Wow! What an amazing night, the guinea hog dinner was a blast.  This is the most unbelievable pig I’ve ever tasted or worked with. These pigs are simply spectacular to work with. Gra Moore supplied us with three pigs to do this dinner. We used every part of the pig in creating the menu for this dinner.  For the hors d’oeuvres we made headcheese, pork liver mousse-pickled red onion, Capers Inlet Oysters-cucumber, crispy pancetta.

For dinner we made Ham and Egg with collards and bacon mayonaise.  The farm egg was cooked for two and half hours and almost took the show on this course.

The next course was a goat’s milk ricotta gnocchi with tomato mint fondue and black cherry tomatoes.

For the fish course we served Charleston Vermillion snapper with farro verde and a fennel orange vinaigrette.

The main course was a pork lovers dream with rye braised shoulder with savoy cabbage and bourbon glazed honey crisp apple; Grilled loin with cumin-orange carrots; Belly with celery root-grits, smoked bacon jus.

The dessert was my mom’s shoo fly pie with buttermilk anglaise, candied ginger, whipped sorghum and pork puff dusted with powdered sugar, ginger and sea salt. The perfect fit to end the evening.

Special thanks to Rick McKee at Lowry McKee photography for capturing this amazing event and allowing us to share it with you. He does amazing work.

A couple of seats have just opened up for this amazing event. Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini will join us along with guinea hog farmer Gra Moore for special night. The tickets available will go fast, so please contact us as soon as possible. 843-937-4012 ext. 265

This is just a sampling of what we currently have in a finished stage. Genoa, Lemon and Rosemary, Bresaola, Picante, Mortadella and Coppa. Did I mention how super tasty these are!

This is the current set up of the salami room. The product moves around the room as it ages. The room is set like a grid each section is done at the same time.Most of the salami in the back are much larger than those in the front. We start out with the left side. The Bresaola on the top row far right will be the first to move when the bottom section is finished.

Then we move to the right side.The large Genoa on top and the Tuscan Beef on the bottom will also move to back of the bottom left section. They will take about 12 months to finish Just in time for an early christmas present.

This is a great video of the crew making salami. Special thanks to rick McKee for shooting it for us.

Salami Video

This past saturday was the first pickup for the artisan meat share.  This round included 16 different types of product.  It was a ton of work, but it sure was worth it.

Almost all of the items were sliced, which totaled around 20,000 slices. Then we laid them out on deli paper and vacuum sealed them in groups according to cured, cooked, and smoked. We also made 548 lard biscuits. What a week, my staff rocked this out and completed all their normal duties. 

Does it get any better than this?

Ribeye for two anyone?

We dry age our ribeyes for 30 to 40 days.

Cook them over hickory and oak.

Caramelize them in cast iron skillets, while basting with butter and herbs.

Paired with a simple clean set.

The finished plate includes the american guinea hog cooked in three ways. The first preparation was shoulder confit cooked in smoked fat and finished in a skillet for a crispy crust.  The second preparation was the loin cooked sous-vide at 57 degrees Celsius for 1 hour then seared in a hot skillet.  The third element was the pork rind which is skin steamed for 3 hours, chilled on a flat tray skin side down, then the fat is scarped off and cut into 1/2 inch by 2 inch rectangles, then dehyrdrate at 18o degrees for 12 hours and fried in 400 degree pork fat to puff.  The dish is paired with ginger infused sweet potatoes and garlic glazed pok choi and finished with a maple pork reduction.

I received this amazing guinea hog from Gra Moore. He raises these pigs in Florence, and feeds them heirloom corn, hey, acorns, and other vegetables off his farm.  This pig was full size and weighed 80 pounds dressed.

At the first glance it looks normal. Then you look at the jowls, which were huge for this size of a pig.  When I made the first cut and removed the head I realized what the guinea hog was all about. Fat, glorious thick fat.  I was stuned that a pig this small could have so much fat.

When I made the second cut and removed the shoulders I was even more blown away. The meat was deep red and the loins were marbled with more fat. The loins are the size of a domestic lamb.  The fat that encased the loins is 2 inches thick and super firm.  Gra knows how to raise a pig that makes a chef smile.

This is the shoulder split in half with my boning knife next to it. My knife is currently 8 inches long.

The collars were removed from the shoulder and the fat back was trimmed away. The red color bloomed even more as it sat. This is going to be the smallest coppa I’ve ever done.

The loins were split into 6 potions which will be cooked sous vide and finished on the wood grill. The bellies will be cured and smoked. The fat back will become lardo. The hams will be come the smallest and quickest cured hams ever ( my guess 7 months).  I will keep you posted with the finished results from this project. Stay tuned!

This is a beautiful dish for the fall season.  Smoked chicken, lobster mushrooms, celery root puree, Brussels sprouts, sherry vinegar – brown butter glaze. Contact Foods In Season for some of the tastiest snails I’ve ever had.