8.13.09 (day two) - the pig

so i was really looking forward to today, pig butchering day....i honestly had no idea what part of an animal the skirt steak came from (actually i thought it was only in a cow), didn't know how to make head cheese (note: you can use feet), and honestly, i knew bacon was from a pig, but i never saw it in its non sliced form on the pig itself!! I would learn ALL of these things and so much more. The pig, I learned is probably the least wasteful of the animals we eat due to the fact that there is so few parts that frankly, we don't eat. Basically, the tail, some glands, and the snout I think....although I saw them put the snout aside, so maybe we're gonna eat that too?

but before the pig could make its way, we started with breakfast at 10am....i'm trying to think of another term other than "perfectly prepared" but it's what comes to mind with most of these dishes so far....we had a perfectly prepared egg and ham biscuit with side of blueberries.

and some fresh OJ.

we walked around the farm

then, out came the pig....

WARNING!!

WARNING!!

WARNING!!

WARNING!!

WARNING!!

WARNING!!

WARNING!!

Do not read on if you don't want to see a dead pig....Close this window now.

I will NOT be testing you. You can just TELL me you read this if you're worried I'll ask you questions about it......

AGAIN! Dead pig shots below......

OK, here we go.

it was mesmerizing to watch these guys dismember this guy (it was a guy). The ease at which each edible part was separated from the next was shocking to me. Sometimes, merely a few well placed but thin muscle tissue was the dividing factor between parts....this guide i found online is a reatively good idea of how they broke down the pig.....

http://www.theamericanmag.com/uploaded_images/article_1566_VgHs8elk0I.jpg

Sometimes they sawed through bones, other times, it was a smooth and gentle swoop with a knife....At the end, there was a tiny bit of waste, maybe 2 cups worth!! only....the rest, was divided into boston butt, picnic shoulder, loin, spare ribs, bacon, ham, hock, foot, jowl, and the head....

I tried to put the least gruesome, most family friendly, ones up here as possible, but I've got others. (just ask)....

After the pig class, we hung around the farm, tossed the ball to the dogs, drank some beer and wine, ate some mussels and toasted garlic bread (with some like spicy mayo sauce on it) for about an hour and a half.......

they also served us some lunch.....i learned about farro for the first time. it looks like quinoa or bulgar but unlike both of those, I REALLY enjoy farro. It's like quinoa without the somewhat tough consistency.....We had a farro salad with some farm vegetables along with some cheese and pepper spread, fried green tomatoes (best i've had.....savannah has nothing on this version), and some pickled beets.....

Charcuterie class followed. Essentially, charcuterie is a way to preserve meats without refrigeration. We used part of our pig (the belly i think?) as the example.

Brent and Tom, together about as varied and entertaining as you could hope for, kept us entertained with not only how to charcoot (made that up), but also showed us some sausage making.......

Having a chunk of the day free (5-9pm), a bunch of us decided to hike a trail by our cabins and go swimming in a lake. The hike was great, the lake (big pond) was a little nasty (slimy ground) but we endured.

After a brief nap, we were on our way to our evening meal in Camden, ME. The place was right out of a "Restaurants You Would Bring a Date To" magazine..I didn't take any photos here, but here's a screen shot from their site:

The highlight for me was the sweet corn soup, bbq lamb riblets, and my first time tasting muscat wine.......Having recently tried Sauternes for the first time just recently, this wine was VERY similar to Sauternes, and went PERFECTLY with the flourless chocolate cake and ice cream.......The restaurant was pretty much ALL maine event people (actually i think we dominated the whole restaurant minus some stragglers outside........At about 11:30pm, we called it a night, and here i sit now typing up what we did today......