Day 33 - The Best day in the Kitchen Yet!

Today was such an amazing day! The promise was kept, and at 10 am this morning a 165 lb side of a pig showed up. I am talking from snout to tail! Wild! Carlo traced out where all the delicious cured meats that Italy is known for come from; salumi, prosciutto, cappacola, guanciale. I know that some of you may be wondering why this is so exciting or may be grossed out, but there are some readers who are about to hang on every word of this post. Be warned, the pictures show lots of pork, knives, and happy smiling faces!

Once Chef Lorenzo came in, we began to decide what to do with the meat, decisions were made and we were going to be making lots of sausage, curing the cheek, two sides of belly for porchetta, taking roasts, chops, and loins out, oh spare ribs too. He began by removing the pork cheek, yes the cheek on the pigs face. This is said to be one of the most tender and flavorful pieces of meat from a pig. Let me tell you, IT IS! The cured cheek is known as guanciale and we use it in our carbonara and sliced, sauteed as an antipasto.

Then Chef removed the front quarter of the pig, the shoulder (from blade to the hoof). “Who wants to de-bone this?” ummm, I DO!!! So I took the shoulder and began to remove the blade from the leg joint. At first, I was being a bit gingerly with my knife and Carlo was like, ‘come on’ so l went for it. Blade out, just two more leg portions to get through; joint and knee. I basically took all the meat, fat, and skin off from the blade to about the ankle of the pig, so the hoof was in tact. It was really fun. Don’t be disturbed, I just like the art of butchery and would like to pursue it, thats all. From here, all the meat and fat were sent to the grinder for sausage and the skin to be kept for some purpose, not sure what yet. Yes, this has been the highlight of the kitchen in Italy.

Meanwhile, chef took the belly and divided it into two portions, removed the chops and cut those down to serving portions. It was all running fairly smoothly, Drew grinding meat, Tyler weighing and recording, Chef butchering, me doing a bit of butchering and packing of the meats, Carlo working with the skin and cheek and the loins. This was a very fun day and it was still only 11:30 am. For lunch we had fresh ground pork in some homemade taglitelle pasta with sage. So tasty! After lunch, we made sausage, packed the roasts (4 in total), vacuum packed the chops and leftover ground pork. I learned a new way to tie off the sausage, so that was great too.

During siesta, I was able to Skype with Marcee, who after a moment or two was able to get her video side up and running, congratulations! For family meal dinner we had fried potatoes, with fresh spicy ground pork topped with over easy eggs. So tasty! We were dead for the first hour or so of service so we were all online. Carlo showed us a video of him making carbonara that a previous intern had shot, pretty cool. Then Francisco, on his day off, came in with one of the KSU girls for dinner. Tyler and I were on hot line and worked pretty well together. We pushed out 2 courses for Frankie then dessert. Another 2 tables came in and Carlo and I worked 2 courses for each group. I felt good on the line, confident, ready. Ok, a bit nervous too.

After service, the guys and I went over to the KSU house and chatted with the girls for a bit and then roomies and I were headed home. Halfway to the bus station we were sidetracked by a bar that we have walked by many times. They show American sports, serve beer, and have a hamburger on the menu. So we popped in to have a beer and Tyler and I each ordered a hamburger, since they actually looked like beef. Best idea of the night! It was actually quite good and the fries were skinny and well-cooked.

A great day for sure! I am off to Siena tomorrow, Firenza’s rival city, so I am excited.

Ciao Rigottsi’s

Language Lesson

Guanciale = Cured Pork Cheek

Prosciutto = Cured Pork Butt and/or Shoulder

Maiale = Pig/Pork