Category Archives: Meat

A Swine Time at Cochon 555

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Last night in San Francisco, it was all about pig, pig and more pig.

Cochon 555, which pits five top San Francisco chefs against one another in a pork-off, rolled into the Fairmont San Francisco on Sunday night to a sell-out crowd of 450 carnivores.

Each of the chefs had to prepare a 140-pound heritage breed hog from head to toe. A panel of judges, as well as the public, got to taste the dishes to determine one winner who will go on to compete with nine others selected from around the country at the Grand Cochon at the Food & Wine Classic at Aspen, June 18-20.

In one corner, Anthony Strong of Pizzeria Delfina, whose weapon of choice was a Glouster Old Spot, known for its distinctive layer of back fat. In a second corner, Dennis Lee of Namu, dueling with a Yorkshire pig, known for its muscularity. In the third corner, Thomas McNaughton of Flour + Water, holding court with a Duroc (otherwise known as Berkshire), a favorite among chefs for its intramuscular marbling and thick fat cap.  In the fourth corner, Morgan Maki of Bi-Rite Market, with a Mangalitsa, a very rare breed famous for its high-quality lard-type fat and for having double the marbling of your average pork. Lastly, Staffan Terje of Perbacco with a Swabian Hall pig, the first time one has been shown in the United States. This unusual pig was created in 1821 in Germany, from the mating of the fattest pig in the world with the leanest.

It was a chance for folks not only to taste, but to learn about some heritage breeds rarely available at supermarkets or restaurants. It was an opportunity to get up close and personal with owners of small ranches who raise these now-scarce breeds, as well as with some elite San Francisco butchers, who have become veritable rock stars for bringing back a lost art. Indeed, you’d be hard pressed to see so many people at one place armed with knives, mallets and saws. There was something primal, even carnal, about it all.

Dave the Butcher, along with women butchers from Avedano’s Holly Park Market in San Francisco, got the pig party started by demonstrating how to take apart a whole pork shoulder. To emphasize just how healthful heritage pork is, Dave the Butcher even popped a raw sliver into his mouth.

He quipped, “When it comes to the pigs we use, we try to know where it comes from, what it eats, and what TV programs it watches.”

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Bovolo Will Bowl You Over

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It’s no big deal these days to snag a decent latte and a nice pastry inside your neighborhood bookstore.

But how about being able to pick up a best-selling novel, a glossy mag, and a plate of dreamy pasta carbonara?

Yeah, not many bookstores can boast of that. But Copperfield’s Books in downtown Healdsburg sure can. That’s because past the front door, past the shelves of books, and all the way in the back of the store, you’ll find Bovolo, a sunny restaurant that makes everything from scratch from locally grown ingredients and specializes in the meat-of-the-moment, pork.

Bovolo, the sister restaurant of Zazu Restaurant & Farm in Santa Rosa, is a tiny 24-seat cafe big on charm.  It makes its own bacon and salumi from heritage pigs, as well as its own fabulous gelato. It features “Fish Frydays,” the only day of the week that pig makes room for fish. Corkage is also free for Sonoma County residents. Enter through the backdoor at 9 a.m. before the bookstore opens, and you can enjoy a rustic breakfast of fried sweetened goat cheese turnovers, a breakfast pizza or a black pig bacon, egg and cheese sammy.

Just be sure to time your visit well, as Bovolo is open only until 6 p.m. on weekdays.

The hubster and I made it there just before closing to enjoy an early dinner.

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Persian Pub Grub, Whoopie Pies, Pig Galore & More

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Persian Pub Grub

Leave it to Iranian-born Chef Hoss Zare to reinterpret pub food with bold Persian flavors.

Tonight through Saturday at 8:30 p.m., he will team with Syre Piorkowski (a “beer sommelier”) and Ryan Corbett from the Monk’s Kettle in San Francisco to present special beer and wine pairings with Persian-style pub food at his Zaré at Flytrap in San Francisco.

Because pub grub doesn’t really exist in Iran, Chef Zare promises a most memorable meal, including sumac couscous salad with Dungeness crab; and chicken wings “Fessenjoon” with pomegranate walnut sauce. Each of five dishes will be paired with a different beer, and sometimes alongside a wine, as well.

Price is $75 per person, which includes the wine and beer. For reservations, call (415) 243-0580.

Time for Whoopie Pies

That would be gourmet ones from Marché in Menlo Park, which will be sold at the restaurant June 4-5.

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Kobe Beef and Killer Cabernet Sauvignon Redux — at Signorello Estate

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There are many wonderful ways to taste wine in the Napa Valley.

Few are as grand yet intimate as the “Enoteca Signorello” tasting at Signorello Estate on the Silverado Trail.

Raymond E. Signorello, proprietor of the winery that his late-parents established in 1985 on 100 acres of former racehorse-grazing land, wanted to recreate the experience of wine-tasting in Europe. There, wine is often tasted with the winemaker at a table set with food for a more personalized and more relaxed time.

The result is the “Enoteca Signorello” food and wine paired tasting, where guests are seated in a private, light-filled dining room or on the lovely terrace beside the pool overlooking the vineyards, if weather permits. Oliver the dog will probably be on hand to greet you, too.

The special 90-minute tastings are by appointment only, 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. daily. Price is $65 per person. That might seem pricey. But this is no basket of water crackers that we’re talking about. It’s a flight of five wines, paired with seven, good-sized gourmet treats prepared in the winery’s professional kitchen by a chef.

In March, I was invited as a guest to one of these private tastings, which started being offered a year ago and feature menus that change with the seasons.

You’re welcomed with glasses of the 2008 Seta Estate, a Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc blend that had just the right amount of acidity and buttery-ness; and the 2007 Chardonnay Vielles Vignes Chardonnay, made from the fruit from the original 26-year-old vines planted on the estate.

They’re paired with two-bite hors d’oeuvres — a tiny chevre cake topped with julienned salmon cured with star anise and honey; and a crostini of albacore tuna poached in olive oil and dressed with preserved lemons, picholine olives and the fragrant North African ras el hanout spice blend.

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Kobe Beef and Killer Cabernet Sauvignon — at Two South Bay/Peninsula Restaurants

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Take some of the richest, most marbled beef around.  Pair it with an inky, full-bodied, Old World-style Napa Valley Cab.

What’s not to like?

Especially when it’s Snake River Farms’ American-style Kobe and Signorello Estate’s 2005 and 2006 Estate Cabarnet Sauvignon with its balance of raspberry, cedar, earth, and tobacco notes.

The two specialty producers have partnered for the past few years to introduce foodies to the luxurious combination of Kobe and Cab. In fact, Signorello even runs a “Kobe & Cabarnet Club,” in which participants receive three shipments a year of Kobe cuts with bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon. Each shipment averages $390.

If that’s a little too rich for your blood, those in the South Bay will be glad to know they can experience the “Kobe & Cab” magic in a slightly more economical way at two local restaurants.

The Grill on the Alley in San Jose is serving a 12-ounce New York Snake River Farms steak seasoned with grilled asparagus ($65) with a bottle of 2005 Signorello Cab ($75)  through at least the end of May.

And Quattro at the Four Seasons Silicon Valley in San Jose is featuring two dishes at lunch and dinner through the end of April: An open-face Snake River Farms tri-tip steak sandwich with porcini gravy, fried artichokes and aioli ($19); and a Snake River Farms rib eye with gigante beans, oven-cured tomatoes, black chanterelles and spinach ($45).

The 2006 Signorello Estate Cabarnet Sauvignon is available there by the glass ($21) or bottle ($85).

I had a chance to find out just how wonderful the meat pairs with the wine when I was a guest at a special kick-off dinner at Quattro last month that spotlighted not only Signorello wines and Snake River Farms’ Kobe beef, but also its incomparable Kurobuta pork.

The Wagyu breed is famous in Japan, where the cattle have been raised in the Kobe region for hundreds of years. Snake Rivers of Boise, Idaho crosses Japanese Wagyu with Black Angus cattle for its American-version of Wagyu beef.

No, Snake River Farms doesn’t massage its cows with sake and feed them beer as the folklore in Japan goes. Instead, the Snake River Farms cows are fed Idaho potatoes, white wheat, corn and alfalfa hay. While most other cows in the United States are brought to market at 16 months, the Snake River ones are fed up until they’re 30 months old, resulting in more flavor and a whole lot more marbling.

Just how good is this stuff? Uber-chefs, Michael Mina, Wolfgang Puck and Thomas Keller are huge fans, especially Keller who buys almost all of the Snake River rib eye caps produced (the extremely marbled muscle around the outside of a center-cut rib-eye steak).

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