A 'Taste of Elegance' Preparation - Day Two

Day Two: Today we moved forward with our preparation for monday's event. Check out the videos for the full run down....

First step: Strain the pork stock and then strain again. Once strained, I moved the stock onto the flame and proceed to clean it of impurities. Once cleaned and reduced slightly, this stock will form the base with which we braise the various parts of the hog.


Step Two: Grinding the fatback. We are calling the preparation we are presenting on monday a 'rillette', which is really stretching the terminology, but who cares. Basically what we're going to do is braise the shoulders, belly, head and tongue in the rich pork stock. Once the meats are cooked, then we're going to pick them and reform the meat into a log which we'll coat with panko bread crumbs and pan fry. Part of the flavorings we're going to add to the meat mixture is ground fat back which I think will promote the natural pork flavor, as well as, provide an amazing mouthfeel for the finished dish.


Step Three: Stomach Chips. Enough said. Watch the video.


Step Four: Making the fry oil. Yes, we're even messing with the fry oil to try and add more flavor. Actually, now's a good time to discuss how we're going about layering flavors for this particular dish. My whole idea behind this dish is that I want to make sure that the pork has maximum 'porkiness' and doesn't get lost behind another flavor that's trying to elbow in. Basically every decision we make has to have the underlying thought of 'is this going to enhance the pork flavor'? If the answer is no, then the idea gets thrown out. So, Beau's pork has a very earthy quality to it. Mushrooms also have earthy tones, so I thought perhaps we'd infuse the oil were going to fry in with mushroom stems. Done.


Step Five: Processing lard. Does anyone else's heart flutter hearing the words 'processing lard'? Anyhow, back to using the whole animal. We are taking lard from the animal and rendering it down so that we can use it to confit the yukon golden potatoes we'll be using as the base of our dish.


Step Six: Cutting brunoise vegetables: I alluded to the fact that I'll be folding 'flavorings' into the cooked pork product when I begin to roll the logs. One of the additions I'll be using is a brunoise(really damn small for the uninitiated) of carrot, leek and granny smith apple. Just thought I'd leave you with a video of how far we're willing to go in order to get an amazing dish. Seriously, cutting brunoise is a HUGE pain in the ass..... but worth it.


More tomorrow.

A 'Taste of Elegance' Preparation - Day One

A couple of months ago I was approached by Howard Greenblatt of the Pork Board and asked if I would like to participate in this year's Taste of Elegance in Baltimore, MD. The Taste of Elegance gathers 10 chefs from the Mid-Atlantic states and asks them to present their most innovative pork dishes for judging and then opens the room up for a gala tasting. I said, 'Sure, I'd love to do it, but.....'. There's always a 'but'. In true Sheppard Mansion style, I asked if it would be possible for me to bring my own pig instead of using the pork products provided. I'm sure Howard was on the other end of the phone thinking 'Who is this guy? He's wants to bring his own pig? This isn't a 4H show....' Anyhow, regardless of what he was thinking, he agreed. Next stop: Call Beau Ramsburg and get that little piggy to market. Actually since it was a couple of months ago, it was more like 'Hey, do you think you'll have a hog in line for the first week of November and can we do some of those super cool finishing techniques on it?' Answers: yes and yes. So, on monday, the whole team will be packing up everything we need and traveling to Baltimore to show off our pig prowess. I thought it would be fun to document our every step leading up to the competition for everyone to check out. Please check back often. I'm going to post every day leading up to the competition. Here we go.....

So, obviously, that was Beau and that was our competition hog. We won't be using all the parts shown on the video for our dish, put PROMISE to use the 'fun stuff' like tongue, head, stomach and tail. Yes, tail. Oh yeah, if you're a frequent watcher of my videos, you notice that both Beau and I like to keep our phones on during filming. For historical reference click here.

Next stop: The stock pot.

That stock will come off today, get cleaned and clarified and be a base for braising the shoulders and head.

Fat. Mmmm, fat.

We'll grind the fatback today and then store it for use in the rillette.

I just can't stomach this....

When the hog got dropped off yesterday, I noticed a small bag stuffed in the corner of the cooler. I instantly broke into a smile and said 'stomach'. Beau smiled and said, 'yeah, I thought it would be cool to see what you would do with that and you said you wanted the 'whole animal'.' Well, here's your answer. Stomach chips. Just sort of rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? Stomach chips.

There you have it. Day one. Please check back over the next couple of days and see our progress.

VOTE.

Its been a long campaign season with robo-calls, seeing Russia from our collective houses and 'Joe(Samuel) the(unlicensed) Plumber'(now turned back tax owing country music singer...Ah America, the land of opportunity). I encourage everyone to go out and vote....then come back to your computers and watch this video it ALWAYS makes me laugh.



Please remember....while some cling to guns and religion, I cling to pork products and pretzel rolls. Why wasn't that a campaign slogan?