Entries associated with the tag "The Whole Hog Project":

Mike Gebert just completed a trailer for the upcoming Sky Full of Bacon documentary on how our mulefoots got from the farm to Blackbird. That'll go up in tandem with my feature next Thursday in the Reader's food issue, and of course at SFoB. Here 'tis.

The Whole Hog Project

It was a six-act pork circus last night at Blackbird.

I'll probably be accused of some bias when I say our multicourse mulefoot aporkalypse was spectacular, but I was surrounded by exacting, discriminating eaters. After months and months of me telling them that this was a special pig--something you've never tasted before, really, you gotta believe me--70-some folks, friends and strangers, took the bait and put their money down for Slow Food Chicago. All I had to do was look around the room as they took their first bites of Jason Hammel's braised belly to know I wasn't crazy.

It certainly didn't hurt that Paul Kahan had assembled a formidable array of talented chefs to work on these animals. Most work directly for him (or had in the past), and as Mike Gebert and I followed them around over the last week, a palpable sense of family surrounded them. I couldn't have dreamed a better team, and I couldn't be more grateful to them for allowing us to stick our cameras over their shoulders and pester them with endless questions.

I'm going to save description of the prep work of these dishes for later, and let the attached photos of the talented Ron Kaplan do the talking for now. But I have to let you know that Valerie Weihman-Rock raised some incredible animals, who produced more meat than was needed. So if you wanted a seat at the table but missed out, you have a few chances to try some yourself. Brian Huston of The Publican has an extra porchetta he'll be running as a special tonight, along with a surplus of skin for chicharrones. Justin Large, whose head cheese whole-grain mustard ravioli en brodo was my favorite course, has two extra quarts of the filling he'll be using at Avec sometime during the next three days. And Mike Sheerin is going to be curing one of the hams--you'll have to wait about six months for that one, but I'll track its progress.

One of the objectives of the Whole Hog Project (it goes on!) is to take a good look at what it takes to produce real food. Does anything in these photos resemble a living, breathing animal? Of course not. But just five days ago three mulefoots were roaming wide open, green pasture, eating quackgrass, chicken eggs, corn, oats, alfalfa, goat's milk, and Swiss chard. On November 13, in our food issue, I'm going to write about exactly what happened on the way from the farm, to the slaughterhouse, to Blackbird's basement, and finally to the dining room. The chefs have promised to contribute recipes based on their courses, and at this moment Gebert is toiling away with hours of footage he shot for an accompanying Sky Full of Bacon video podcast.

You really need to see Mike Sheerin break down a pig. He's a surgeon.

Blackbird sent along a rough draft of the menu for Sunday's mulefoot dinner. I'm speechless but for the wave of saliva breaching my lips.

Mike Sheerin- Blackbird

Braised "country style" ham with preserved plums, cippolini onions, royal trumpet mushrooms, and butternut squash-miso

Justin Large – Avec

Head-cheese ravioli with whole-grain mustard pasta, cavolo nero, pork consomme, lemon oil

Paul Virant – Vie

Roasted caillette, Tuscan kale sauerkraut, plum and pinot noir jam, country bacon with pickled onions, smoked hock pork jus

Jason Hammel – Lula Cafe

Pork belly and house-cured sardine with local honey, celery, and green apple jam

Brian Huston – The Publican

Ham chop cooked in hay with lobster mushrooms and lentils

Tim Dahl – Blackbird/Avec

Cheese & Chicharrones

Keep in mind things could change after slaughter this week.

The collected Whole Hog Project.

Maybe Creative Loafing should have invested in mulefoots.

Yesterday I sat in on a strategy session for our October 19 six-course, all-mulefoot dinner at Blackbird with Paul Kahan and the other principal chefs. We announced it last Tuesday, and it was booked solid in two days.

"We've never sold out anything that fast," said Kahan. (You can still call Blackbird and get on a waiting list for cancellations.)

As I mentioned earlier, Valerie Weihman-Rock is providing three young mulefoots for the dinner, each predicted to weigh about 160 pounds when their time comes. If that's accurate, after slaughter the chefs will have about 120 pounds of pork from each pig to work with. The meeting's purpose was to assign the primal cuts (which will be broken down at Blackbird), to brainstorm some ideas for dishes and wine pairings, and to map out a few logistics.

Kahan, who has previously worked with mulefoots supplied by Michigan farmer George Rasmussen, gave Jason Hammel from Lula and Vie's Paul Virant first choice. Hammel, who took the bellies, was thinking about doing something with preserved ground-cherries. Virant, who chose the shoulders and the offal, was going to collaborate with Kahan on a dish. Avec's Justin Large got the heads and the feet, for a possible ravioli in brodo. Blackbird's Mike Sheerin is going for the hams and the Publican's Brian Huston will work with the loins. Each will get a bag of bones for stock.

Blackbird/Avec pastry chef Tim Dahl, who faces an interesting challenge in coming up with a nongimmicky pork dessert, took some ribbing from the others:

"I thought he was gonna jump right at offal."

"You're not gonna use head and feet for dessert?"

"How about the blood? You want the blood?" 

"How about making cups out of the ears?"

In the end he decided to do a cheese course, possibly based on a Spanish dish with chicharron and a spicy syrup.

Of course, at this stage, menu planning is still theoretical. If you didn't reserve a spot you can follow along here on the Food Chain to find out what happens. Mike Gebert from Sky Full of Bacon will be along for the ride, videocam in hand.

You can read the collected dispatches from the Whole Hog Project here.

Well, after nearly a year and a half, it's time to see how mulefoots perform on the plate.

Back when we bought our own mulefoot with the aim of following the care and feeding of one of these rare heritage pigs and eventually hosting a public snout-to-tail dinner, I knew there was one chef who'd make the most of it--Paul Kahan. To my great delight, not only has Kahan agreed to cook for us (even in the midst of the frenzy surrounding the opening of his new restaurant, the Publican), but he's enlisted a formidable lineup of talent to help out. 

On Sunday, October 19, Kahan will be joined at Blackbird by Paul Virant of Vie, Jason Hammel and Amalea Tshilds of Lula, Blackbird's Mike Sheerin, Avec's Justin Large, and the Publican's Brian Huston in preparing a six-course mulefoot pig dinner--and you're invited.

Tickets are $125 (including wine but not tax or tip). It all starts with a champagne reception at 6, followed by dinner at 6:30. Proceeds benefit Kahan's choice of Slow Food Chicago. 

Blackbird, 619 W. Randolph, is taking reservations now at 312-715-0708.

Note: The Reader's pig, Dee Dee--for a variety of reasons I'll get into in an upcoming post--has won herself a reprieve from the dinner table. Instead Valerie Weihman-Rock will be providing three third-generation mulefoots--possibly Dee Dee's offspring--for the dinner. In the coming weeks we'll be following the pigs and the proceedings--from the farm, to the slaughterhouse, to the kitchen--right here on the blog.

In the meantime, if you want to catch up, see the entries in the whole Whole Hog Project posted in chronological order.

It's been a while since we checked in with the American mulefoot pigs we've been following for nearly a year and a half, but I assure you we haven't forgotten them. The pigs have spent an idyllic summer among the greenery in Argyle, Wisconsin, and a new group of piglets have been born to Diana, the somewhat cranky sow whose last litter was turned over to and weaned by her sister Demetria. That's one of her piglets right there to the left with old gal Crystal, the one who started it all. Farmer Valerie-Weihman Rock, who took the attached photos, estimates that the Reader's pig, Dee Dee, is approaching 200 pounds, if not already past that mark.

Wondering what pastured mulefoot meat tastes like? You'll get your chance to find out. Back here in the city we've been making pig plans, which we'll be announcing soon . . .

UPDATE AND CORRECTIONS: Valerie sends word that Dee Dee is in fact pushing 300 pounds. Her babies are now in the 160-180 pound range. That is one of Crystal's own piglets in the photo. Diana had her piglets this morning--nine of them!

I finally got to see the latest generation of mulefoots under the care of Valerie Weihman-Rock in Argyle, Wisconsin, and brought back a ton of photos (attached) and video (which I'll post later this week). There are 17 new piglets in all, a little more than three and four weeks old.

The Reader's pig, Dee Dee, has undergone some changes since the last time I made it up there. For one, she's huge, and nowhere is that more striking than in her jowls, which have filled out, making her snout appear much shorter than it used to. She seems a lot friendlier too. She'll sniff your hand, talk, and express a curiosity that I haven't seen before in her. Valerie theorized that might have something to do with her getting a lot more attention now that she's a mother--and liking it. Dee Dee had four piglets, including one adopted by Reader correspondent David Hammond, named Ermine. Check out her face while she's nursing--pure, unadulterated bliss.

When last we heard from Valerie Weihman-Rock and the Wisconsin mulefoots, all five female pigs (four gilts and a sow)--including the Reader's Dee Dee--were getting ready to have their piglets. A little over a week ago two of them farrowed--Demetria gave birth to six, and Diana four. Valerie reported that Diana wasn't taking to motherhood so well--she didn't like having the little ones around her and Valerie was convinced she'd hurt them. Ergo, Demetria is nursing all 10 little ones--8 females, and two males.

So Diana ID'd herself as a good candidate for slaughter. Writes Valerie: "Diana will be ham, bacon, lard, etc. as the first one harvested soon. It is important when raising the heritage breeds to not continue genetics of unfavorable traits (such as being angry, snapping, and not accepting piglets)." 

Then, last Tuesday, our Dee Dee had four piglets, two of which are female (Valerie couldn't tell the sex of the others yet). One of these piglets Friend of the Food Chain David Hammond has arranged to buy--an anniversary gift for his wife, Caroline. He's named it Ermine--after his grandmother. "One of the girls has white hooves and white-around feet," wrote Valerie. "Just like Dee Dee. So this one will be Dave Hammond's 'Ermine.'"

Aww. Nothing says I love you like the gift of meat.

"All the pigs and their piglets are snugly ensconced in partitions covered with artists' canvas tarp," writes Valerie. "And a heat lamp for piglet bunk area. Moms can come and go as they wish and the 'partitions' are to keep piglets from running off in the relative cold of the barn. Their tents are ~70 degrees F inside. And the piglet area under heat lamp is 85-90 degrees F. Rest of barn was 45 [last] weekend. 40 [next] morning. And the boy pigs are happy digging in the mud and pasture."

That's 14 new mulefoots, folks. Stay tuned for photos.

Earlier this month I headed up to Blanchardville, WI, for a grave and momentous occasion. Our old friends Mark Kessenich and Linda Derrickson decided it was time to haul their mulefoots Cong and Cherry to a small, organically certified slaughterhouse some 35 miles north. A large part of this decision was economically motivated--they simply couldn't afford to carry the pigs through the winter (where have I heard that before?). This in no way made it an easy thing to do, and the pain of the sacrifice was compounded by the fact that about three months earlier the boars Cong and Churchill had broken out of their pasture, and now Cherry was pregnant and pretty close to farrowing. Her unborn piglets would be lost.

The morning was bright but painfully cold. Mark had already cleared the snow from the long driveway. Denise Benoit and Rob Steinhofer, the farm's other residents, were on hand to help with the tricky business of separating Cong and Cherry from Churchill and Crystal, who would be soon moving to Valerie Weihman-Rock's farm in Argyle, where our pig, Dee Dee, is.

First we lured Cherry into a cage from her bedding in the barn. We had to do this with a bucket of grain even though the animals aren't supposed to eat much before slaughter. Mark drove her up the driveway to the trailer. Meanwhile, Denise and I were supposed to be watching Cong to make sure he didn't break out of the little enclosure we'd lured him into, and of course the minute we turned our backs on him he busted out and began fraternizing with the rams and ewes on the other side of the fence. Mark, by this time driving back into the barn, was the first to notice this, and it was the first time I'd ever heard him yell. Still, it was a minor crisis, and we loaded up Cong and hit the road.

When we arrived at the slaughterhouse Cong and Cherry were standing quietly and motionlessly in their respective trailer compartments. If they sensed any danger, they didn't appeared to be stressed. Nevertheless I couldn't help but project my own hangups a little. I thought they looked sad and a little resigned.

Mark backed the trailer up to a short metal chute that led to a door in the back of the building. Two workers emerged and helped usher the pigs one by one into a steamy holding area occupied by a cow and two other groups of hogs lounging atop each other in separated pens. Cong and Cherry had about an hour and a half before it was their turn, which would give them some time to calm down if in fact they were stressed. Mark and I headed up the street to wait in a cafe.

This week in Omnivorous I filed a progress report on our mulefoot pig, Dee Dee, and her herdmates at home on the Argyle, Wisconsin, farm of Valerie Weihman-Rock and her husband, Mike. Here's some footage of the doings. Dee Dee shows up just after the two-minute mark--she's the one with white on her trotters.

Edited by Elizabeth Gomez