting it in delicious tomatoey goodness (recipe from my still-favourite-cookbook Economy Gastronomy).  It was prepared with green beans and creamy polenta, both of which were extremely tasty.  I’ve never prepared polenta before. It’s so easy! Who knew?

Anyway. When it was finally ready, I sliced up the pork and tucked in.  It was a little on the chewy side, which was disappointing, but a great flavour and two delicious sides. Plate was scraped clean in around 7.5 minutes.

Then, as I was clearing up the kitchen, putting aside the remaining pork for tomorrow’s pork lasagna, I pulled a long, thin, tubular thing off the meat.  It could just be a bit of gristley meat, like a vein or a bit of tissue or something, but it did look a little bit wormy.  After so many years of handling meat, why am I suddenly squeamish? When it’s all cooked up like that, how do you know? It tapered off at the end, suggesting meat.  I’m going with the meat, but now my mind has gone into overdrive and I’m imagining little pork worms making a nest in my intestine.

My whole meal suddenly doesn’t taste as nice.

The meat is still going to go into tomorrow’s lasagna.  I will not let my overactive imagination defeat me.  But each bit that goes in will have to be heavily inspected… :/