Bacon Incubator

During the past week I signed me and M up for an inaugural food event.

http://baconcamp.org/

We signed up to present dishes based on bacon to the event. While the event is all about bacon, I decided to bring it one step back, to the cut of meat that bacon is derived from. Pork belly.

Not sure how this happened, but in the process of registering myself into the event, I signed us both up. I also put us in submitting a dish each.

We used this weekend as a dry run on our respective recipes. M choose something orthodox, a Nagasaki-style braised pork belly dish. Tried and true. I flirted with an Italian influenced roast pork belly; garlic, olive oil, sea salt, pepper, and thyme. A little more risky.

Dinner turned into porkfest. A crispy pork belly with crackling skin, very strong and aggressive in terms of flavor and texture. Afterwards, a pork belly braised in a broth of soy sauce and leeks, super soft, and very subtle in taste and texture. The one common denominator in both cases, the luxurious flavor of pork fat.

My dish came from a different pig and a different section of the belly. Thinner and tougher skin. More stronger flavored meat. Very salty -- too much sea salt. M's was more understated -- slightly sweet and aromatic from the use of leeks.

Our pork dishes probably reflected our respective personalities; subtle and refined versus aggressive and intense.

We'll see how it goes next week.

Catching Up on October

Where to start?

I'll make it quick.

The month began with an enormous hunk of pork.

A good friend of ours turned 30 the first weekend of the month. So a big party was thrown. Potluck of course.

My contribution. Arrista a la porcetta. A visit to the Fatted Calf in Napa the previous month exposed me to this porcine delicacy of the Gods. Leave it to the Italians to do the following;

-Take a pork loin;
-Take a whole pork belly, skin and all;
- Slather garlic, salt, pepper, rosemary, lemon zest, all over the interior of the pork belly;
- Roll the pork loin in the pork belly, with the skin on the outside;
- Tie it up;
- Pop it into the oven at 375 degrees for four hours;

What we got -- pork fat goodness. It wasn't as good as the Fatted Calf -- my pork loin was dry, but the side bacon was decadent & delicious. Bit much for the crowd at the party though.

Can't blame them. They didn't grow up in a culture that worships pig fat.