So with a total sense of irony and ridiculous timing I would like to share with you today some photos from our most recent pig roast. It was a bit of a Korean/Asian influenced affair with hint of the Carolina’s and Texas as usual.

Most of what is included below would fall under the heading “food porn” but that should not be looked down upon as with all porn it functions as an important part of inspiring our society.

All photos by Annoushka Owen © 2008
http://flickr.com/photos/oushki

This pig was slaughtered at a farm in upstate New York, Sullivan County to be specific. The kidneys are left attached to the carcass because they are the first part of the animal to spoil and when choosing meat you can tell it’s freshness from the freshness of the kidneys.

When flat roasting a pig it is key to make sure to crack the ribs off the spine and completely butterfly the whole animal. This will insure a more even cooking.

Here you can see the belly of the stuffed pig laced up with butchers twine and stuffed with Kimchi, smoked onions, garlic, chilies, scallions, chives, dry rub and 6 extra racks of ribs.

Note: the ribs that are stuffed into the chest cavity and slow cooked in the pig are the best ribs you can eat, ever. This is not up for discussion. These ribs are reserved for the crew that stayed up all night and flipped the pig, they are worth the effort.

Skin and crackle. Unfortunately the skin around these blisters becomes inedible but the meat in the opening gets a nice char and is super delicious with a touch of crunch.

Mark and I done our plastic gloves (which eventually will melt onto our hands) and get our knives in hand to break down the beast. First the stuffing is removed and the inner ribs are sent to the grill to get lathered up and charred. Then we remove the bellies and start on the primal cuts: head, then shoulders, ribs, hams, loins, tenderloins, and then to service.

A question from Mr. Low after many hours of non-sleeping
“Where did I leave my knife?”
“In that steaming pile of pork”
“Ah, yes thank you.”
“No problem what-so-ever.”

Here is just a collection of food pornography from our pig roast collected by a good friend Tim Ireland, dangerous drummer and all around good dancer. I will try to be witty and explicit as I make mention of the situation in which the dark and devilish images were captured in, and when they are light and beautiful I will try not to let that same wit over power the beauty of the image.

Photo – Tim Ireland ©2008 www.irelandscaped.com

When cooking Collard Greens you are unknowingly producing two separate and equally delightful dishes; the collards themselves and the pot lickies. Now you might think that something called pot lickies is mildly off putting in name alone please try to remember that this viscous liquid that remains after the cooked greens have been served is based with bacon, sautéed onions and an assortment of chilies. It is then thickened with the hours of steeping green and cider vinegar; not to mention the smoky delight of the ham hocks that splinter and dissolve, adding a certain gelatinous delight to the broth. Eat your greens and then reserve this for making out with whenever you get a pork hangering. Some old creole friends of mine used to say that it was medicinal and would give it to the sick, I completely believe them.

Pickling is my new favorite thing. Think about it and get back to me. No I mean really think about it.

I will show you some of the more unexpected delights that I have endeavored into recently that will shock you with a repulsive drive to say, “you are wrong my friend. That is disgusting and I refuse your pressures.” You might be right to say such things when you hear about strawberries, peaches, pasta, laser beams, but that prejudice should be completely put aside when I tell you that right now, this very second you should go pickle five head of garlic. After quietly snacking on them while watching TV or with cheese and dried meats in bed with your naked friend, or on your salads with dieters and healthiers, over the next two weeks and then you decide to pickle ten heads for the second round say thank you to me and come back for the expanding list of things you should pickle and add to the collection in your cupboard.

This pile was the one of the hardest thing for people to deal with. To say that there was some anticipation in the crowd waiting for the food to be served would underestimate the skill of the team of people involved in seasoning, cutting and slapping pig around all morning. These ribs needed to rest before being portioned and there was a palatable anger emanating from the people who were standing right next to the butcher table just wanting to grab one rib, one quick bit, just one snack before the meal was served. Good things come to those who wait, better things come to those who wait patiently, the best of releases come after hours of teasing and flagrant tantalization.

I am not sure that this means anything to you, but this was 12” across and 36” long. It was 60C (140F), it seared the gloves onto your hands, it steamed in your face, it splattered on your shirt (and vest if you are named Jonathan). It was spiced, its spice burned your eyes, whetted your palate, flaked apart under your hand. It wait and drove tens of people to the point of furious desire, it was covered in sauces; dirty and sweet, bitter and pungent, homemade and delightful (thank you Hunter).

This is just gratuitous and I know that. You are also welcome; even you vegetarians. I know you secretly covet this. I have seen your reaction to it on my table, in restaurants next to me, in the backs of cabs as you hover over my lips after a meal as we head over bridges and under tunnels. It is ok, it is really that good and we all happily will keep enticing you until you come back into the fold.

This is the start of so many of the things we eat it is almost impossible to separate from our diets. If only the government could figure out a way to grow onions with corn; direct oil injections, corn oil fertilizer I am sure our c4 ratios would be near complete. Until then we can sit back and delight in the sweetness of onions in and on everything.

Getting it done

Roasted pig skin, glazed with apple cider vinegar mop that had just a touch of pepper sauce and a schmear of ketchup to allow for a slight caramelizing. Undoubtedly at some point it will rupture and spill the delicious fat back out on to the hot coals, but just pray that you are close by when this happens so you can enjoy the fuliginous haze that will settle over the campfire and coat your skin with a fine glaze.

Finally, some of the better photos from the spring pig roast have made their way into my hands. Here are a few of the tasty treats that became the pork celebration of the month of May and if you were thinking that this event was even marginally comparable to the event that was held under the Brooklyn bridge on the same day sponsored by Brooklyn Brewery where you had to $80 to get food you would be incorrect; we created, in my opinion some of the best Bar BQ I have ever had.

In all my years of roasting pigs I have never seen a pig so thoroughly appreciated and devoured. I believe this was from a combination of things. 1. We served ever part of the pig and not all just shredded and slathered with bbq sauce. 2. There was, a spirituality to the event that seemed to extend not only from the cooks and overnight crew but was exuding from the spectators and patrons. Seems that seeing whole food still makes people revere what they put in their body and not just objectify things wrapped in plastic on a napkin in Styrofoam.

The pig was prepped by breaking the ribs off the spine and then injecting a spiced clarified butter into all the meaty areas. The left over butter was rubbed on the inner cavity to allow for the spice rub to stick to the meat well. The cavity was then stuffed with smoked, onions, peppers, garlic and 4 extra racks of ribs. All of that was stitched up and the pig was tied to the rack.

For service we made pulled pork from the shoulders and served it with a North Carolina vinegar based bbq sauce (Thank you Hunter) and Texas style tomato and molasses sauce. Mark and Heather then wrapped the tenderloins in the belly skin and deep fried them to glue the skin to the meat and crisp it to perfection. The ribs were broken off the spine and glazed and seared off by Sebastian as were the 4 other racks of ribs we steamed inside the rib cage and the 10 other racks smoked with the pig that we needed to satisfy the crowd. The hams were sliced off the bone and turned into delightful Bahn Mi sandwiches, with pickled vegetables that we made the night before and a perfect chili mayo. After all the main meat was done and devoured we took the trotters, the head meat (minus the cheeks which the chefs got to eat) and the tongue, brain and any other glands in the head of a pig, and made a hand chopped paste with a little grated cheese in it and formed this into Korean style dumpling and fried them off in lamb fat. The smoked vegetables were forgotten about until Sunday morning when I made the best omelets with them.

Thank you pig for your sacrifice you were much appreciated.

You have to make sure you break the ribs of the spine on both sides or you are going to have a bitch of a time getting the ribs out after it is cooked while keeping the skin intact for making pork cookies out of it.

Using the chest cavity as steam cooker is probably one of the best things in the world. The ribs that are cooked inside the pig (not the ribs that are apart of the pig) are the best in the world.

Clarified Butter to be injected into the pig shoulders and legs. It was also used in the succotash and was delightful.

This was just about to be come 30lb of collard greens, except the bourbon, that became a journey sing-a-long

This was just really messy

In case anyone was worried we didn’t follow proper health code standards when preparing our food you shouldn’t have been eating in my backyard.

Pretty soon this was to become dumplings, stuffed with cheese and fried in lamb fat

The Wallestons got way serious on this. There wasn’t a speck of tastiness left on this whole head.

Also we were able to raise $500 for America’s Second Harvest http://www.secondharvest.org/ who we will be raising money for this year.