Pork – Page 12 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Suckling Pig Brooklyn Style

I spent my Friday afternoon at Kam Nam in Chinatown buying the necessary tools: plastic pail, check; cleaver, check. I perused my Fergus Henderson book for a brine recipe but I had to make a few adjustments because I didn’t have juniper berries on hand. The Dr. cut Rog in several sections to make him fit in the pail. Twenty-four hours later, he was ready to go to Williamsburg. (The Dr. went, too.)

When I first ordered Rog, I immediately thought of Chef George Weld of egg. I knew he would appreciate it and I knew he would want to partake in eating a suckling pig. He’s a busy man but he made time over the weekend to cook and welcome us to their home in Brooklyn. The head was cooked with carrots and celery. One of the legs was pan-fried before hitting the oven. The loins, well, they were just roasted to perfection. By the time we sat down to eat, we’ve already consumed two bottles of wine. We made my Brussels sprouts with bacon salad, added a bowl of nice turnips and radishes and opened two more bottles of red.

I’ve never seen a nicer plate of pig. Rog’s meat was very succulent and tasty–the product of just eating acorns in the farm where he came from. His meat was naturally flavorful and because the chef gave his full attention, his skin was golden and crispy. We had a few servings of each part. The loin was everyone’s favorite, of course, but we had a stab of the neck meat which was definitely more substantial and bloody-tasting, and the leg which was more lean. We thank Rog for letting us enjoy him the way he’s supposed to be enjoyed. We believe he served his ultimate purpose.

Chestnut and Chickpea Hotpot

I bought The Food of Spain and Portugal to skim through during my flight back from Barcelona and made marks to the recipes I’d like to test at home. Not wanting to let go of our Catalan experience just yet, I picked Extramadura’s puchero de castaÃ±as con garbanzos, or chestnut and chickpea hotpot to get that comforting feeling we had when we ate chickpeas at almost every tapas bar in Barcelona.

This recipe needs a little bit of planning ahead to soak the chickpeas and chestnuts overnight.
I used the Goya chickpeas from the grocery store. As for the chestnuts, there’s plenty in Chinatown that’s packaged dry, but I wanted the ones soaked in water because I didn’t get the chance to soak them with the chickpeas. (Note that chestnuts in water is different from water chestnuts!) At Dean and Deluca, I bought a $9.50 can of Clement Faugier whole chestnuts in water, a French brand–a little steep but that’s why I said you should plan ahead. There are plenty of smoked ham hocks in my grocery store for less than $2 and because I only used them to flavor the broth, I didn’t feel too bad about throwing them out after cooking. The dried pimento peppers I found at DespaÃ±a for $1.50 in a small box. They were chewy after cooking so I just discarded them, too.

The temperature dropped down to 65 on my way home and it was a little bit chilly. Coming home to make this hotpot with a couple of glasses of Shinn Estate’s Red was what I just needed to wind down. It is great with country bread from Balthazar.

Ingredients:
half a 1-pound package of chickpeas, soaked overnight in water, drained
1 can of chestnuts in water, drained
1 smoked ham hock
1 packaged of bacon, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 ribs of celery, chopped
3 dried pimento peppers, seeded and torn
3 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp crushed peppercorns
2 hardboiled eggs
a handful of shiitake mushrooms, wiped off clean and chopped
parsley, finely chopped
thyme
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. In a large casserole, combine all the ingredients except the egg, mushrooms, parsley and seasonings. Add enough water to cover everything and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat a little and let simmer for 1 to 2 hours or until chickpeas are soft while ocassionally stirring. Add some more water if needed; the dish should be more soupy than dry.
2. Stir in the olive oil so that the broth will emulsify and become creamier and let it boil again. Discard the bay leaf and the pimento peels. Season with some salt.
3. In the meantime, fry the mushrooms in a pan with hot olive oil and season with thyme, salt and pepper. Add to the pot, stir a bit and turn off the heat. Stir in the parsley and serve with the eggs.

Filipino Bopis, Pig’s Heart Sauté

For a less challenging dish, I skipped over the cow’s penis at Dynasty Supermarket and opted for the pig’s heart instead. I could have used pig’s lungs, too, but they weren’t available during my visit. Moving away from Spain, I chose bopis [boh-peace] to show the Chinese influence in Filipino cooking. The ethnic Chinese settled in the Philippines even before Magellan set foot in 1521. If the Spanish military did not beat the Chinese (and the Japanese, the Dutch and the British, too), the country would have more similarities to China than Spain. Of course, no colonizer had to tell us that bopis is enjoyed with a cold bottle of beer.

Ingredients:
1 pigâ€™s heart, thoroughly washed, boiled, minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 onion, finely chopped
4 sprigs of thyme
a handful of parsley, finely chopped
3 green chilis, sliced
1/4 cup of beef broth
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 small radish, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup vinegar
salt, pepper, oil

1. In a wok, sautÃ© garlic and onion in hot oil. Add heart and season with salt and pepper and chilis. Cook for 5 minutes until golden brown.
2. Add vegetables and vinegar. Boil without stirring. Add beef broth and simmer until liquid evaporates. It’s perfect when you’re scraping brown bits from the bottom of your wok.

Whiskey and Honey-Marinated Pork Tenderloin

Adapted from a cooksrecipes.com recipe using bourbon

Ingredients:
2-pound pork tenderloin
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup whiskey
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
half an onion, chopped
2 tbsps honey
4 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced
2 tbsps ginger, crushed and minced
2 tbsps fresh sage, chopped
1/4 tsp paprika
salt and pepper

1. Combine oil, whiskey, vinegar, soy sauce, onion, honey, garlic, ginger and sage in a bowl. Mix well. Put the tenderloins in a dish and pour the marinade over. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator overnight, turning the meat several times.
2. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 450Â°. Remove meat from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Remove from marinade, pat dry; season with salt, pepper and paprika. Reserve the marinade.
3. In a deep skillet, brown both sides of tenderloin in hot oil. Place in a rack and roast in the oven about 15 minutes per pound, basting 2 or 3 times during roasting with the reserved marinade. Let the roast stand on a carving board lightly covered with foil for 20 minutes before slicing. Serve warm or cold.

Swedish Meatballs

Adapted from Marcus Samuelsson, Aquavit Restaurant

Ingredients:
For the meatballs:
3/4 pound ground beef
3/4 pound ground pork
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
2 tbsps honey
1 egg
3 tbsps unsalted butter
salt, pepper, olive oil

For the sauce:
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup cranberry relish
2 tbsps juice from a jar of tiny gherkin pickles
salt, pepper

1. SautÃ© onions in hot skillet with olive oil until softened. Let cool and set aside.
2. Make meatballs. In a bowl, mix ground beef and pork with honey, egg, bread crumbs and cream. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Melt butter in the same skillet. Brown meatballs and cook for about 7 minutes. Transfer to a clean plate. Keep skillet on heat and discard the remaining oil and juice except for 1 tablespoon.
4. Make sauce by whisking stock, cream, cranberry and pickle juice in the skillet over medium heat. Simmer and add salt and pepper to taste. Add meatballs and simmer for an extra 5 minutes and until sauce is slightly thickened.
5. Serve with tiny gherkins and top with more cranberry relish.