Beautiful "leaf lard" which surrounds a pig's kidney, is the fat of choice for rendering lard. Prior to the invention of the heinous hydrogenated stuff, this is what people baked with. I know it still carries a stigma, but we are talking about a good fat, here. This excellent article by Regina Schrambling writing for Slate states (quoting Jennifer McLagan's groundbreaking book:) "...lard's fat is also mostly monounsaturated, which is healthier than saturated fat. And even the saturated fat in lard has a neutral effect on blood cholesterol."

So, how do go from this hunk o' fat to something you can cut into your flour for a perfect pie crust? I used Lorraine's recipe and replaced the shortening called for with homemade leaf lard. Thanks again to Chef Jason Bond and his Mangalitsa named Tan. Itadakimasu, Tan!

Picture this: a new feature on this blog, will take you through picture by picture, step by step, on a variety of topics. With gratitude for guidance from a Homesick Texan, here's your pictoral lesson in Leaf Lard Rendering.

Cutting the fat into chunks.

A good heavy cast iron pot works well for this. I love Staub!

Fat goes in, with water to cover.

Medium heat to let the fat begin to melt.

The water cooks off as the fat renders.

It begins to look like it's all melted.

Then lardons begin separate.

They sink to the bottom, and when they've all browned and sunk...

You have rendered fat with lardons you may use, eat or discard.

The chilled lard viewed from above.

Two pies. Tasty crusts with nice balance of flakiness and crumb.

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Jacqueline Church is a fan of

Pig Tales: A Love Story

And this just in...Mangalitsa Jowl Bacon. Oh. Yeah.

Did I mention I rendered leaf lard myself last week? Stay tuned for some kick-ass pie crusts my friends!

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Knowing how I love the pig, and Craigie on Main, when Doc saw the Craigie on Main newsletter announcing the Whole Hog dinner - he immediately said "you've got to go!" Who am I to argue? After assuring me we had it in the budget for one of us to go, I graciously accepted. 

From the moment you enter Craigie, you feel well-cared for. My last visit my girlfriend and I were brought glasses of water before we even had a table. Artful, well-conceived classic and innovative cocktails are a real draw. Anticipation of what one might get to drink, taste, explore heightens the delight leading up to the dinner.

For me, good food, good drink, good service are only enhanced by the opportunity to learn something new each meal. Whether it's a fun new wine (Oltrepo Pavese from the Lombardy region in the North of Italy) or a new herb like calaminthe, or a new cocktail ingredient or combination, if you are introducing me to some new taste experience, you've got my attention. And a bit of my heart.  

Hors d'ouevres - "les Cochonailles" - Piglet's Delight

Pate de campagne, lardo, pork belly, crispy pig parts. Delicious with our libations from the bar. I could eat tons little salty pig nibbles. That reminds me of the suckling pig skin I have in the freezer. Chicharrones up soon.

First Course - Tortellini of Braised Pork Belly squash blossoms, squash jus, calaminthe. These delicate little tortellini were so light and the filling so luscious. I wanted to spoon every drop of the jus. Calaminte has been described as mint like or thyme-like. It was delicate to be sure. I had a glass of a nice dry, crisp Riesling.

Second Course - Crispy Fromage de Tête - that's head cheese, y'all. Earthy inside, crispy outside, egg to emulsify and, as David pointed out, all the components together really work well, together. 

(So fun to dine with a photographer! See me snapping this shot, check out David Dadekian's photo!)

Sunny-side up farm-fresh egg, potato-mustard puree, sauce charcutiere.

The Oltrepo Pavese was one I chose with some help from Richard Auffrey, the Passionate Foodie, a real connoisseur. We settled on this glass partly because I'd never had it before and because it was described as a light Burgundy or Pinot Noir -ish in style. The color was bright berry and the medium body worked fine with the tasty pig head.   

Third Course - Suckling Pig Head with Brains over pea greens, local black trumpet mushrooms, spiced puree of eggplant. David and I shared this entree for two. The skin was crispy and salty, the meat was tender like pork-brisket. The fat was creamy and sticky. I am hooked. The brains were served separately, and oohs, aahs and mm mms were peppered with the odd zombie jokes, natch. This was a double-first for me. Both head and brains are something I've never had. Wait. That doesn't sound right. I mean, I've never eaten a pig head nor its brains. I'd compare the brains to creamy sweetbreads. More delicate than foie but meltingly delicious. This course was truly a revelation. I wish I had another one. Right here. Right now. 

Dessert - Late Summer Macerated Fruits, sweet white peach soda, yogurt sorbet. When is a foam not passe and blah? When it's fizzy and fun. This was a surprisingly interesting dessert. Thin ribbons of perfect honeydew melon took me instantly to the memory of the first time I'd ever tasted the melon. 

Mignardises - sorry Doc, I couldn't save the pate de fruit for you. You would have loved this one. Blackberry so deeply flavored. Tea to finish the meal.

Rooibus, Rhubarb custards light and just perfectly tart and sweet these little treats came when we were certain we could eat no more. But eat them, we did.

Really a perfect evening all around. I'm still floating on a porcine dream. Thanks to Chef Maws, Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli, my fun dinner companions, David and Richard and of course, Doc - mwah! - for making it all happen!

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The Elevator Pitch

As some of you know, I'm writing a book, for now the working title is

Pig Tales: A love story in three parts.

Heritage breed pigs, and the farmers, chefs, and artisans bringing them from farm to fork.

The "elevator pitch" is a way of concisely describing a book idea, or a business to someone quickly and effectively. Imagine you have only an elevator ride's time to do it. It's an important thing to do. Imagine you meet someone at a barbecue or a networking event, can you sum up you, your business, your book or blog in a quick "pitch"?

So here's my attempt at the "elevator pitch" for my book.

? ? ?

Pig Tales is a story of seduction. It’s about how America is falling in love with heritage pork. First it was Kurobuta, then the Mulefoot that seduced us with their well-marbled meat. Now it’s the Red Wattle and the Hungarian Mangalitsa that seem to dominate chefs’ and food writers’ attention. Our taste memory for good old-fashioned pork has been awakened. And our newest celebrities - the farmers - also play a key role in this story.

Pig Tales is a story of my love for odd pigs, for quirky farmers, and obsessive chefs.
This is a truly American love story about farmers working against the clock to bring these pigs back from the brink of extinction. Meet the chefs and artisans renewing old foodways like charcuterie, smoked ham, and salumi; bringing products to your table and mine, reminding us that pork that does not have to be dry or white.

Eating heritage pork is just as exhilarating as that first heirloom tomato, the one that reminded us what tomatoes are supposed to taste like. Learn about some downright odd and inconvenient pigs that have the good fortune of being very tasty, for this exceptional flavor may be the only thing that saves them.

Whether you like bacon, charcuterie, country ham or chicharrones, these Pig Tales will take you inside the world of these iconoclast farmers and artisans, the crazy chefs, the strange pigs. I’ll introduce you to the charms of the Mulefoots, the American Guinea Hogs, the Red Wattles and the Mangalitsas. Come, let me tell you about some lovable underdogs, let me tell you some Pig Tales.

? ? ?

So now it's your turn. If you love heritage pigs tell me about it! Which have you tried? How did you hear about it? Which is your favorite? Do you believe in "eat it to save it" as a motto? Do you know which breeds are listed as "Critical" because they are so few?

Does this sound like an interesting book? Timely? One you might buy?

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While I've been breathlessly trying to catch up on Denver/IACP happenings, other things have been, well...happening. Instead of waiting for that mythical time when I'll have...more time, thought it best to get something out to those of you patient readers who are stopping back though I've been lingering too long between posts.

So, we know my favorite topics include Pigs and Fish. Exciting things happening in both arenas.

First Pigs -

The New York Times Op-Ed piece on pigs and pathogens spawned a rapid-fire response and counter over the last week. Research was sponsored by The National Pork Board. Said sponsorship not initially disclosed. Everyone's knickers in a twist. A couple of things might have gotten lost in the kerfuffle. One, the assertion that much research is sponsored by special interests, and whether that makes it, per se, less valuable or less reliable. I don't have any special insights into this but it strikes me as reasonably likely to be true. McWilliams says: "Scientists, many of them reluctantly, depend on industry to carry out basic experimentation. Fortunately, this relationship is not inherently corrupt. Industries frequently end up supporting studies that do not present the results they desire. These results still get published (and the scientists, in turn, often lose their funding)." I have no reason to disbelieve this, but I'm not in the business of research or even journalism about research.

Maybe research can be funded from sources we don't like but still be valuable? It strikes me as wishful thinking to believe that Universities are sufficiently endowed to sponsor such research as we need. Clearly our government is inadequate to pick up the slack, even where public health and safety is concerned. So where else will the funding come from?

The issue is two-fold. One, the integrity of the research itself. Is the study well-constructed? Does it measure what it purports to measure? Does it do so with reliability and validity? And secondly, are we bringing our own critical analysis skills to the story as it is presented. 

Another thing that got lost in the back and forth on the pig story was a careful look at what this study actually purports to show. We as a public sort of jumped to "which pork is safer: CAFO or Free range", I think. Indeed, McWilliams Op-Ed piece begins: "IS free-range pork better and safer to eat than conventional pork?"

In his rebuttal to the dust-up, published here in the Atlantic, the author allows that he was thinking like a writer, not a scientist when he fudged "the difference between testing positive for a pathogen and testing positive for the antibodies of that pathogen. You can test positive for the antibodies of a disease and still not have it. It's very unlikely, but possible." 

And this brings us to another question. Even given McWilliams' admission of the difference that got fudged, is the question of "safe pork" (a large question) answered by this narrow view into seropositivity? I don't think so. 

It stands to reason that CAFO animals given prophylactic antibiotics should have less disease than free-range non-vaccinated animals, doesn't it? Yet to my knowledge this study did not look at the dangers of the antibiotics themselves and their effects in the food chain. Recent news about MRSA, and its prevalence near CAFO farms is not answered by the study McWilliams cites.

MRSA infection is caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria — often called "staph." MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. It's a strain of staph that's resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat it. MRSA can be fatal. Some suggest that the alarming increase in the occurrence of MRSA might be related to the widespread prophylactic antibiotic use in CAFO animals raised for human consumption. Are we breeding animals for consumption that are incubators for our own demise? Admittedly, not a scientfically phrased question but one worth asking, I would submit. (See Nicholias Kristoff's piece Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health.) For another alarming look at the issue of MRSA in animals, humans and what we know and don't know, see Ethicurean here, Straight to the superbug supersource: Q&A with Maryn McKenna about MRSA in people — and pigs

Apparently, we don't even know how prevalent Human MRSA is nationally. A few states have made it mandatory to report and no one on a national level has been "systematically checking food animals for the bug, and no one is checking retail meat." That from Maryn McKenna author of the upcoming: “Superbug: The Rise of Drug-Resistant Staph and the Danger of a World Without Antibiotics”

There are of course other reasons to eat naturally raised, ethically raised local pigs. Quite likely you will support a small family farm, and get tastier pig in the bargain. It is likely your local pig will be raised in a way that is not as damaging environmentally, and that's worth considering in the overall equation if you ask me.

So what are my take-aways?

1. I'd rather know my farmer, and build a relationship where my concerns for how the animals are raised and how the environment is treated are taken into consideration.

2. I'd rather that we had someone on a national level conducting data gathering, first so we understand how much MRSA is in the population, which strains and then they can begin to study what's going on with transmission.

3. I'd rather that we have transparency in our data reporting and civility in our critical analysis of each others work. If nothing else is clear from all this - it is clear that we could all benefit from rowing in the same direction. Resources are too thin and issues too critical for us to waste any time on reporting that obfuscates or oversimplifies the issues. 

4. I'd rather be able to enjoy my pork with less worry and less guilt and I'm sure you would to.

So what can we do? 

Here's a source I just found cited in Ethicurean for great teaching tools. Yes! is a magazine  all about building healthier, community-based food delivery systems. Great infographic (or chart) that illustrates the food growing and distribution systems and all the impacts along the way.

Another idea is to open the dialog about the food you're buying with whomever you are buying it from. Ask where it's raised, who's the farmer, what are the standards? Find local friends you can split a meat CSA with. I have begun adjusting to eating less meat, but of a better quality. Evens out price-wise, I think. On balance, better for my long-term health and the economic and environmental health of my local food shed. It's a goal, anyway.

In Boston, Jamie Lionette is a great local butcher who is interested in locally raised meats. Ron Savenor is another you can speak to and make your desires and concerns known. Only when they hear from their customers that these things matter, will they, in turn, create the market for those farmers doing things the right way.

Breed diversity and preservation is a related matter. One of the dangers of losing breed diversity is the loss of a significant part of the food chain should disease or pests evolve to affect common livestock breeds. Many projects exist to increase and preserve diversity in our food chain, from the Endangered Hog Foundation to the Chefs Collaborative/RAFT Grow-Out project. (read more about it here.)

The Other White Meat at IACP

This apron was signed by the crazy Kim O'Donnel after she draped the give-away on me at the IACP culinary showcase. I'd tried to avoid "The Other White Meat" booth babes but they were relentless. We had discussions about waste lagoons and runoff and all manner of icky CAFO issues. They insist that all is well and the government is monitoring them carefully and regularly.

I guess that's why all those peanuts slipped by...the government inspectors were too busy hounding the pork producers. Whatever.

What you can't see, is the inscription Ms. "A Mighty Appetite" festooned my apron with. No, I cannot repeat it here. Suffice to say it was largely to blame for our belly laughs here...Really we don't have chins like this - really, we don't! And that's Russ Walker, Executive Editor of the newly spiffed up Grist.org. Looks innocent enough doesn't he? Don't believe it.

Me with American Guinea piglets at SullBar Farms in NH.

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Grandmas and Gesiers

Chef Tony Maws, a 2009 James Beard Award Nominee - will tell you he cooks "like 90% of the world’s grandmas do." I don’t know about that, but, if you think about it, grandma may not have had sea trout from Tasmania, yet she probably did "source locally" and probably organically because before big Ag took over, that’s just what was available.

In Chef Maws’ case, his grandma was definitely one of his key influences on his "long and winding road" to culinary stardom. As he describes it, his parents were working, and when they weren’t, they were renovating the old brownstone they’d bought in the South End. This meant two things. One: Tony grew up eating in Chinatown a lot when they didn’t have a functioning kitchen. (In fact, he beat the whole class in a chopsticks contest because he’d gained so much practice. He even beat the Chinese girl in his class.

The other result was that once they got the kitchen together Tony was as often as not, the one calling the parents at work saying, “when are you coming home? I’ve got a chicken in the oven.”

He was a careful understudy in his first restaurant job and when the opportunity presented itself he jumped in to a cooking role. Of course at that point, he was a pair of hands, “hey kid, stir this, put that in there...”  In subsequent jobs he waited tables and did whatever he could to be near the skiing. He picked up a degree in Psychology at Ann Arbor, but even there he was working in the best bar in town where they ground their own beef and made their own wing sauce.

It wasn’t till later that he was working under Chris Schlesinger that he began to think of cooking as a career. When Schlesinger and Steve Johnson both suggested that he might actually want to cook and that he might have what it takes, he began to realize this was something he could actually choose for a career.

He made his way to San Francisco working with many of the original Chez Panisse crew: Mark Miller, Judy Rogers, Jeremiah Towers.

It was at La Folie that he found his groove, becoming a serious student in the kitchen, taking every opportunity to learn. Ken Oringer (one of the Cochon judges) at Clio was open for about a year when he went to work for Ken. "I was there a total of a couple of years including a break to return to France, was sous at Lyon for 6 months at a 1 star Michelin place." Gesiers is French for chicken liver, as I learned on my birthday dinner at Craigie.

Then he'd finished at Clio. But I didn’t want to go to NY. "I started thinking 'maybe...'. I stumbled upon little basement space -it was cheap, I thought, why not? The last people did everything wrong and they lasted for two years. Worst case scenario: I’ve got a job for two years...”

"In the beginning, it was me and one cook, one dishwasher - who quit a couple of weeks in - to go to NYC. My wife was already waiting tables so had to get mom to wash dishes - literally. Things kept rolling and growing, I started doing things that I wanted to do, not knowing if they’d fly. Like I put veal tongue on once because I like it. We sold out by 7."

Main Street - "It's still my dream - it’s like we’re throwing a dinner party every night. We didn’t want to go far into the design stuff, because that’s not what we’re about. We’re about food not about the Italian leather chairs.."

"First month and a half it was tough. We had a loyal dedicated staff. We needed to throw out, in a way, the experience that people brought with them...we were going left when we shoulda gone right, we were lucky to have the loyal staff that came with us; but one day I had to just stop and say “throw it all out.”  This is a new place. New routines. Now we understand what we can do, in this kitchen in this space, we know how to do it."

How he came to the Heritage Breeds:

"Really, first came to it because of quality. I was working with a fresh local piece of pork. Then next opening a piece of cryovac-ed commercial meat and it struck me. I was going - 'Wait this is not the same thing'. So it really hit me that the quality of the meat is different. then I later had another whole pig and it was really different but that’s the challenge and the beauty of it. You have variation and cooks have to learn to keep engaging all their senses.

You might have a pork loin one week and if people want it again next week but you get a skinny pig, you gotta do something different."

Involving all the senses is important; even with precision techniques like sous vide, you have to involve the senses. You cannot have perfect food, with no soul. Well, you can, just not at Craigie.

Maws is hard at work on two questions when he's not in the kitchen:

Figuring out what he's going to make for the panel of judges and deciding whether Giselle is the worst thing to happen to the Patriots.

He does like this Sox team. A lot. 

Other Cochon Chef interviews:

• Cochon555 - Bond - Mad skills and haggis from a musical rancher
• Cochon555 - Bissonnette - Less waste, more taste, everything but the squeal from a once-vegan chef
• Cochon555 - Jennings - Cheese ambassador shares secrets of perfect cheese plate and one of his favorite dishes in Boston
• Cochon555 - Margate - Child of the Philippines and fan of umami, protege of star locavores brings talent to Boston and Cochon

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When bad-boy-chef-turned-doting-dad-travel-show-host Anthony Bourdain says the roast pig he had in the Philippines was "the best ever" , that’s saying something. Bourdain makes much of his legendary love of the pig.

So, never mind the other stellar chefs Margate is up against, the Philippine-born chef also has to live up to THAT? Talk about pressure. Something tells me our Cochon chef competitor is up to the challenge.

Chef Margate comes to Clink at the Liberty Hotel (formerly the Charles Street Jail) with a culinary rap sheet filled with stars: Traci des Jardins of Jardinere in SF and John Sundstrom of Lark Restaurant in Seattle, among them.

But our story starts even further away than the West Coast. Chef Margate was born and raised in the Philippines. Will he feel pressure to represent?

When his father decided to move to the US, Chef Margate was 12 years old. As a child he loved food, but would not have predicted that this would be his calling. He recalls his Saturday morning ritual with his father was to go to the market and get the fresh pig’s liver and sauté it with onions. Whole pigs would be brought to market and butchered there. "When we roasted a whole pig, it was over charcoal fire and it was hand-cranked. I used to crank it!" Yes chef, I saw the Bourdain episode. Every mouthwatering minute.

From that childhood of good food, learning about close relationships with the butchers and farmers in the Saturday market, Margate evolved to culinary student (California Culinary Academy in San Francisco). Later, a series of restaurants and chefs deepened his love of fresh, local food prepared with a classic bent. James Beard award-winning chefs like Traci des Jardins (Jardinere), and Jonathan Sundstrom (Lark) both focused and refined his love for seasonal fresh foods. In between, at the W Hotel in Seattle, Margate focused on bringing all the best from Earth & Ocean (the name of the restaurant) to guests of the hotel and diners at the lounge and restaurant.

Helping Sundstrom open Lark and working for des Jardins seem to stand out in his recounting of the things that led him to his current position. He speaks with reverence about relationships that enable him to keep learning. Margate is a chef that respects what comes from the earth and ocean and reveres those that fish and grow to bring us the best ingredients. He knows the hard work that is required to grow and also to create dishes from these products.

Of course nothing can quite prepare one to drop into a busy, brand new kitchen only a few months after it opened, in the midst of the holiday season chaos. He says, in his quiet way, it “took a few months to undo some things, many things.” One gets the sense he is finally relaxing into confidence in his kitchen, with his team, doing things his way, not the way the prior chef worked.

Sourcing locally has been, since his West Coast days, a very important value for Chef Margate. Where possible, he tries to continue to do so. Switching coasts has been another learning curve for him and he relishes the challenge and each new discovery. It may be hard for East Coasters to appreciate the beauty of something as common as a Nantucket Bay scallop, but when an experienced chef is filled with fresh excitement about this culinary gem, diners benefit.

He’s particularly grateful to Specialty Foods purveyors who’ve introduced him to our regional bests. Realizing now how special it was to have the experience at Lark where the forager would show up with fresh mushrooms still caked with earth at the kitchen door.

For those of us who are food geeks, or food-obsessed, we are always a little tickled to discover something new. Chef Margate was the first to tell me about Spigarello which I then saw in some food blog or column. I shared my new discovery of black garlic and he told me they’re growing lentils right here in Massachusetts!? This searching, curious nature bodes well for diners of Margate's food.

He notes the difference in Heritage pigs from commercial and the variety from pig to pig.  He was delighted to serve La Quercia Berkshire/black footed cross breed that was finished on acorns back in January. Making a three course tasting of it was a pleasure and “it had a clean fresh taste and was well-marbled and not at all gamey.” He also noted the beautiful pastry that comes from using the leaf lard. If only we could convince someone to carry it around here...

Other than restaurant week, he’s got a Berkshire pork loin on the menu he’s serving with semolina gnocchi French violet mustard (grape must lends a faint sweetness and lavender tinge to the savory mustard) with Mizuna greens. That’s one of his favorites on the menu.

He also makes a furikake fleur de sel and serves raw Nantucket Bay Scallops with that umami-rich salt and olive oil. Furikake is a Japanese condiment often sprinkled on rice dishes.

He’s also a fan of local and farmstead cheeses. His cheese plate and accompaniments were noted in the second edition of the new cheese magazine, Culture.

We’re certainly glad Chef Margate’s doing time here in Boston. Glad he's settled into his kitchen and found his neighborhood spot (Mike & Patty’s - we agree! Who else had peameal bacon in Boston?)

Will his recent tenure neutralize any home-court advantage of hosting the Cochon event...? Something tells me, under his soft-spoken demeanor beats the heart of a competitor. Lookout boys!

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• Other Cochon555 Chef Profiles: Jason Bond, Jamie Bissonnette, Matt Jennings,

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Chef Matt Jennings, one of the friendly chef- competitors for Cochon555, is the kind of guy that doesn’t pull any punches. I like that. In fact, when we met in San Francisco at Slow Food Nation, the first thing I noticed was that our heads were bobbing to the same points being made by heritage farmer Arie McFarlen and others on the panel we’d come to hear. Okay, that wasn't the very first thing I noticed. It was his size and his ink, THEN I noticed we were nodding to the same points. Clearly this is a man of strong passions. I introduced myself.

Talking with him recently about the upcoming pig fest, Cochon555, was a pleasure. Allow me to share it with you.

Matt shares his life and his business with his wife and partner Kate (that's her in the Sox cap - yay!) One of the things Matt first fell for in Kate was that she had strong opinions about food, and wasn’t afraid to share them.

What is it like working together?
“It’s intense no question about it," How do you handle it? "Knowing what our jobs are and not overlapping. That’s when it gets difficult for employees. On the other hand, it’s really great to have an amigo there, staff empowerment and such - that’s great.”

Remember the first meal you ate together?
“Wow absolutely...we were working together at Formaggio. I was the cheese buyer from like 99-01? Kate was catering director for Cambridge store. I walked in there and this cute 6’ tall blonde made me coffee...one thing led to another...

We went to the Blue Room; Steve Johnson was still there. We had a couple bottles of wine, great time. Steve was right there cooking for us, it was like one of those gastronomic events - just a good time, incredible food. Second date was at Central Kitchen, it’s still one of our regular rotations. Have to get the buttermilk polenta with pomegranate syrup  - mind blowing...”

“Cowgirl Creamery - she was at CIA, we were both out there (in California), yeah we built a relationship around food? It’s totally cool to meet someone who’s as opinionated as me about food. I mean really strong opinions about the same stuff I care about.” One could do worse.

Another thing Chef Jennings is passionate about is his cheese. You can find him in the inaugural edition of Culture: the Word on Cheese. Jennings has been an active educator and promoter of cheese and cheese knowledge from the start. (From the high chair, actually, if family legend is to be believed.)

Farmstead was opened in 2003 and La Laiterie in 2006. "Authentic, American, Artisan cheese and food". The recorded message on the phone says “Don’t forget to stop and smell the cheese”. Honest food, sold over a handshake and a smile, seasonal, handmade food. Reading over their website it's pretty impressive, they make everything they don't source locally, they host classes, and more.

You make the food, Kate the pastry. Pickles, even ice cream are house-made - what don’t you do in house?
"As much as we can, we do in-house. We use “from scratch” as a motto and it’s both house-made and handmade, where ever possible."

Matt is a cheese guy so naturally I wanted his inside info on his favorite cheese blogs or experts.
Cheese by Hand? "That’s one. Sasha and Michael are pretty awesome - throw it to the wind, getting their hands dirty with cheese makers." (It's one of my favorites, too.)

Anne Saxelby - "NYC greenmarket Essex St. Her blog has turned into a newsletter. Super smart and has a natural sensibility about intriguing, not killing them with the academia."

"And Max McCalman "-- the first restaurant-based Maître Fromager and a Garde et Jure as designated by France's exclusive Guilde des Fromagers. From Picholine to Artisanal, Max is a highly visible advocate for artisanal cheese production around the world.

And what is the secret to a good cheese plate? The Rule of Five.
"Max and others know so much and share so much, sometimes it’s tough for someone new, intimidating. There’s tons to know, I like to let the customers wade in slowly and like Anne, let them go as deep as they want. Let them decide how much they are ready to know or want to know."

"At La Laiterie and Farmstead - we suggest “rule of five”.  If someone’s putting together a cheese plate for a party I tell them to get just five, a little everything. We want them not to be overwhelmed." Five is in your grasp. "Plus odd numbers look beautiful on the plate. With five you can do one cow, , one sheep, one goat; one washed rind and a blue. Let it be significant and special. Get 5 kick-ass cheeses.”

Speaking of kicking ass - let’s get back to pig...
Jennings is not above talking a little smack about the upcoming competition, but it’s clear that he’s just stoked to be cooking with other great chefs who share his love of heritage pigs.

When I met Jennings at Slow Food we talked about the speed bumps along the road from farm to fork. For one, finding the farmers who raise the pigs the right way. But Jennings has found them. Next, it’s the abattoir or slaughterhouse issues. RI is a small state of course. That can work in its favor and sometimes slow things down. There are the established ways of doing things. Then there are those with a passion for taking them in a different direction. Jennings sees part of his mission as continually invigorating and inspiring the latter to help move the whole sustainable food community along a path that he and others would like to see it go.

Chefs talk about “utilization” which is how much usable product you get from an animal. When utilization can double if you get the right pig, at the optimal weight (160-180 lbs.), slaughtered in the most efficient way - well that can be the difference between profit and loss.

"There’s a small but growing community who get together to discuss and plan what to raise and how to raise it, all these issues. The balancing act is to keep things as local as possible, but also ensure that you’re doing the right things by your relationships and by your balance sheet. Sometimes it may mean driving out of state to get better yields."

Finally, since Jennings was a judge at the NYC Cochon event I asked his advice for my upcoming stint as a judge.
“Tips for judging? Deep breaths! It’s a lot of pig. In NY, (Food & Wine Magazine’s) Christine Quinlan said to me, “Well I guess I’m off the organ donor list now!”

Can't say I haven't been warned.

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Fabricating the Truth

Fabrication: 1 a: invent , create b: to make up for the purpose of deception

2: construct , manufacture ; specifically : to construct from diverse and usually standardized parts

“Fabrication” in cooking is not about deception, but about truth. If we’re going to kill an animal for food, isn’t it more honest to use the whole animal rather than just the chops, steaks and maybe the ribs?

So few chefs are familiar in ways to break down and use the whole hog that Chef Bissonnette has created quite a little silk purse from sows’ ears. And we’re all the better for it. He notes “sausage and pâté making kind of took a hiatus - and now are much more popular again.” Of course, he’s part of the reason why they are. His fabrication classes, his charcuterie classes - they’re almost always sold out. Whether he’s in a culinary school setting or something aimed at more adventurous home cooks, people are delighted to be rediscovering these food preservation methods. Upcoming classes include one for chefs where he’ll teach them how to make money through nose to tail fabrication. He’s even featured (along with which one of our other Cochon555 Chefs?) in the Chefs Collaborative Pork Report. (email me for a link or check the Chefs Collaborative site, here)

Bissonnette, now at Toro Restaurant in the South End, is excited to be involved with the upcoming pigfest that is Cochon555. 

As Bissonnette sees it, using the whole hog is all about “a cook’s quest for the best ingredients.” Even if he uses pea greens from Eva’s and Jim Cook’s carrots, he doesn’t necessarily announce the origin of every ingredient he’s serving them. But he does want people to know he’s constantly trying to source the best ingredients, from pigs to pea greens. 

Bissonnette knows it’s not easy to get the best information and that to many chefs a lot of this is new. He himself didn’t grow up anywhere near a farm and he had to learn that a “Berkshire” hog was a breed of hog, not an appellation. Kurobuta was a buzzword for awhile, but he saw too many chefs led astray by the “trust your purveyor” mentality. In fact, if you’re talking about Kobe you’re probably selling me Wagyu. True Kurobuta in Vermont? Nope.

For Bissonnette it’s about the quality of the product and the quality of the relationships. Those things hang in the balance together. Developing one-on-one relationships with the farmers themselves, not relying on middlemen, Bissonnette can see how the pigs he serves were raised. He can take the butchers offal that others are not using and make something wonderful with them. That’s less waste, better product, and more efficient use of resources.

The taste experience is one that drives Bissonnette, like any good chef. He feels the greatest injustice ever done to the American public was the “Other White Meat” campaign which paired lean tasteless factory farmed meat with “pork” - and for many consumers, the two became one. Rediscovery of the pleasure of pork, as it was meant to be, is something of a quest for Bissonnette. He’s delighted to be working in a small plate format at Toro.

Since moving there from KO Prime, he has expanded Toro's menu, takes whole hogs in often, utilizing the whole hog, nose to tail. He roasts at least one suckling pig a week. He can utilize the parts that other chefs might not use, and make tasty dishes that are small plates and affordable prices. This is an easier introduction to these new (actually old) dishes for many customers, too.

He gleefully says he's “using brains and hearts and kidneys and people dig it.”  The Toro small plates give him flexibility and “people are willing to try small plates of maybe 2 oz. or 4 oz. of calves brains for example, and you couldn’t really eat much more than that, anyway." Small plates running around $6.00 are bigger than hors d’oeuvres and smaller than entrees and allow people to experiment.

I can’t wait to report on my first meal at Toro. Stay tuned.

Bissonnette trivia:

1. Other than his cleaver and butchers knife, what other straight edge is important to this chef?
2. What do Bissonnette and Zombies have in common?
3. What do Bissonnette and Tallahassee have in common besides Florida?
4. True or False - Bissonnette was once a cheese ambassador? 
5. True or False - Bissonnette was once a vegetarian?

Here are the answers to last week’s Chef Profile Quiz: 

How well do you know Chef Jason Bond? Here’s a little true/false quiz:

1. Chef Bond was raised on a ranch in Wyoming. True

2. Like other chefs, he studied music in Boston before turning to cooking. False he studied music before moving to Boston and turning to cooking.

3. He studied cheese and charcuterie in France. True

4. He’s worked at Relais and Chateaux properties. True

5. He helped open B&G Oysters and The Butcher Shop. True

6. He knows his way around chocolates and cannele. True

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Who will be crowned "Prince of Porc" at Cochon555 Boston?

Meet our first chef to be profiled here: Jason Bond - Beacon Hill Bistro

[ed. note: This is the first in a series of profiles on chefs competing for title of “Prince of Porc” at the upcoming Cochon555 event. Other chefs profiles to watch for:

• Jamie Bissonnette
• Matt Jennings
• Tony Maws
• Joseph Margate

I was invited to dine at Bond’s Beacon Hill Bistro and was delighted to accept. We put ourselves in the hands of the chef, going Omakase-style. Looking at the menu, it was clear this is a chef who values locally-sourced products. If you couldn’t tell from the menu itself, the “Local for the Locals” insert sums it up:

These long winter nights accentuate the importance of community. We take it one step further by reinvigorating our commitment in two directions: the community in which we live (that means you!) and the community of local farms which we support. Put it together and you have “Local for the Locals.”

Hand-made cavatelli, New Hampshire bacon, Maine Crab, local cheeses, Nantucket Diver Scallops, Maryland Striped Bass, Yorkshire Pork Shoulder... the signs were good.

One of the challenges of working with whole hogs, as one must often do when dealing with small farms, is using the whole hog efficiently, profitably and of course, deliciously. When I saw that Bond was making Haggis for Robert Burns Day, I knew he was someone with some mad skills. Fabrication (utilizing a whole hog by breaking it down into all possible components), charcuterie, pates, this skill set is one of the criteria for the Cochon event.

On the night we dined with BHB our meal included:

• Crisp Confit D uck Leg with Heirloom Grits and Collard Greens
• Pâté du Chef: House-made Charcuterie with Classic Accompaniments
• Local Skate Wing with Brown Butter Hazelnuts, Roasted Squash and Baby Spinach
• Braised Yorkshire Pork Shoulder with New Carrots and Radishes and Cider Raisin Sauce

Without knowing the Chef or his background, it was easy to tell from his food that he had some stage or training in classical techniques. Sauces were expertly rendered, light and flavorful. Roasting was done perfectly whether it was a pork shoulder or kabocha squash. The confit was excellent.

Based on his Yorkshire shoulder* the other competitors will need to bring their "A" games. The chefs involved in this friendly competition echo Chef Bond’s sentiments. Those I've spoken with have great respect for each other and say this is about celebrating heritage pigs and breed diversity. It's about local sustainable food and secondarily, about winning the title of “Prince of Porc.”

How well do you know this Chef? Here’s a little true/false quiz:

1. Chef Bond was raised on a ranch in Wyoming.
2. Like other chefs, he studied music in Boston before turning to cooking.
3. He studied cheese and charcuterie in France.
4. He’s worked at Relais and Chateaux properties.
5. He helped open B&G Oysters and The Butcher Shop.
6. He knows his way around chocolates and cannele.

Answers in next week’s profile.

* Breeds will also be profiled here shortly.

• Read about Jason's Mangalitsa's here: What's a Hungarian Pig doing on Beacon Hill?

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