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Charcuterie and sausages
move in-house
Vicky Moore, chef de cuisine at
The Lazy Goat, Greenville, S.C.,
recently began hanging her own
charcuterie. “We have a panini menu
for lunch, and had been sourcing the
authentic imported meats. But now
we’re doing our own mortadella,
sopressata and copa. We’re doing
it to control costs and flavor.”
This pork belly appetizer at Jonathan’s at Gratz Park is braised overnight in Ale-8-One, a local
soft drink, and served with crystallized ginger/shallot confit and hot-n-sour iceberg slaw.
Vicky Moore, chef de cuisine at The Lazy
Goat in Greenville, S.C., began her love
affair with pork as a child. “I grew up
out in the country in Alabama, and my
grandparents had a huge vegetable garden
and a smokehouse. I can remember walking
by the smokehouse and loving the smell.”
people to eat different parts of the pig and
not be afraid of it.”
Moore is also making her own
guanciale, the unsmoked Italian
bacon made from hog jowls. “It’s
almost a lost art, but it’s being done
here in the U.S. more now. We cure
and hang that in-house.”
She also makes fennel sausage for
pizzas and crumbled chorizo for
paellas. The restaurant has a separate
reach-in cooler for charcuterie, to
control humidity and temperature.
Pork also gets high billing from Jose Garces,
head of Garces Restaurant Group, with eight
restaurants in Philadelphia. “Most of our pork
dishes are traditional preparations, and they
really showcase the one-of-a-kind aspects
of the meat, such as its richness of flavor
and the amazing balance of lean and fatty
cuts. Many of our pork dishes are the menu
highlights at each restaurant.”
Lundy puts a twist on pork belly by using a
local ingredient for braising. His Berkshire
pork belly appetizer, Ale-8-One Braised
Pork Belly, is served with crystallized
ginger/shallot confit and hot-n-sour
iceberg slaw. He coats a pork belly in salt,
sugar, ginger, red chilies and scallions, and
cures it for a few days. Then he braises it
overnight in Ale-8-One, a local soft drink
similar to ginger ale. He slices it as thick
as a finger, and sears it to add crispness.
For the slaw, he uses really fine iceberg
lettuce in place of cabbage, red-chili
mayonnaise, ginger and onions.
Jose Garces, head of Garces
Restaurant Group, Philadelphia, says
curing and aging sausages and hams
is growing in popularity. “It’s an art that
many chefs are starting to rediscover,
and it can be incredibly rewarding.
PORK BELLIES, BACKS AND CHEEKS
Unique applications of pork abound at Girl
and The Goat, including whipped fatback
and numerous pork belly dishes, including
iramasa crudo—crisp pork belly, aji aïoli and
caperberries. “Pork belly is not unique, but
this is our take,” says Izard. “We sous vide
a whole pork belly, then cut it into lardons,
deep-fry it to order and toss it in a fish-
sauce vinaigrette.”
“Two or three years ago, you wouldn’t
have seen pork belly on menus much at
all. Now, we’re seeing it a lot, and there
have been varying degrees of success
with it,” Lundy says. “When the economy
went south, chefs were looking for a rich,
big small portion, decadent taste. It’s also
something that kind of replaced foie gras
when it was getting a bad rap.”
“I’m looking forward to exploring
the various traditions of sausage-making at my next restaurant,
Frohman’s Wursthaus. It will be a
sausage-and-beer spot, featuring
German-inspired brats alongside
Spanish chorizos and Italian
sopressatas, among others.”
Izard considers pork belly the most flavorful
part of a pig. “It has become widespread, I
believe, because it is the first step in getting
Moore calls her crispy pork belly “Beans &
Greens” on the menu at The Lazy Goat. It is
marinated overnight in brown sugar, ginger,
Serrano chilies, soy sauce and orange zest.
The pork belly is braised in chicken stock
for 2½ hours, then completely cooled in a
cooler. Pieces are sliced off and fried to
order, and served with cannellini beans,
haricots verts, Swiss chard and frilly
mustard greens.
