Dining on whole pigs with Dai Due

Remember all that pork?

Well, someone (make that 40 or so someones) had to eat it.  The group of happy eaters began with Husbear's compatriots from his porcine class the day before, their significant others (including me!  :waves:) and various others who weren't in the class but wanted to eat its spoils.

We arrived at Rain Lily Farm on a balmy Austin fall Sunday, me being my usual apprehensive self, to a beautiful setting.

The dinner was BYOB, so buckets of ice for chilling wine and beer were provided.  We were given a light, refreshing aperitif, an apple ratafia made of local white muscat wine mixed with local vodka infused with local apples, to drink while we wandered around the small farm operation.

I think Husbear already mentioned Dai Due's overwhelming commitment to eating as locally as possible.  The back of the menu above listed all of the sources for just about every ingredient for each dish we'd be enjoying, and every source was Texan.

We carted our ratafias over to check out Rain Lily Farm's vegetables. 

November and December are great months to eat locally here in Texas.  While August and September are usually too hot for much of anything to grow, by the end of the year second crops are ripening.  Last weekend, the farmers' market was full of tomatoes, along with more traditionally wintry greens and root vegetables.

And okra, which is one of my favorite vegetables.

Rain Lily Farm also raises a few animals, mostly goats and chickens.  We visited with them for a few minutes.  By this time, more people were arriving, and we all made our introductions while trying to avoid the curious nibbles of the friendliest of the goats.

Part of the reason the goats were so interested in getting to know us better is that we'd all just been provided with a pre-dinner snack to go with our ratafias - a slice of banh mi.  Though it was more French than traditionally Vietnamese, in both presentation and flavor, this banh mi was quite good.  Plus, it incorporated some of the pate the class had prepared.

The banh mi was perfect as a before-dinner snacklet; not only did it start the pork theme off loudly, it was also packed with lovely flavors that readied us for the enormity of the meal ahead.

I mean, you saw that menu.

The goats definitely wanted to find out more about this new food in their pen.  The brown one with the warpaint took advantage of the black one's being distracted to try to jump on its back for a quickie.

This did not make the black goat happy.

While the musicians played light fare,

we wandered through the prep stations.  Husbear, of course, wanted to see what was going on with the varied products he and his class had helped to prepare the day before.

He nodded happily at the rilletes, that brilliant method the French have for making shredded pork moist and deliciously fatty.

I have to say I was a little apprehensive about the headcheese... I can't say I'd had a deep-seated desire to ever buy or try this product.  It's gotta be the name.  Or the texture.  Or the appearance.

These particular treats were all being sliced and put on boards for the first course, which would be a family-style charcuterie. 

Which means there would have to be more of that smooth, creamy pate.

Darn.

Many other pork or pork-related items were also undergoing final cooking for later in the meal, including a non-traditional grilled boudin (normally in Louisiana you see boudin poached),

and a spit-roasted pork loin, turning gracefully over low grilling heat.

By this time, we were all nigh-on ravenous, so we took our places at the aforepictured beautiful long table.

We sat down with our wine, that we'd gotten a great deal on from Central Market.  It turned out to be amazing.

After just a moment, heaping plates of bread arrived on the table, followed closely by boards heaped with the pate, rillettes, and headcheese.  These tasties were supplemented by not only mustards, which are an absolute necessity with charcuterie, but pickled beets from Boggy Creek Farm that were earthy and beety and a good counterpoint to the various fatty pork products on the table in front of us.

All three of these pork products were wonderful, and I have to say Jesse and friends have changed my mind about headcheese.  It can be really good.  I still don't think I'm going to run out to pick some up at the HEB, but I'm hoping Husbear makes some with that half a pig we're bringing to Louisiana for Christmas.

Next, things lightened up a bit with a chorizo and smoked hock soup, with creamer peas, sweet potatoes, and kale.  Need I say that the class made the chorizo?

The soup was nice and light and had a good taste of fall, though the cilantro was a little strong for some.  Cilantro's tough - people have such adamant opinions about it.

Next came an enormous pile of pig - on one plate, the grilled boudin and chile sausages topping a very nice clean potato salad (made with potatoes from Bikkurim Farm, of course).  I loved the potato salad, but was not blown away by the sausages.

Unfortunately, by this time it was getting really dark and we didn't get a decent picture of what may have been the best thing we ate that night - the grilled pork belly, served on apple cider braised chinese cabbage and accompanied by an amazing sweet spicy apple chutney.  So instead, here's a picture of how happy I was to be eating it.

Rain Lily wouldn't have been a real farm without a farm cat, right?  Here he is, sitting on top of the signin book we'd forgotten to sign.  Looks like we missed our chance. (Sitting on? More like guarding with his dynamic cat powers.  He made me answer three questions and a riddle just to get a grassfed beef pamphlet -L.Pants)

For the dessert, which of course had to include pig in some way, Dai Due went all out.  Not only did they fashion pork cracklins into a tart bound with brown sugar and molasses, they also topped it with freshly whipped lard, sort of a sweet version of Dario Cecchini's Burro del Chianti.

No?  Husbear says that was actually a pecan tart made with pecans from the tree we were sitting under, topped with fresh whipped cream.  Oops.   Yes, it was very good.

At least there was lard in the crust, in true Southern style.

Dinner finished with mint tisane and coffee, and Jesse gave a brief speech about the importance of eating locally and knowing the people growing your food and raising your meat.  He's really inspired us - we're buying all of our meat these days at the farmer's market, as well as a good portion of our vegetables, and we've discovered that Central Texas farmers certainly do a wonderful job producing deliciousness.

It's been a bit of a revelation, what we can get at the farmers' markets around here.  Grassfed bison, lamb, beef, and pork.  Geese, roosters, free-range chickens, partridges.  Seriously.  And, of course, some of the most delicious citrus in the country, beautiful greens in copious amounts, and everything as fresh as it can be.

Not only that, but the prices on much of the produce are lower than the pricing at our grocery stores, and you get much better, fresher produce often sold to you by the person who picked it.

Enough.  Dai Due helps to teach us that eating locally is not only good for the environment and the local economy, it's also good for your tummy and tastebuds.  Kudos to them for spreading that message.

Comments

[Bonnie]

I just love the adventure at Dai Due that you posted. It sounds like so much fun, although I might not be able to survive the pig parts day, just the eating!

I’m curious what farmer’s markets you guys are frequenting. I’d like to get more locally grown produce and meats, but have never been that thrilled with the downtown farmer’s market. I'd love to get some ideas for places to check out. Thanks.

[Boots in the Oven]

Thank you so much, Bonnie!

We've been going to the Sunset Valley market on Saturdays and the small market at the Triangle on Wednesdays to help tide us over. The Triangle has a lot of the same vendors as the downtown market, however.

We visited the downtown market for the first time in a while last weekend, and I have to say I'm with you - lots of arts and crafts and prepared foods, not much by way of vegetables and fruits and suchlike. Though we did see a guy there selling shrimp - the first seafood we've seen at the markets here in Austin!

I also remember liking Boggy Creek, though we haven't been in quite some time. We need to go back!

[Robert]

Thats it!!! I hope you have a spare room, because I'm moving in! Can you imagine the superb fantastic chaos that would ensue???

LOVE LOVE LOVE
Robert

[Jack]

Really nice post! It's awesome to have those singular experiences that express how perfect the simple principles of eating locally and eating completely (not wasting any part of that wonderful pig) can be. It looks like you guys had an amazing time with some cool folks... makes me want to get some pork rillettes myself!

[girlie]

Robert, hey, I like chaos! We have a spare room...

Jack, thank you! It was definitely a wonderful experience, that really changed the way we look at local products. I wish more people could attend.

[Eric]

This is amazing stuff! I think I might ahve to link to this from my blog. I wasn't hungry all day but happened upon this while doing a search for 'headcheese' on Flickr to make sure my photos were coming up - et Voila! A magical pork romance!

[Girlie]

Thanks - cool blog you have there! Your headcheese looks quite tasty.

And who couldn't use a good bloodwarming pork romance?