We source almost exclusively whole animals these days, which is a great deal of work, but so very worthwhile and rewarding.  It truly drives our creativity and pushes us to be resourceful, aware, and keeps us constantly changing and evolving our food.  More importantly, its a huge help to our local and small farmers to be able to take in a whole animal instead of trying to cherry-pick the “good cuts”, which leaves them with a freezer full of  animal that they bread, reared, raised and cared for, only to watch hang out in their freezer with no one to love nor respect the life that was given and the many efforts that were made to get it all the way to the abattoir.

One of  my favorites, ok actually my favorite (but ssshhhh! don’t tell my beef farmer because I love that too! ok, don’t tell my fisherman or my chicken farmer either, because I love breaking their products also!) animals to butcher and get into is the hog. The enormous variety of product that a hog yields is enough to make any chef or food lover salivate (i.e. ham, chops, headcheese, butts, jowls, trotters, skirts, snout, flanks, tenderloins, sausages, lomo, lardo, prosciotto, kidneys, brains, chiccarones, rillettes, pates, ribs, the Holy Grail-BACON, and so much more), the possibilities are almost endless.  Most of our pork comes from farmer Bill at Stoney Hill Farm here in RI.  We do a great deal with the different bits and pieces, and not a single piece goes to waste. We utilize 100% of the animal in some way, shape or form.

Tonight I’ve got a couple that I know loves all that is pork more than most (they will remain nameless for their protection for fear of jealous reaction over their porktacular porksperience tonight).   So I’ve put a little something special together for them tonight, a pork tasting menu… I thought I’d share it with you all….

Pork tasting  Saturday 11.5.11

C1. Amuse bouche/snack plate

Schartner Farm Sweet Potato-Rye Bread w/Molasses-Clove Butter + Crispy Smoked Bacon

C2. Puree

Schartner Farm Parsnip + Sweet Onion Puree w/Fried Quonset Point Oyster, Stoney Hill Farm Pork Belly + Celery Leaf

C3. Cananpe

Stoney Hill Farm Pork + Blackbird Farm Beef Kidney Pate with Pickled RI Pears, Golden Raisins, Fresh Baked Brioche

C4. Trotter “Salad”

Stoney Hill Farm Pork Trotter + Head Cheese Croquette with Soft Boiled Baffoni Farm Egg, Barden’s Orchard Apples, Allen Farm Pea Greens, Pickled Mustard Seeds + Pickled Local Cranberries

C5. Tongue

Char-grilled Stoney Hill Farm Pork Tongue with Allen Farm Arugula-Walnut Polenta, Parmesan + Lemon-Thyme Jus

C6. Refresher

Schartner Farm Pumpkin-Citrus Sorbet with Chiccarone Sea Salt, Lime + Cava

C6. Rib + Snout Braise

Slow-braised Stoney Hill Farm Pork Ribs + Snout with Crystal Brook Farm Goat Cheese + Golden Potato Puree, Parsley, Black Pepper + Hill’s Cider Jus

C7. Dessert

Pork lard + Corn Cake with Vermont Maple Ice Cream, Candied Pecans + Caramel