Another Porktastic day, Part two: crispity clouds of porkaliciousness.

Snack Time!
Chicharrones, for a simple pork fix there is nothing better...except for maybe bacon. Nothing like some deep fried pork skin and an ale to sustain you until dinner, and nobody makes them better than 4505 Meat's Ryan Farr. These crispity clouds of porkaliciousness are a textural miracle, they are crunchy yet melt in your mouth like only chicharrones can. They are subtley spicy and sweet without taking away from the delicate porky flavor.
I paired the chicharrones with a Rogue's Somer orange honey Ale, which was a great idea! The unfiltered sweet wheat and malt character of this ale went wonderfuly with the pork and the orange peel and chamomile lent a refreshing herbal note to cleanse the palate.
Sláinte!
http://www.4505meats.com/

Another Porktastic day, Part one: The Fatted Calf.

    

The glory that is The Fatted Calf, if you haven't been lucky enough to visit this temple of meat and all things cured and holy...its time to go! 

The Fatted Calf offers a variety of Meaty goods, Sausages, Pâtés, Confits, Salumi, and weekly specials. 

They are an artisan Charcuterie shop that does it right, using natural, organic and hormone free meats. Everything is done is small batches by hand. I know this because this is the first place I learned to break down a pig, working along the side of Taylor Boetticher, Charcuterie/ Butcher ninja master and great teacher.

For lunch I had the Pork Pastrami Sandwich. A tasty little thing with a fresh and crunchy cabbage slaw, a zingy grain mustard sauce and a well made rustic bread. A must try. 

On a side note if you haven't had the Porchetta Sandwich, you gotta get one...or two of those!

Stay tuned next time for crispity clouds of porkaliciousness...

Fatted Calf
The Oxbow Public Market
644 C First Street
Napa, CA 94559

http://fattedcalf.com/

A Porktastic adventure, Part two: Flying pigs & a big mouth.

After indulging in a couple of donuts and curing my morning sweet tooth, I'm craving something meatier. I need look no further than San Francisco's own Boccalone, where they specialize in "Tasty salted pig parts".

This fine salumeria is solely devoted to the majestic pig, their heritage pigs are pasture raised, antibiotic and hormone free, sustainable, hand butchered and cured in small batches.

When you walk into Boccalone you smell the wonderful aroma of salumi and see an aging room with glass doors adorn with beautiful cured meats. There is a great assortment of fresh sausages, cured meats, and rare specialties like porchetta di testa, ciccioli, and sanguinaccio, the later which will soon become my lunch, but not before I sample the salumi cone as a quick snack.

Sanguinaccio, black pudding, blood sausage, boudin noir what ever you call it, what ever the origin, it is all delicious! This delectable treat has to be one of my top five favorite foods, and the sanguinaccio from Boccalone is among the best I've had. Its made up of pork blood, pork heart, buckwheat kernels, spices, a touch of chili and love...it's so good.

I gently cooked the sausages over a low heat in a skillet and served it with sauteed apples, both on top a crispy golden boxty...almost too good with a pint of cider.

Boccalone is co-owned by Chef Chris Cosentino and Mark Pastore of Incanto restaurant in San Francisco.

Boccalone salumeria

Ferry building marketplace

Shop 21

San Francisco, CA 94111

http://www.boccalone.com/

http://www.incanto.biz/

A Porktastic adventure, Part one: in the wee hours.

Hello my name is the Gastronome, and I’m a porkaholic…
I woke up in the wee hours Saturday morning and had an insatiable craving for some pork. I decided to dedicate the day to my love of all things pig.
First stop Dynamo Donuts, San Francisco. Some of you might be thinking wait…this is supposed to be about pork…if you’ve been to Dynamo Donuts you know where this is headed, if you haven’t been there, its time to go!

Behold the maple glazed, bacon, apple donut! Oooh yeah… this is what dreams are made of (my dreams anyway). Hand made, cakey, light, soft, moist donuts with tart apples sauted in bacon fat mixed into the batter, a sweet maple glaze on top, sprinkled with salty, crunchy bacon…Mmmm, The perfect union of salty and sweet.
Order a couple, they go down easy.

2760 24th Street

San Francisco, CA 94110

http://www.dynamodonut.com/

Fat & Happy

This is my first blog. I hope it doesn't get to serious, for I am not usually too serious a fellow. It's been on my mind for a little while and I need to write it...so here we go.

What are some of your favorite memories? If your like me a lot of them are probably spent around the table with family and friends. It could be a holiday, or just a barbecue, but most of the time (unless your a vegetarian) the gathering was set around some type of meat. Who prepared that meat? Was it prepared with love and attention? Maybe you prepared the feast; what spices or herbs did you use? were they grown in your own garden? Lets say its Christmas, and your family is having a beautiful ham that you cooked yourself. Where did that ham come from? I don't mean what market. I mean where did that pig grow? was it cared for with the respect and attention you gave your Christmas dinner? If you know the answer and can say, "Yes, I bought this Gloucester old spot from the McCarthy's farm down the road"; then wonderful! If you can't and you really don't know where the meat came from, or if the pig had open pastures to roam and forage, living off the land on roots, grass, grains, acorns and occasionally fresh vegetables and whey from the loving farmer; Then wouldn't it be better to know? buying from local organic farms, means buying from farms that use the highest quality feeds to insure the best tasting hormone free meat. In caring for the meat you consume, your caring for yourself, your family and the animal, and maybe giving a rare breed a chance to thrive. We all know buying local organic produce is very important, (and good for us too!) lets all take the time to source good quality local free range meat products too. Lets all live Fat & Happy!