Will sunbathing in a bacon bikini not only tan you, but also provide
you with a porky snack?

Mary decides to find out.

A couple months ago, I wrote an entry praising the fine European style pork products of the Ridgewood Pork Store in Ridgewood Queens. Since I have gotten back from my trip to Europe, I appreciate this place all the more, and even though it is a long trek for me, I have managed to get back there a couple times, never to be disappointed except when they are closed.

Anyway, shortly after I got back, Jonel, the owner of the Ridgewood Pork Store, contacted me and sent me some pictures of a “Whole Boneless Pig” they had roasted in the store. He invited me to come by and try it, but I couldn’t make it out there that week. However, Squidocto was more than happy to walk around the corner from his place to check it out and report back. Here is what he had to say:

Squidocto’s report from the field:

I just went and got me some boneless roast pig. At this point they’ve
taken the head off (just as well — that looked nasty), and are just
making slices of the body. It’s absolutely delicious! The meat is
mixed up with some kind of breading and various spices. The result is
a light, fall-apart textured meat with a very rich taste. It feels
rather like an entire meal wrapped in one — a sort of pork
thanksgiving dinner.

I have to agree, that from the photos, it looked a little gruesome, but it sure sounds interesting. I wrote back to Jonel to ask what it is was exactly. He said:

We roast the pig whole, then while it was still warm we pull out all the bones. We chop the meat up, season it up, and then put all back in the pig skin. We tie it up and then let cool in the fridge over night.

Hmm! Sounds like a crazy pork meatloaf on steroids! I definitely hope to try it when they do it again. I am curious also where Jonel got this idea: is it a tradional dish he knows from somewhere, or is it something he just came up with? Maybe he will leave a comment here and tell us!

I love that these guys at the Ridgewood Pork Store seem to genuinely enjoy making the products they sell and seem to like trying new and unusual things. Thanks to Jonel for sharing this with us!

This is called a ‘preview’ because it won’t be a ‘review’ until PIGGIE himself goes there. In the meantime, I’m happy to report that the much discussed Fette Sau (right by Havemeyer & Metropolitan in Williamsburg) is a wonderful restaurant. For starters, the staff was friendly and helpful (but not fake); the atmosphere is pleasant and unpretentious; and the available meats are on display for easy decision making.

I was there with five others, celebrating my pop’s birthday. We ordered a rack of ribs, flank steak, pulled pork (pork shoulder), and three sides. All the meat was fantastic: full flavored, perfectly well done on the outside, tender inside. No sauce is put on for you; if you want some, they have several kinds on a self-service table. I didn’t feel the need, though some of my companions opted to dip. The ribs had a subtle, delicious rub, and were an excellent blend of ‘tender but not soggy’. The flank steak (not pork, I know) was to die for. The pork shoulder was, for my tastes, exactly the right texture (so important in pulled pork!). The sides were okay, but the only standout was the beans, which should not be missed. (For comparison, HT felt that the sides at Hill Country were superior.)

The meats are sold by the pound. Not including the drinks and desssert (which is also yummy), we ate our fill at quite a reasonable price for smoked goodies (about $11 a person). I will be going back there, no question about it.

Following up on the post about Porkslap, here are some highlights from a
forum discussion on brewing bacon beer:

…I tried to mix my two favorite things, bacon and beer. I started
out with a british bitter recipe and dumped in 1 lb of fried bacon
into the wort 30 min into the boil. I then added liquid smoke when
putting it into the 1st carboy. It doesn’t taste like bacon or smoke.
Any suggestions?

…I doubt you will get it to work. The very process of the boil and
rapid chilling caused proteins to drop out of suspension.

…I think it would be easier and much tastier if you just fried up a
batch of bacon when you drink your beer. Plus it will be crunchy. The
bacon, not your beer.

…You could try liquid smoke and pork bullion.

…Rauchbiers are like drinking a campfire while eating bacon strips.
Rauch malt or smoked peat is what you are looking for.

…I almost guarantee that if this WAS done, the salt in the bacon
would kill the yeast. Too much sodium=inhospitable environment.

…How about fry up about 2 lb. get it good and crispy (like bacon
bits) I imagine that will bring out more transferable flavor. Pat it
dry and treat it like an aroma addition, the last 2 min. leaving it
in until it is cool.

…did you fry the bacon and get it crispy BEFORE you added the
onions? You did add onions, right???

In honor of our patient non-suing vegan artist friend, here’s a report on the vegetarian ribs I had recently. The restaurant, Red Bamboo, is a small West Village vegetarian joint popular with the NYU crowd. While being a guiltless omnivore, the past decade has seen, in my opinion, the flowering of excellent vegetarian restaurants in NYC, and good food is good food. Red Bamboo has good food. I got their ribs, which were delicious. They didn’t, of course, taste like real ribs, but I’ve found that the best feaux-meat doesn’t; instead, it is a tasty dish that is simply inspired by its more-bloodily-slaughtered cousin. They were served with a side of collards which were fantastic, too; they had a toasted taste which was new to me, collards-wise-speaking. Based on this, and my slightly impolite tasting of every other plate at my table within grabbing distance, I give a hearty YUM to the Red Bamboo. My fave veggie restaurant, however, remains the Vegetarian Dim Sum place on Pell Street.

I had some really yummy boneless spare ribs from a cheap chinese
takeout the other night. I’d never bought boneless before because the
bone — holding the bone, chewing little bits off the bone — well
that’s all part of the fun, right?

I only delved into this boneless unknown because I was about to get
on a bus, and decided I didn’t want to deal with the mess.
I must say I was happily surprised. The little rectangular chunks of
rib allowed every bite to have that yummy scorched-edge taste, and
the meat was thoroughly infused with the sweet sauce. I found myself
wondering how they’re de-boned, whether the meat is a different cut
or not (despite the name) and how they’re cooked.

In fact, the sweetness was my only criticism: sweet in nice, but too
much is a subtlety blanket. You know, a blanket, like, covers up
things. Like subtlety.

Let me introduce to you SQUIDOCTO’S CORNER, a new category here on THE YEAR OF THE PIG, featuring guest reviews and commentary on pig-related ephemera by the now famous Squidocto himself. What is a Squidocto? I have no idea, so ask him. However that drawing of a Squid was done by Jeannette Langmead while waiting in a Doctor’s office.