Clandestino Dining

The Whole Hog at the Blind Pig

A primitive act, cooking up and serving the whole hog, never tasted so good, but then again, it’s nothing new and so easy a caveman could do it.

Our 140lb pig came via Gunthorp Farm, a Duroc and Berkshire cross breed that spends most of its time outside foraging and socializing. This makes for leaner shoulders, reddish meat, and flavors seldom found in commercial pork. For me it was a first, butchering a whole pig, but I know my cuts: shoulders/loins/bellies/ribs/tips, and it didn’t take as long as I thought.

With the feet I made a rich stock which I used for the trotter soup dish. The head was used to make a scrapple chorizo. I mixed the head meat with cornmeal, guajillo chile, and trotter broth, seasoned it, and piped it onto plastic wrap, and rolled into a proper mexican chorizo. Right before serving (with the oyster) Brandon sliced it and pan fried it.

The shoulder were dry-rubbed, smoked, then slow roasted until tender. The ribs were also smoked and slow roasted, but then they went on the grill and into some sweet guajillo chile sauce at the end.

The bellies were quick-cured for 2 days with pink salt, kosher salt, and maple syrup. The bacon was fried up and tossed with some warm vinaigrette for the spinach and asparagus salad.

The loin marinated in guajillo chile overnight, then grilled and thinly sliced, chinese style, for the soup.

We used all the skin to make chicharrones, served with tomatillo/arbol salsa.

My favorite dish was definitely the trotter soup. Our noodles were from Al Dente pasta company, made in Michigan by the fabulous Monique Deschaine. Monique was the instigator for this event, introducing us to Blind Pig Records and the great Guy King, who rocked out some Robert Johnson covers that night.

The Menu, expertly paired with artisan lagers from Metropolitan Brewery:

• Amuse: Chicharrones w/ Tomatillo Dipping Sauce
• Grilled Oyster, Scrapple Chorizo, poached quail egg, french breakfast radish, guajillo agave reduction. Paired w/ Dynamo Copper Lager
• Trotter Noodle Soup, bbq pork loin, pickled ramps and rhubarb. Paired with Flywheel Bright Lager
• Spring Spinach and Asparagus w/ Bacon Vinaigrette. Paired with Krankshaft Kölsch
• Smoked Shoulder and ribs, Russian Blue Potato Salad, Grilled Spring Onions, and Arugula. Paired with I-Beam alt-style beer
• Anise Hyssop Homemade Root Beer Float

Want to make some trotter soup? Pick up some pig’s feet and read the recipe HERE>