Restaurants and Institutions

Link This | Email this | Blog This | Comments (0)

earth2table: The Importance of Being a Pig
September 25, 2007

Chef Stu’s “Not Quite Everything From a Pig” Tasting Menu 5 courses for $50 (also available a la carte) Pork Rillettes with Porcini-Mushroom Mustard Gnocchi with Pork Meatballs En Brodo Roulade of Pork Belly Stuffed with Fennel & Green Olives Pork Chop with Potato Purée and Berry Preserves Trio of Palmiers—Pig Ear-Shaped Puff Pastry Cookies

This is a small, but I feel important, illustration of one of the tenets of sustainability. I received a phone call a week or so ago from one of my favorite local pork purveyors asking if I wanted one or two of his suckling pigs. This group of piglets was ready to go to market.

This particular purveyor has been a friend for almost seven years and is, in my opinion, producer of the best pork in the universe. His life philosophy embraces what philosopher, poet and essayist Wendell Berry wrote in The Work of Local Culture (North Point Press, 1990):

“The idea of a local economy rests upon only two principles: neighborhood and subsistence. In a viable neighborhood, neighbors ask themselves what they can do or provide for one another, and they find answers that they and their place can afford.

A viable neighborhood is a community, and a viable community is made up of neighbors who cherish and protect what they have in common.”

Once again, why do I bother bringing this up? To show you the importance of buying locally and respecting the product and purveyor enough to utilize all they give us. That’s why I honored this producer and his bounty this weekend with Terroir’s “Not Quite Everything From A Pig” tasting menu (see below).

Here’s how it all broke down, so to speak.

I got the whole suckling pigs from my purveyor’s processor and then butchered them at the restaurant. Starting from the top, I cut the jowls from the head to make guanciale (r.; see my previous entry, “I’ve Got the Cure,” for more details on this recipe). I cut out the tongue, vacuum-sealed it and froze it for later use. I gave the rest of the head to my prep cook, Maria, so she could make posole for employee meal. I took one shoulder and some of the fatback and used it to make dry-cured sausages, specifically sopressata. I took the other shoulder and made pork rillettes for the first course and pork meatballs for the second course. I cut chops from the rack for the fourth course and portioned the loins and tenderloins for use on the regular menu.

I cleaned the belly and cured half of it for pancetta and butterflied, stuffed and rolled the other half for pork-belly roulade in the third course. I boned out the legs for pork roasts for a private party we are having later this month, and I saved the feet to braise and stuff later for a special treat for a special customer. Finally, I took the bones and made the brodo—pork broth—to go with the pork meatballs and gnocchi in the second-course.

I got to butcher (one of my favorite tasks in the kitchen); I gave my culinary extern a lesson in butchering and utilization; and I gave my customers an experience. Fun, educational and sustainable!

And the journey continues.

Cheers!

Stu

Comments or questions? E-mail Chef Stu at StuStein@rimag.com.

Posted by Stu Stein on September 25, 2007 | Comments (0)