Pork rules. The other white meat has been one of my favorites since I was a kid, and not just because of bacon, the king of smoked cured meats.  I love loin, chop and cheek alike.  Trotters, jowl and snout as well top my list of tasty treats.  Our latest pork dish at ten01 has solidified pig as prince of palatable protein, as champion of choice cuts for carnivores.  Here we have our friend the pig plated in two preparations; luscious loin and beautiful belly, both handled with care to cater to your tongue’s taste for pig.  The loin is brined and then painstakingly wrapped in bacon, lightly poached, then portioned and seared to serve.  The belly is cured, seared, cooked sous vide, then rendered before it is portioned and glazed at pick up.  The rendering/basting portion of this preparation is food porn at it’s finest.  The smell of thyme and garlic grabs me, guides me over.  The clacking sound of spoon on metal mingling with the sizzling sounds of succulent fat call to me, soon I’m standing near with glazed eyes and smacking lips.  As if all this weren’t enough, these two mouthwatering meats are masterfully mounded onto waiting warmed plates with caramelized apples, turnips and red wine braised cabbage and then drizzled with honey vanilla gastrique. A dish like this takes a lot of careful preparation and practiced technique.  Below the video are some recipes which will hopefully inspire the artisan chef in you.  The cure recipe is used to flavor and tenderize the pork belly before it is rendered and then cooked at a low temperature.  It would also work to cure duck legs before doing a confit. The brine recipe is used to for a similar purpose with the pork loin.  Two techniques as building blocks in a truly outstanding dish.

Pork Belly Cure. by Sous Chef Eric Suniga

6 each star anise

4 each cinnamon stick

8 tsp black pepper

4 tsp coriander

2 tsp fennel

1 tsp clove

1 cup sea salt

4 tsp ginger

2 tsp garlic

1.  Butcher the protein you are going to cure.

2.  Place all the above ingredients into a food processor and process to a fine powder.

3.  Place the meat into a container and pack in the cure.  The meat should be totally covered with the cure.  Cover and refrigerate for twelve hours.

4.  Remove the meat from the cure and rinse it off with cold water.  Remove all cure.  Pat the meat dry. Proceed with cooking.  In the case of our pork belly, this means rendering then vacuum bagging with duck fat and aromatics.  The bellies are cooked in an immersion circulator for twelve hours at 82 degrees Celsius.

Brine for Pork Loin by Chef Micheal Hanaghan

3 Liters water

1/2 cup of kosher salt

3 grams clove

3 grams star anise

1 bunch rosemary

3 ea cinnamon stick

1/2 cup honey

1 knob of peeled fresh ginger

1.  Place all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil.

2.  Thoroughly chill the brine before using it.  This is a good time to butcher your pork loins.

3.  Add the meat to the brine and cover and refrigerate for four hours.  This is enough brine to completely submerge four pork loins.

4.  After four hours, remove the loins from the brine.  Discard the liquid, do not reuse.

5.  Pat the loins dry and lightly season with salt and pepper before bacon wrapping, poaching, and searing.

As Chef was putting the finishing touches on this dish, I heard a muffled “Yesss!!” from his corner of the kitchen.  The look on his face said “If it were possible, I would high-five myself.”  We’ve been serving various versions of this soup as an amuse bouche for the past few weeks, but it wasn’t until today that Chef Benjamin felt it worthy to replace his popular Pork Soup.  The element that it needed turned out to be quite simple; a carrot puree.  The colors pop, the flavors elegantly compliment each other and when topped with edible flora and chive oil a light refreshing summer soup is born.  What better way to celebrate tham make the recipe available to you.  As a bonus, you could make the creme fraiche needed for the recipe quite easily yourself.  Combine 1 part buttermilk to 4 parts heavy cream.  Cover with cheesecloth and set in a warm place (like above your refrigerator) for 4 days, stirring every day.  After the alloted time cover and store in the fridge until ready to use.  A quick note on onion stock; you may notice the leeks are added later in the process.  This is to insure that thier flavor comes through, and doesn’t get lost in the stronger onion’s potency.

Chilled Pea Soup

2 cups onion stock (recipe follows)

4 cups fresh shelled or frozen peas

2 tblsp creme fraiche

1 bunch fresh basil

salt to taste

1.  Blanch and shock the peas and basil seperately.  Rough chop the basil to help it puree more easily.

2.  Bring the onion stock to a boil.

3.  Puree the hot stock together with the blanched peas and basil.

4.  Add the creme fraiche and season with salt to taste.

5.  Chill the soup immediately over an ice bath.  To maintain the best color, use an ice bath with a lot of surface area to cool it down as rapidly as possible.  Serve chilled with appropriate garniush.

Onion Stock

1 sweet onion

2 spring onion

2 leeks

1/2 cup white wine

3 cups water

1.  Thinly slice onions.  Sweat in olive oil over meduim heat until translucent, be careful to to get any color.  While the onions sweat, cut off the greeen part of the leeks and chop.  Set aside.  Thinly slice the white part of the leeks.  Set aside.

2.  Degalze with white wine.  Add the whites from the leeks.  Cook the stock until the wine is reduced by half, stirring occasionally. 

3.  Add the water ans simmer for thirty minutes.

4.  Add the green parts from the leeks and simmer ten minutes.

5.   Strain and cool the stock.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Sous Chef Mike Perez verbaled this recipe to me as he prepped it; I trailed him around the  kitchen.  As he cooked off the livers, his voice faded out and searing sounds filled my senses.  The smell filled the kitchen with smiles, smacking lips.  I realized I was learning one of the great recipes of Ten-01, an item that has been on the menu forever.  This puree of mushrooms and chicken liver, a succulent treat with toasty grilled Pearl Bakery baguette.  The only thing missing here was beer and sunshine (the patio is open.)   As he was spooning the mousse into a piping bag and piping them their tiny serving glasses, my stomach groaned.  I grabbed some bread and awaited leftovers.  Sadly for me, Chef Perez is good at what he does; including scraping every last tasty bit from that bowl.  Maybe next time he’ll let me do it.

Chicken Liver Mousse

1 lb chicken livers
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
4 oz butter
3 cloves shallot
1/4 bunch of fresh thyme
2 to 3 oz sherry vinegar (to taste)
1/2 of a bottle of sherry
1 oz truffle oil (to taste)
olive oil for cooking
2 cups heavy cream
salt and pepper (to taste)

1.  Remove the chicken livers from the packaging and pat dry.  In a large, smoking hot saute pan, sear the livers in olive oil on all sides until browned.

2.  Deglaze the pan with half of the sherry, set aside.

3.  In a seperate pan, cook the mushrooms until all the moisture is cooked off they begin to brown, about ten minutes.

4.  Add the butter and shallots and cook over medium heat until the shallots are translucent.  Deglaze the pan with the remaining sherry.

5.  In a seperate pan, scald the cream (bring to just below a boil.)

6.  Pour the cream over the mushrooms and add the livers.

7.  Blend in batches in a blender until smooth.  Season with truffle oil, sherry vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.

8.  Portion into the desired serving vessel and chill.  Serve with sliced grilled baguette

I did this dessert for a recent wine dinner we hosted on the mezzanine.   A few weeks before Erica had me taste a dessert wine; a Gewurztraminer, with which my course would be served.  When I cracked the bottle I instantly thought of lavender; the wine’s sweet aroma filled my head. When I tasted it, I felt the dessert should be not-so-sweet, and accented with an acidic note.  I ended up Lavender Poached Pears with Apricot Coulis and Wet Walnuts.  I reduced the poaching syrup when the pears were done to drizzle on the plate.  The walnuts are a classic ice cream topping made with molasses, they added a nice syrupy crunch to the plate.  I pureed some of the walnut mixture with cream cheese to make a stuffing.  I used this stuffing to fill the cavity in the pears created by coring.

Lavender Poached Pears

6-12  Pears of of your choice depending on size.  I used Seckel Pears which are smaller.  Peel and core the fruit.

1 bottle of white wine

24 ounces of sugar

1/2 cup of dried lavender

!.  Place the wine, sugar, and lavender in a pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a slow simmer when the sugar is dissolved.

2.  Peel and core the pears and add them to the simmering liquid, careful not to crowd.

3.  Poach the pears until an inserted paring knife comes out easily, 15-20 minutes.  Serve warm with Wet Walnuts and

1 cup dried apricots

1 cup sugar

2 cups water

Combine apricots, sugar and water in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let steep for 15 minutes. Puree in a blender.