SlowPig

As if this weekend hasn't been exciting enough, I thought I'd schedule one more last horrah with the pork crazed T-Mill. Chef Tory was asked to be apart of a first ever event called SlowPig. It was sponsered by SlowFoodUSA and the Madison Club. I first saw the poster in the restaurant about a month ago. A few days later, Tory asked if I would work the event with him. I knew nothing about the event, but it had the word 'pig' in it, so I figured it had to be good. Besides, when chef asks a question the standard response is always, 'Yes, Chef.'.

As the day of the event approached, I still didn't know many details. I wasn't even sure what time to come in to start. As I ate brunch at the Graze bar, I ran into Tory (also brunching) and found out my in time and discovered from the bartenders that this event was a competition between 5 chefs. Really? That makes things a bit more interesting.

Rewind to Friday. At about 430pm a whole pig was delivered to our backdoor from Willow Creek Farm. One whole pig. The beast took up the entire 6 foot table and Chef set to work breaking down the animal. Technically, this left only 1 day to do all the prep for the competition. Not-gunna-happen. I'm not sure how much of that pig we ended up using, but I know that we had pates, head cheese and sausage on our menu that could not have been made in that short amount of time. My guess is that we used a lot of the Mangalitsa that we got in a couple of weeks ago.

Return to present time (well, Sunday) and I'm in the L* kitchen chopping cilantro and gathering cutting boards and 9-pans (quick culinary lesson! a 9-pan is a pan that is 1/9 of a hotel pan!) We loaded up the Graze wagon, speed rack and a couple coolers and set off for the Madison Club. 

Once we arrived, we quickly set up our station and started pulling out the ridiculous amount of food we brought. 10 dishes and 5 different sausages. Like Chef says, 'That's how we roll, baby!' We started setting and plating dishes just before guests arrived and once they arrived, they hit us hard. We had 2 guys in the kitchen frying crispy head cheese and pork belly and 5 of use plating and we could hardly keep up with the demand. Our biggest obstacle was running out of plates every 5 minutes. I don't think anyone was expecting the whirl wind of activity that was upon us.

setting up the station and beginning to plate

 The calm before the storm allowed us to set out quite a few plates the way there were supposed to be. After that, it was a bit helter skelter and not everything got the required garnishment.

pork pie with cranberry mustard

The pork pie was a pate including heart and liver baked in a flaky dough.

Pate de campagne baked in brioche with Dijon and cornichon

Sheriff Mendez happily waiting his portion of porchetta

The whole crew! Brent, Matt, 'Coach', Jedi, me and Mikey.
How do I always get stuck with a bunch of boys?!

Here is what our menu included:
Pork Pie with Cranberry Mustard
Pate de Campange in brioche with Dijon and cornichon
Crispy Head Cheese (head cheese wrapped in brick dough and deep fried) with Quince puree
Pork Belly Saam with kimchi
Face Nacho with pickled red onion, cilantro relish and radish
Confit pork tongue on a radish salad
Porchetta with 12 year cheddar polenta and mushroom ragout
Schinitzel with pickled pear, brown butter and caper sauce
Pork Lard Waffle with bacon ice cream and bacon caramel
Weisswurst
Smoked Cheddar and Apple Kielbasa
Brewfarm Brat
Caramelized onion, mushroom, garlic and gouda sausage
Boudin Noir with Garlic mashed potatoes
House pickled: beets, radish, cucumber, carrot
Sauce Gribiche

A pretty serious undertaking.

Very particularly garnishing the pork pie with what Coach describes as a 'blob' of cranberry mustard

our area...mind you there were 3 other floors, full of people milling about

 After about 4 hours of service and running out of almost everything, we 'cleaned up' and awaited the announcement. Guests were asked to cast ballots for 'best pig' and 'best punch'. (There was also a competition between 5 area bartenders who created a signature punch featuring local spirits).

the after math :/

 Sadly, L* didn't win. The win went to some restaurant in Milwaukee. Lame. But Ruben, our very own hipster mustached bartender did win best punch! And apparently was the only one who got the memo to come dressed up!

 After the disappointing verdict, we hauled our stuff back to the restaurant and all got ready to head out for Halloween! A couple who both work at L* were hosting a party at their apartment, so most of us headed over there for a home brew and cookie!

I finally got to dress up as Sandy!

Someone who feels your pain, Mom.

I got home late and had a rough time getting up early to pack up my car and move back to the valley...but the weekend was worth it!