Tag:

pork

chefs & restaurants farms news wine & drinks

Chef Jamie Bissonnette Wins Cochon 555 Boston 2012

by David Dadekian March 26, 2012

written by David Dadekian

Chef Jamie Bissonnette's Bánh Mì of Coppa, Kidney Spread, Head Cheese and Ham

Chef Jamie Bissonnette of Coppa and Toro in Boston was the winner of the fourth annual Cochon 555 Boston competition. The event, held this year at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Boston was even more over-the-top than years past with a packed ballroom of people eating outstanding pork dishes from Bissonnette along with the four other competitors, Chefs Barbara Lynch and Colin Lynch of Menton, Barry Maiden of Hungry Mother, Tim Cushman of O Ya and Steve Postal of Fenway Park.

To underscore how Cochon 555 brings out the best competitors, last week Chefs Bissonette and Cushman were named James Beard Foundation award finalists for Best Chef: Northeast. One of Chef Lynch’s other restaurants in her Barbara Lynch Gruppo, No. 9 Park, is a finalist for the Beard Foundation Awards’ Outstanding Wine Program. Also at the Cochon 555 Boston event was a third Beard Foundation Award Best Chef: Northeast nominee, Chef Matt Jennings of Farmstead & La Laiterie. This was the first year that Providence, Rhode Island favorite Jennings did not compete in the Cochon 555, having won all three of the previous Boston events. Jennings was on hand as part of the Le Creuset challenge.

Cochon is the brainchild of Brady Lowe who now hosts fourteen culinary events around the United States each year with the goal of supporting sustainable agriculture. The journey begins every January when Cochon 555 embarks on a 10-city culinary competition and tasting tour. Fifty chefs are selected to prepare a “snout -to-tail” menu created from heritage breed pigs. The ten local winners are flown to the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen for the final competition, Grand Cochon. Three other national events—Cochon All-Star, Cochon Heritage Fire and a BBQ competition—bring even bigger voices to the cause of whole animal utilization.

As the winner, Bissonnette will now compete in Aspen, Colorado at the Grand Cochon U.S. Tour Finale during the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. Congratulations to Chef Bissonnette and his entire team. Good luck in Aspen. Below is a selection of fifteen photographs highlighting tonight’s event. You can view posts and photos from previous years here.

Chef Jamie Bissonnette with his trophy (Chef Tim Cushman to left)

Chef Bissonnette's plate, clockwise from upper left: La Lot Vietnamese Sausage, Bánh Mì, Pig Foot Rillette, Pork Belly Pho

Chicken Fried Head Cheese with bacon waffle and maple syrup from Chef Colin Lynch of Barbara Lynch Gruppo

Chef Colin Lynch of Menton slicing ham

The Hungry Mother team, Chef Barry Maiden in center, preparing their platter of six dishes

O Ya's ingenious menu presentation, "printed" on pig skin

Chef Steve Postal brought a large display of Red Sox items with him from Fenway Park, including . . .

. . . yes, that's a World Series trophy! Chef Postal brought both the 2004 & 2007 Red Sox World Series Champion trophies for display. That's Postal serving his Pork Blood Ice Cream over a "Pork Crispy Treat"

The crowd watching the Lemay & Sons Beef butchery demo of a whole Berkshire from Brambly Farms

All that beautifully butchered Brambly Farms Berkshire pig

Daniel Hyatt from The Alembic in San Francisco prepared the perfect Manhattans with an assortment of small batch bourbons

Hyatt's beautifully presented Manhattan in a Mason jar

Chef Bissonnette with a magic ingredient Blis Small Batch Bourbon Barrel Aged Fish Sauce

from left to right: Chef Barry Maiden of Hungry Mother, Chef Colin Lynch of Menton, Chef Steve Postal of Fenway Park, Cochon 555 founder Brady Lowe, Chef Barbara Lynch of Barbara Lynch Gruppo, Chef Tim Cushman of O Ya and Chef Jamie Bissonnette of Coppa and Toro

Chef Jamie Bissonnette and Cochon 555 founder Brady Lowe embrace after Lowe announces Bissonnette as the Boston winner. Chef Matt Jennings cheers in the background

March 26, 2012 0 comment

chefs & restaurants farms news

News Bites: Aquidneck Honey, Easy Entertaining and Thee Red Fez

by David Dadekian January 7, 2012

written by David Dadekian

Aquidneck Honey

Aquidneck Honey, supplier of pure, raw, local, chemical-free honey, launched an online storefront over the holidays. In addition to some of the best honey I’ve tasted delivered in 1 pound and large quart containers, Aquidneck Honey sells cut honey comb, a number lip balms in assorted flavors and honey straws, which are an excellent treat. Aquidneck Honey also makes up gift baskets with an assortment of their products and other local goods. For a limited time when you make a purchase totalling $50 or more and enter the promo code “hat” you will receive a free Aquidneck Honey baseball cap. If you can’t buy direct from Jeff the Bee Man at several farmers markets and local supermarkets, you can still get your Aquidneck Honey fix at http://aquidneckhoney.com/store.html

Easy Entertaining Inc.

Easy Entertaining Inc., a full-service catering company dedicated to preparing local and fresh food, is launching a Grab and Go Lunch service from their new location inside the Hope Artiste Village at 1005 Main Street in Pawtucket (home to the Pawtucket / Wintertime Farmers’ Market). Take out lunch will be prepared Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. each week and the menu will change weekly. To sign up for a weekly emailed menu, email info@easyentertainingri.com and ask to be added to their weekly lunch menu distribution. For this upcoming first week the offerings include: Roasted Root Vegetable Soup ($3.95), Baffoni Chicken & Rice Soup ($4.95), The Locavore’s Garden salad ($4.95) and The California Skinny Chicken Salad ($6.95). You can view their menu here on Eat Drink RI.

Thee Red Fez

On Friday evening, January 6, Thee Red Fez on Peck St. in Providence turned over their kitchen to James Mark, one of the cooks at Nick’s on Broadway and formerly a cook at Fez and Momofuku Ko in New York, for a late night menu that had been hyped during the days leading up to it with Twitter hashtags of #fezlatenite, #americaisethnic and #DumplingHaus. As you can see from the menu below Mark, along with Fez cook Tim Shulga, prepared a number of dumplings as well as bao, steamed buns that the much-lauded Momofuku Chef David Chang made into one of the hottest food items in New York a few years back. To say Mark nailed it would be an understatement. Everything on the menu was very well done with the standouts for me being the natang dumplings and the two buns.

Not to get all misty, but things like this is why food in our area is leaps and bounds ahead of other U.S. regions. We have talented chefs who make creative, interesting—let’s just say delicious—food, and a population who is willing to support it. Thee Fez sold out of all the late night menu items last night and Mark is doing it again tonight. Plus he told me he’ll be serving ramen this evening as well. If you like great eats and you think you have to go to New York or San Francisco for them, you’re wrong. Get yourself over to Thee Red Fez tonight. A special thanks should be given to Thee Red Fez owner Chef Ed Reposa for aiding and abetting Mark’s menu.

Thee Red Fez late nite menu from guest crook James E. Mark

January 7, 2012 0 comment

cooking

Charcutepalooza December: Thank You

by David Dadekian December 6, 2011

written by David Dadekian

Charcuterie Board (see lower photo for descriptions)

And so it goes. Our year of meat has come to a close. For the final Charcutepalooza challenge we were told to show what we learned all year. In Cathy’s own words, do some “showing off” with a celebration. Personally, I think a lot of the Charcutepalooza participants have been showing off all year long—and I mean that in a very positive way. I’ve had an immense amount of fun, a little frustration and a minor failure, but mostly huge fun.

The final challenge for me involved my family and the weekend after Thanksgiving, a leisurely weekend of chopping down a Christmas tree and putting up lights and decorations, all while enjoying the meats and cheeses you see on the big board above. The bresaola I had made for the previous challenge, all the rest of the charcuterie I slowly assembled over the month of November in preparation for the bittersweet end.

As I said, it was the weekend after Thanksgiving. My parents were visiting us from their home in Florida. My wife had four days off from work. My daughters were constantly excited from all the grandparent attention and all these Christmas decorations coming out—there’s a tree in the house! I knew I wasn’t going to want to cook too much after the multi-day extravaganza that is Thanksgiving, but I knew we’d want to eat something else besides leftovers so thought, what’s better than a spread of charcuterie that we can pick at as we work and play?

I made all these photographs and then we proceeded to clear the board over the weekend, cooking up the sausage and some of the lamb bacon, steaming the pastrami until it was moist and tender. My mother loved the pâté, something she doesn’t get that often, and I avoided mentioning to her that using Jacques Pépin’s very classical recipe calls for half a pound of livers with 3/8 of a pound of butter as the base. As much as I would love to see my girls eat everything on the board, they’re not there yet, though Brigid did sample all the Farmstead cheeses at the Wintertime Farmers’ Market and helped pick out two of them.

When I was making the pâté the day before I had taken out a bottle of Armenian “cognac.” I use quotes because it’s obviously not made in the French region of Cognac, but that’s what Armenian brandies have been called for many years. Supposedly Armenian cognac was Winston Churchill’s drink of choice. My dad hadn’t seen a bottle in years and wanted to try it so my wife, in perhaps a bit of whimsy, took out a couple of shot glasses with shamrocks on them for us to have a drink. The bottle from Armenia alongside the Irish shot glass kind of summed up our whole family so I made a photo, but this being a Charcutepalooza feast I had to stick the pâté in the photo too.

So with that memory and image of all my now eaten charcuterie (there’s a little lamb bacon left, but won’t be for long) I close my year of meat. But I certainly can’t end without a huge thank you to Cathy Barrow and Kim Foster for coming up with all this fun. I’ve been making charcuterie for years, but never as regularly or as focused as I did for the last year. Also, for me, the best part was expanding how I would photograph these things. I started with some different ways with the duck prosciutto, became really happy with my style as I got to the pancetta and the last three months of meat pie, galantine and bresaola have been very satisfying for me. I appreciate all the kind comments and Kim’s choosing a few of my photos for her monthly wrap-ups. I can’t thank her and especially Cathy’s inspiring challenges and tweets enough.

Special thanks also to Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn, authors of our manual for the year Charcuterie. I eagerly await their salumi book. Finally, I can’t possibly think of a way to say thank you enough to all the wonderful Charcutepalooza participants. I can’t say enough about the joy of “conversing” with all of you on Twitter. If I begin to try and list everyone’s Twitter name I know I’ll miss someone, so check out this great archive of every tweet with the #charcutepalooza tag and follow them all.

Thank you again, Cathy @MrsWheelbarrow and Kim @KimFosterNYC!

Turkey & chicken liver pâté with Armenian brandy ("cognac")

Charcuterie Board

Turkey & Chicken Liver Pâté

Bresaola

Lamb Bacon

Pastrami

December 6, 2011 0 comment

cooking

Charcutepalooza September: Packing: English Meat Pie

by David Dadekian September 15, 2011

written by David Dadekian

Preparing English meat pie

Some of these Charcutepalooza posts have been short because of frustration (see stuffing sausage). In this case, this post is on the short side because everything worked out so well and was so darn easy. Either I’m learning to deal with meat mess much better (none in my daughter’s hair this time!) or I’m getting better at running various animal parts through both ends of my Kitchenaid mixer. Even the dough making part of this month’s challenge went smoothly, and I don’t have the best record of dealing with doughs (caused by more of my finely-tuned-lack-of-coordination—there’s been flour all over my children in the past too). I won’t go so far as to say my dough work was a huge success, but this was definitely a very smooth challenge for me. Which is good because Mrs. Wheelbarrow is already teasing us via #charcutepalooza on Twitter with a super difficult challenge for October.

As you can see from the photos on this page, I decided to make an English Pork Pie, and in a rare moment for me, I decided to exactly stick to the recipe in Ruhlman & Polcyn’s Charcuterie. Well, sort of. In sorting one of our freezers after a blackout (thanks, Hurricane Irene!) I noticed that I had a little over a pound of venison left from earlier this year. I grabbed a few ounces of pork fat to round it up to a pound and a half, and ground it all as a substitute for the pork in the recipe for English Pork Pie. That’s the ground venison in the photo above, along with some herbs and spices in the bowl, waiting for the addition of the sauteed onions and garlic to the right and the cup of chicken stock to the upper left. It all came together quickly and easily, and now I had the insides for English Venison Pie.

Leaving that to chill, I tackled the dough. Maybe I had just the right atmospheric conditions, or I was just plain lucky, but the dough came together as easily too. I’m not saying it was pretty, and as you can see in my four-step process photos below it could’ve used a bit more finesse, but it was good dough and I didn’t make a huge mess. Note regarding photos: powdery substances like flour and my camera & lenses do not mix. That brings us to the four-step photos below, and I know I sound like a broken record (ask your parents), but laying out the dough and the meat and sealing it all up, came together easily too.

A few notes: I made an aspic with chicken stock to pour inside. I’m not sure if it would’ve worked as it didn’t look like much space, but I was going to try. That is until I wisely asked my wife if she would eat the Venison Pie if I encased it in meat jelly. She said she’d pass so I passed on adding the aspic. Also, while I thought I was being clever baking on a Silpat for easy removal from the pan, in retrospect, I wouldn’t use it again. The bottom of the pie was rather soggy. I’m not sure the Silpat contributed to that, but I’ll try it without next time. One last note, this was not the most attractive dish once I sliced into it. I was going to get out a different lens and play around with the slices, but then I tasted it. As much as I love making photos of food, I really love eating great food better. We devoured this pie. The ground venison with pork fat was moist and very flavorful and the crust tasted fantastic. I know I strayed with the meat, but Ruhlman & Polcyn’s recipe was perfect.

It’s hard to believe another month has passed in The Year of Meat and now we’re three-quarters of the way through Charcutepalooza. As I do every month, and I will continue to do so even when Charcutepalooza is over, I send many thanks to Cathy Barrow a.k.a. Mrs. Wheelbarrow and Kim Foster a.k.a. The Yummy Mummy. Also, the community that’s sprung up around these monthly challenges is very fun, warm and constructive. So if you’ve been reading along but not playing along, pick up the Twitter and find #charcutepalooza.

Four stages of making the pie

The finished English Venison Pie

September 15, 2011 0 comment

Newer Posts

Older Posts