Month: May 2013

Perfect pig, perfect weekend

A brining pig

A brining pig

What do you cook at a lake in North Carolina on a summer day in May during a reunion with friends from high school, one of whom you haven’t seen in 13 years? A weekend during which Angela will meet some of your closest friends, people with whom you went to high school in Germany?

My first thought was a suckling pig, a pig that I hoped could be sourced from a North Carolina farmer. Beth, our hostess for the weekend, got to work and contacted Joseph Cataldo, a restaurateur in Salisbury, who found us the perfect pig. (He also loaned me a pan big enough to brine in.) Beth and her husband, Glenn, and their four children live in Salisbury, and they made us feel at home as well.

Glenn and Beth, consummate and caring hosts

Glenn and Beth, consummate hosts

Brined and rinsed

Brined and rinsed

A friendship more than 30 years in the making

A friendship more than 30 years in the making: Mark, Tina, Beth and James

Tina and Angela conspire

Tina and Angela conspire

Respect your product

Respect your product

We had some fine food during that weekend, including a Low Country Boil on Friday made by Beth and Glenn and a great dinner out on Saturday cooked by a Brazilian chef.

Low Country Love

Low Country Love

We saved the suckling pig for Sunday, our final day at the lake.

A fine pig

A fine pig

Skin-deep goodness

Skin-deep goodness

Prepping the skin

Prepping the skin

Mark and I rub

Mark and I rub

What's inside: garlic, fennel, basil leaves, orange zest

What’s inside: garlic, fennel, basil leaves, orange zest

Adding some salt

Adding some salt

Ingredients from the inside out

Ingredients from the inside out

We brined the pig on Saturday night, with lots of elephant garlic and some bay leaves and black peppercorns. On Sunday we transported the pig to the lake house and prepped. Angela took care of the garlic and the rub: orange zest, fennel fronds, salt, pepper and olive oil. I scored the pig’s skin, and Mark and I stuffed it with lots of garlic and the rub, plus some fresh basil leaves, and then massaged the skin with the remaining rub. A little more salt and pepper all over the skin, and the pig was ready for the oven.

I cooked it at 250 Fahrenheit for about 3.5 hours, and then for the last 30 minutes raised the temperature to 475 Fahrenheit, which gave us a perfect skin, crunchy and crisp; it melted in the mouth. We tented the pig with foil and let it rest for 15 minutes, and then began carving. The meat, dark and white, was moist, and the fennel and orange mingled in every tendril.

Out of the oven

Out of the oven

Perfect skin, perfect meat

Perfect skin, perfect meat

Mark gets some skin

Mark gets some skin

Crisp and hot

Crisp and hot

Glenn takes the knife

Glenn takes the knife

Glenn carves

Glenn carves

Glenn carves

Manual labor

Carving and talking

Carving and talking

The skin is key

The skin is key

Glenn carved, with expertise and aplomb, using his fingers like an extra knife, and we feasted, down to the tongue and ears. We ended the day on the dock, watching the sun set over the water. Perfect weekend, perfect pig.

On the lake, after the feast

On the lake, after the feast

(Angela Shah photography)

Little Serow

Travel for food. Eating one’s way through the world. It’s a fine way to live. We were in Washington, D.C., last week for a few days and heard some great things about Little Serow, a Thai place on L Street. The chef, Johnny Monis, had just been named best chef for the mid-Atlantic region by the James Beard Foundation, and when we arrived at the restaurant around 4:15 in the afternoon there were about 10 people waiting on line (Little Serow does not take reservations). We had cabbed it over from downtown and the driver gave us an umbrella, because the skies had suddenly darkened and the wind-driven rain would have drenched us without one. Angela had a meeting scheduled at 6:00 with some important people, so she jumped in another cab and left me in line as the sun drove away the clouds and rain. I secured two spots at the late seating, which turned out to be early, 8:15.

Food at Little Serow: In a word, excellent. Atmosphere and design: low-ceilinged basement, blue-painted brick walls, long communal bar, a few tables against one wall, kitchen in the rear, partially in view.

Service, blue

Service, blue

To begin

To begin

crispy rice, sour pork

crispy rice, sour pork

Menu is fixed,  five or six courses, changes often. A value at $45. Below is what we had:

nam prik num
finger chilies / shallot / bla rah

tom kha gapi
shrimp / ramps / galangal

soop naw mai
bamboo shoots / snakehead fish / rice powder

gai laap chiang mai
chicken liver / sawtooth / long pepper

naem khao tod
crispy rice / sour pork / peanuts

gai lan bla kem
greens / salted fish / egg

si krong muu
pork ribs / mekhong whiskey / dill

Will you be in D.C. anytime soon? If so, take yourself to L Street and stand in line. And make sure to ask for some Imbue bittersweet vermouth. And have the ribs. And linger and look at each plate and talk to the staff. They are good. The ribs will move you. And Angela loved the chicken liver.

© 2024 Mise en Place

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑