Varmint

But if you're cooking a whole hog, I've never seen anyone separate it like that. They really just start tearing at the carcass until there's no more meat left. Now if you're cooking just shoulders, that's another matter. Edit: Oops. I just now saw the comment about the "whole thing." However, I've never been to a pig pickin' or pig roast where different sauces were provided for the different cuts of meat.

You start with the ribs. Those are for the folks who helped you cook and your closest friends. You then search for meat with heavy duty rubber glove. Pull it off the pig. You can cut it to smaller bites, or just start eating the large pieces of flesh. Sauce it if you like. I like to get a mix of the darker and lighter meats, all with small pieces of cracklin' (the then crispy skin) mixed in. Mmmmmmm.

Oops, I've been too busy at work this week. I've been craving a lot of my favorites, and because I'm so good at it, I've generally given in to those cravings. Not good at all! Tuesday: I woke up at 5:00 AM for my 45 minute walk. It's amazing how dead a town is at that time. Toast for breakfast. Lunch was Chinese: Large hot & sour soup, Sha-Cha chicken (lots of veggies, some chicken), and just a bit of the brown rice they served with it. I ate the fortune cookie, of course. Dinner last night was orechiette with roasted chicken, roasted cauliflower, carrots, rosemary, garlic, white wine, and chicken stock. I had a small scoop of bacio gelato. I had a banana and 1 scrambled egg for breakfast. Kathi Purvis and I went to lunch at the much overrated 42nd Street Oyster Bar, where I had a cup of seafood bisque, 3 hushpuppies, 2/3 of an icky crab cake sandwich, and about 4 bites of a dreadful cheesy, whipped potato dish. Oh, and a glass of sweet tea, too. The oysters are pretty good there, although! I'll be working late tonight, so dinner may not even happen. I'm remarkably full from lunch, so that's a good sign.

I really have no opinion about Bobby Flay. I haven't eaten at any of his restaurants and don't generally watch his shows. However, when I was recently channel surfing, I ended up on the Food Network with an episode of Food Nation on. Mrs. Varmint watched for about 30 seconds, having no idea whatsoever who Flay was, and said, "Who's that dork? He's an ass." I'm still chuckling about it. I'll see if I can get him to come down for the pig pickin'!

The vegetable plate. Damn, I'm hungry!

The last time Mrs. Varmint and I ate at Magnolia Grill in Durham, she was very intrigued by a dish, except that it had a cilantro-based sauce in it. My wife absolutely detests cilantro. When we asked the waiter if the sauce could be removed, he talked us out of it. Chef Ben Barker's cuisine is often based on complexity of flavors. Remove one element, and the entire dish can be out of whack. Such was the case with this particular dish. Mrs. Varmint loved it, and the cilantro merely acted as a counterbalance to some of the other assertive flavors in the dish. Without the cilantro, it would have been very wrong. The waiter handled this very diplomatically, and we took his advice. He was appropriately trained by the chef to handle this type of request.

No, I can think of at least 6 restaurants in Raleigh alone where it's a traditional, sit down type of place, and that's not counting the barbecue joints. Of course, I'm sure most of the veggies are in steam tables in the back, but because they're cooked to complete "doneness", the steam tables don't hurt.

I'm working on formalizing the menu somewhat, but I think I need some assistance. I've followed Craig's advice and purchased La Cucina Siciliana di Gangivecchio, so my recipes are coming from there, with some minor modifications. The important thing to remember is that 18 people, many of whom have hardly cooked before, will be arriving at 6, and the first course should hit the table at 8. Thus, we need to do fairly simple dishes. I'm going to try the arancini, but I'll probably make them small. This will be finger food to eat before the dinner, and I'm thinking of a very simple filling of mozzarella. If I do a hearty ragout, that will be a bit too messy and more complex than I'd want to start out. What about smoked mozzarella? Would that work? Can anyone think of something other than bruschetta to serve as a simple stand-up food? Would olives, cheese and mortadella suffice? I'd like a simple antipasti to serve at the table. Nothing is leaping out at me. The pasta will be spaghetti with swordfish (or tuna), eggplant and mint. We'll then do fairly simple dish of veal cutlets with tomatoes and parsley. I'll have a chicken option available here. I'm planning on serving this with baked stuffed zucchini. Is there a way to make this dish a bit more elegant, or do I just rely on its overall simplicity? I'll do a simple mixed green salad with pecorino. What the heck do you serve with the salad course??? For dessert, a simple berry tart. I'm thinking that the traditional Sicilian dessert options are too heavy or take too long. Please convince me I'm wrong. Comments and suggestions, please. Thanks!

I love southern "meat 'n' 3" restaurants. These are the places where you choose from a variety of meats and then 3 different "vegetables." I use the quotes around vegetables simply because it's more appropriate to call them sides, particularly when there's deviled eggs and macaroni and cheese on the list. Perhaps my favorite meat 'n' 3 meal consists of pork chops smothered in onion gravy, black eyed peas slow cooked in fat back, collard greens, and fried okra. However, in the middle of the summer, I'll get some nice, juicy sliced tomatoes instead of the okra or black eyed peas (collards pretty much always make the final cut). This makes for a fairly colorful plate, too -- something that isn't all that common here. At some places, they'll have really good candied sweet potatoes, which effectively serves as a colorful dessert. At the best places, they'll have awesome squash casserole, filled with cheese and some type of crunchy topping. What does your favorite meat 'n' 3 meal consist of?

I haven't a clue about the size of my kitchen, because it's a damn maze that was horribly designed (by my non-cooking father-in-law). There's so much counter space that only one person can fit in the cooking area. The thing is, I have 2 ovens, a grill, a 4 burner electric range, an ice maker, a wine fridge, a Sub Zero fridge and freezer, and a wet bar. Plus, I have a 4' by 6' and a 2' by 3' marble counter for bread and candy making. We have a counter where the L'il Varmints take most of their meals. In total, I'd say the kitchen is 10' by 18'. I plan on gutting it and putting a new kitchen in our family room, which may sound crazy, but actually makes a lot of sense. That won't happen for a couple of years, however!

No, that is the stuff that parents of 4 L'il Varmints are made of!

Yeah, and at least half the time I go there they're buy one get one free. However the lard from Nahunta is of a surprisingly bad quality. I've tried using it for pie crusts among other things and it's very... assertive. Ben That doesn't surprise me at all, as Nahunta is what it says it is: an outlet. The place is not for the faint of heart. As far as lard is concerned, I don't know that much about the best means of making it. If there's a lard expert out there, please enlighten us. Nightscotsman has started us down the right path, but we need more info!

Actually, it's about 9-10 inches high. They're really thin layers. Man, I'm getting hungry now!!!

Yes - how tall is a 16 layer cake? One more than a 15 layer cake.

You can get 25 gallon buckets of lard from the Nahunta Pork Outlet here in Raleigh. If I brought one of those home, Mrs. Varmint might divorce me. Oh, but wouldn't the biscuits be grand???

Let me start off with this: No weight gained even when I ate like a pig, including gelato in 3 out of 4 meals. Wow! First, this was a crazy weekend. It was as busy as it could possibly get, including my having to cook a "meat and potatoes" type of dish for my father-in-law's 69th birthday. Lessee, Saturday: Mrs. Varmint is getting into the smoothie thing, so we had the last of the season's strawberries. For lunch, I had a salami and tomato sandwich with a bunch of those barbecued soy chips. I don't recall who turned me onto these things, but they're really tasty (in a processed kind of way) and are remarkably nutritious. For dinner it was rib-eyes, baked potatoes, mozzarella and tomato salad, roasted asparagus, and lots of a super-Tuscan of a name that I can't recall. I had lots of feta in my potato. For dessert, my sister-in-law baked a 16 layer raspberry cake (made with raspberries from her back yard). My father-in-law wanted gelato with that, so we made a quick run to the gelatoria (which is just a couple of blocks from the hotel where you should stay for my pick pickin'). We got a quart of vanilla, a quart of bacio, a pint of coconut, and a pint of orange. I had a small slice of the cake, with coconut and orange gelato. I then passed out. Sunday breakfast was coffee, coffee, coffee, and two eggs over easy with a single slice of whole wheat toast. We picked up a friend at the airport and then went straight back to the gelatoria (the friend's request). I had a salad with soprassetta and mortadella. I then had a scoop of caramel and a scoop of espresso gelato. Fortunately, I went on a long walk that morning, pushing the two younger L'il Varmints in the double jogger stroller. I then ran around the soccer field later that afternoon for L'il Varmint #2's end of season soccer party. The party then met at a local pizzeria where I had 3 slices and 2 glasses of ice cold Budweiser (pretty much the only way it's drinkable). Of course, our friend wanted some of that leftover raspberry cake and gelato, so I helped myself to an ultra-thin slice with a small scoop of bacio. Amazingly, I didn't gain a pound over the weekend. That little bit of exercise helped. I'm back on my regular routine today, as I had a single slice of toast for breakfast (I was still full from last night). I had a salami and tomato sandwich for lunch, along with a bunch of grapes. I'm drinking an iced coffee right now, and tonight I'll make a steak salad for myself and a grilled tuna salad for Mrs. Varmint. Plus, I'll be up at 5 AM tomorrow for my exercise (which may only be a 45 minute walk, but it makes a big difference!). OK, I believe I'm current. Any questions?

Salivating for the 4th time today, all due to eGullet threads. Is there a website for Salumeria Biellese?

First, I suggest everyone look at Ellen Shapiro's wonderful photos of the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party at this thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...4&t=21710&st=0& Fat Guy did a solid job describing NC barbecue and how subtle this style of pig is. I'm in a highly Pavlovian mood right now. As far as the number of pigs are concerned, we'll do one. Right now, we'll probably have about 40 to 50 eGulleteers. After friends and family, we may have 100 to 125 people. A 125 pound pig would take care of that, but if we need a larger one, so be it. Heck, Mrs. Varmint has already given me the blessing to brine the damn hog in one of our bathtubs (god, won't the photos be awesome???), so this will be an incredible experience. I've never brined a whole hog before, and I doubt it's something practiced by any pitmasters in the State, so it should be interesting.

I've been off line this weekend, but I am glad to see this thread as my Monday morning wake up call! I'll try to post something substantial tonight (as I've got a boat load of work to do today), but it is indeed important to know that some of the best barbecue joints are run by some of the savviest businessmen you'll run across (and I use the masculine term only because so few places are run by women). Ed Mitchell is a man who has worked his tail off over the years, not being recognized because he's still fairly new on the scene, his previous establishment was sort of a dilapidated white and green painted cinder block building, and he hadn't marketed himself aggressively. I tried to take Fat Guy to Mitchell's, but they were closed for construction. Well, Ed now has a nice new building, he's marketing himself like crazy, and he's making a good living. He hasn't changed a thing from a food perspective, so he has a recipe for great success. As far as NC barbecue being an acquired taste, that is certainly the case. It doesn't knock your socks off the first time you have it. But as you begin to try different restaurants' versions, you recognize how subtle this style of barbecue is. It doesn't knock you over with smoke or sauce or other seasonings. The first flavor you should experience is the pig. If you're lucky, the barbecue will have some outside cracklin's mixed in. It should be lightly sauced in a way that helps to bring out, rather than mask, the flavor. Add more sauce or heat if you'd like, but do that after you've tasted it the way the pitmaster prepared it. If you give the stuff a chance, you'll learn to appreciate what a fine plate of pig we've developed here. For those of you who might be venturing down here for my pig pickin' on October 11, if you're here early, we'll try to arrange a barbecue road trip to visit Mitchell's, Pete Jones' Skylight Inn in Ayden, and Wilber's in Goldsboro. That would be about a 5 hour trip, but I'd make sure we take lots of back roads that have good scenery of Eastern North Carolina. We'd have to do this on Thursday, October 9, as I'll be getting everything ready for the pig pickin on the 10th. For more information on the pig pickin', go here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...T&f=97&t=21108&

Actually, they'd be far more disappointed (or repulsed) if the topic were truly about Varmint being exposed.

I had a burger with blue cheese and ratatouille (sp) for dinner. One beer, too. By the way, I think many people look at this thread only because of its title, only to be tremendously disappointed.

How do you make your fried chicken? If I have enough time, I brine the bird, then soak it in buttermilk for a couple of hours, dip in lots of very lightly seasoned flour, and fry in an iron skillet in vegetable shortening. What do you cook yours in? How do you pre-treat it? What do you use as a crust? White or dark??????

Bring it on! All of you! Truly, the more, the merrier. I'm planning on getting about a 125 pound pig, so that should take care of the masses! It's not my power, it's the power of the pig. I've chatted with Jaymes, and she's working on things. She got tied up with some stuff, and she'll get on it next week. Remember, y'all, that we have plenty of time here! Plus, Jaymes did this professionally for 20 years, so you're in fantastic hands. I'm hoping the Velvet Cloak Inn has a good deal, if not for the proximity to the house (a 5 minute drive, tops, and walkable if extremely drunk), but for the name. C'mon, haven't y'all wanted to stay at a place called the "Velvet Cloak"????

First everyone wants pictures of me. Now pictures of my food. And I don't even have a digital camera!!! For all of those who are interested, I just drank a delicious iced coffee. I'm still incredibly full from lunch, however.

You should have seen all the Indian food I just had for lunch. I'm full as a tick on the belly of a hound dog in the middle of the summertime.