French butcher shops. Gotta Love ‘em!

Seeing America from a road-side seat is an old tradition in my family. Long cross country jaunts in a big wood-paneled station wagon  from California to Maine were part of my childhood. A childhood defined by yearly moves, new schools and family car vacations fueled by nomadic parents. My Mom crossed America 12 times before my older brother was a year old.  She jumped in a car with a brand new driver’s license and a baby in a bassinet to set off across the States. She met my Dad’s ship as it moved from East Coast port to  West Coast port. Dad was a Navy career man with a sinking ship tattoo, a ready laugh and giant hands. In between 6-month-long sea duty on an ocean-going tug, the Abenaki, he would drive my mother and us three kids from coast to coast stopping for date milkshakes in Indio, Ca or to take a Kodachrome photograph of us in front of a giant Tee-Pee Motel in Kingman, Az. He drove us along Route 66 like it was our personal family driveway stopping for gas, strawberry soda and souvenir gemstones. Long hours of car bingo and “I spy” were orchestrated by Mom and once my brother and sister dozed off, Dad would often drive all night. I sat up in the front, wedged between my two larger-than-life parents on the bench seat, waiting to spot deer, coyotes or other road animals in the headlights and to help keep my Dad awake. At 8 years old, I knew the dangers of late night driving from the Highway Patrol TV series, and it was my self-appointed job- long distance road trip chatty co-pilot. It must have driven Dad crazy.

Fifty years later, I was sharing co-pilot duties with my French colleague  as we drove from workshop to workshop across America in a sort of French Pig Roadshow. Four workshops stretched between a brand new culinary institute in Oklahoma City (here) to Neal Foley’s family farm in mid-coast Maine (here). Along the way, we met pig farmers, butchers, cooks, teachers and home enthusiasts. We ate home-made burgers, diner fried chicken, bbq pork… and more pork. In just eight days, twenty-one pigs and a half were butchered- French style, transformed into farmstead charcuterie and then distributed to the forty+ participants. Days between workshops were spent driving in front of tornadoes, along big Rivers and through the green belt of the Appalachians. So we were off to see America and what grows between the big cities.

We left Lexington KY for the D.C. area workshop with a long stretch of beautiful Spring dogwoods ahead of us. My Appalachian Spring high was destroyed when I got a text informing me that the ordered pigs for tomorrow’s class were missing in action. A slip in communication? an email going astray? an administration mis-understanding? – it didn’t matter. It was 3:30 in the afternoon along Highway 64 in West Virginia and we were pigless.

This is where I started praying and punching buttons. Twitter. Facebook. Emails. Anyone got a bead on some pigs, any pigs, even one that I could beg for? Miles went by and time was running out.  And then from the great internet ether came the answer-” Talk to EcoFriendly Foods. He’s got pigs.”  I called. No one was home. It was getting dark in the little valleys. We stopped for gas along the road and there was a livestock auction going on next door. We raised an eyebrow but kept driving.

Then the great resource called social media delivered. Charcutepalooza Pal, Cathy Barrow made contact with Pam at Wagshal’s and new charcuteria buddy Jeffrey Weiss got through to Bev Eggleston. We’d have student pigs via Wagshal’s for the afternoon workshop but to get a big pig, the sort of XL-sized, mature 12 month old hog that Dominique and his brothers raise, we’d have to make a sidetrip to Moneta VA and pick up the pig from Bev’s plant in our rental car on our way to DC. I pulled over to talk to Bev himself. He was driving a load of pork to restaurant clients in North Carolina. He wanted to help us out. He’d make it happen. We were a couple hours away, but his crew would return to the plant- it was now after 8 pm and wrap up a pig to go- ice bags, plastic, and tarps.  You gotta love a guy like that! So this roadshow took a detour in the middle of nowhere West Virginia and went off track in search of a pig. Some Pig!

By the time we got to Moneta, the half a hog weighing about 160 pounds, was ready for us and Jay Faucher and his 10 year old son were waiting to give us a guided tour of the USDA processing plant, and their own American charcuterie. It was nearly ten pm. As relieved as I was to get this beautiful pig for the demonstration, I was delighted to meet the people behind the commitment. Next time, I hope to meet Mr. Eggleston in person. We loaded the beast in the back sticking out of the trunk into the backseat determined to make it to our reserved hotel in Woodbridge VA.

The rest of the night we drove, dodging deer gangs on the shoulders of the lonely roads, and talked about the strong movement for good food we were experiencing (and being a part of!) all across America. Even an over-eager sheriff pulling me over for speeding 62 in a 60 mile an hour zone couldn’t tarnish my good mood. I thought of my Dad, Broderick Crawford and all the CSI shows I’ve watched. I was just grateful the young Sheriff didn’t ask to see what was hidden under the big blue tarp protruding into the backseat from the trunk. That and the Frenchman sitting next to me with a suitcase full of butcher’s knives. Oh, and the salt- kilos of salt.

By the time we got to D.C., unpacked the car and got a short night’s sleep, I knew that the drive across America, now called the French Pig Road Show, would have to include meeting more of the farmers and small processing plants that keep our good charcuterie workshops alive. That Eco-Friendly Farm half a pig was by far the best of the 43 half hogs we butchered. Solid red meat, good fat cap, and slaughtered with respect and care. Thanks for making it happen Jeff, Jay and especially- Bev. Next time on a French Porc Road Trip, call in for some Gascon Pork Love.

My Dad, Walter Elmo Hill was born in Cushing, OK on May 17 1922; died April 9 1964. Memories are forever…

Returning to Camont after a month away is usually bittersweet. Rainy days of April, warming spring days and a super fertile River valley terrain produces a growth spurt akin to Amazonian Rain Forest scale. While I love working my garden, growing enough vegetables, fruit and fresh herbs for our classes and sustain a small village, I don’t love the tall grass, weeds and invasive spirit of the French nettle world.

This year however, the house sprites have been busy. Thanks to Friendly Neighbor Olivier and Stephanie C.E.S. (Cinderella Extraordinaire Sister), I returned from a month of  French Pig workshops to find Camont in abundant green garb and ready for action. And action we got!

New Butchery & Charcuterie students arriving hot on my heels were joined by a last minute Photo Crew from a major mag. Would Camont be suitably tamed for prime time viewing?   Would the international photographer see the charm of the unruly calla lilies, the over abundant wysteria,  the worn garden chairs? Would the new students taste the difference in our pure French Farmstead Charcuterie hanging from a beam in the laundry room/piggery?

At the end of this first day of the Spring season, I tumble into my bed, a tangle of yet unpacked clothes on one side, as a May nightingale lights up the evening with his song. Home.

Sweet Gascon Home.

Traveling on the French Pig Workshop road means less time to prepare pretty posts with Frenchy pictures of my Kitchen at Camont.

Traveling on the French Pig Roadshow circuit also means catching up with old friends and new- in person and over the airways.

First stop-SFO for the  IACP  (that’s the International Association of Culinary Professionals to you!) always dynamic annual international conference. I’m lucky to get over at the right time this year and look forward to connecting with friends, colleagues and students. Now meat Kari Underly of Range Inc.- third-generation Master Butcher and Grrls Meat Camp co-founder.

Join us for the first ever Grrls Meat Camp  ’Modern Butchery for Women Workshop’ with master butcher Kari Underly (above by Jennifer Marx) and Me on the farm in Napoleon Ridge Kentucky. April 12-14. Want to know more? Spaces still available. Read about it here: http://kitchen-at-camont.com/grrls-meat-camp-workshop/

Next, a series of four French Pig Workshops with my Mustachioed & Beret-sporting Butcher Buddy Dominique Chapolard (seen here with alumni Peruvian Chef Renzo Garibaldi). There are a few spaces at these workshops and you sign up here: http://kitchen-at-camont.com/2013/02/24/two-day-workshops-in-the-usa-the-french-pig-making-farmstead-charcuterie/

What can you expect to learn? More than you dreamed about. We teach and share our lives not just how to breakdown a beast. Setting up a business, creating a new idea, living your own dream. Want some inspiration? look what Kitchen-at-Camont Butchery & Charcuterie program alumni  Camas Davis has started here and contribute a little porky love to her Kickstarter dream: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1922917888/meat-collectives-across-america.

Interested? Come Meat Me in San Francisco, Kentucky, Oklahoma, DC and Maine… or write Katedecamont (at) me (dot) com .

A tout de suite!

TLS.BOS.SFO.LEX.OKC.LEX.IAD.BOS.TLS.

That’s the ticketing for my April.

What it means for you, if you are following the  madness known as The Roadshow Madness Month, is that I have a packed a bag of porky French goodness, in my bags and am hitting the trail spreading the word of grrls making salty meaty morsels and seed-to-sausage farming. Come along and meet me and my talented colleagues as we offer the inside tips, hands-on training, and gentle guidance to understanding meat from the ground up.

What it means to me is a long clear look at my Gascon home before I leave and what I’ll be missing all month:

• Bees.  I give a last little look at the hive and am reassured that the honey grrls are working hard, have lots of wild flowers left un-mowed to feast on as the orchard comes into bloom.
• Barnworks. The supporting walls are up and finished and will get their roof while I am gone. I’ll be missing the truss raising party and the tiling, but I’ll be delighted when I return to have a safe and dry roof over the new Keeping Kitchen at Camont.
• Gardens. The potager is loaded with underground activity and all those seeds should have germinated by the time I return. Head Gardenr Finegan is plotting the new Forest Garden next to the orchard and chicken coop so I’ll be looking out for seeds and ideas as I travel.
• Bacon. No, not the porky kind but the furry dog friend kind. He can be a real pain in the rear sometimes, but our little 70 kg bundle of doggy love is hard to leave when I get the evil eye for the suitcase.
• Pantry. Hams, braseola, and magrets are all drying in the piggery pantry. Jars of confit and confitures are waiting for my return to be turned into spring cassoulets and other festive meals. Cooking at Camont means raiding the pantry that I work all year to stock.

Au Revoir Planète Camont! There is family and food trucks waiting, farm grrls and butchers to meet,  American heritage pigs to cook and Franco/American beans to cassoulet. I’ll be lobstahing and drinking tequila, staying up with old friends and young great-nieces and nephews. I’ll be taking the temperature of the farm to table talk, the leaning in, and sharing the French Seed-to-Sausage philosophy. If you get a minute New World, let me tell you about the Old World and its good new ways of sustaining food- both on the farm and in the kitchen.

For more information:

 http://kitchen-at-camont.com/2013/02/24/two-day-workshops-in-the-usa-the-french-pig-making-farmstead-charcuterie/

A cuddle of black and white piglets under a heat lamp in a barn perched on the side of a mountain in the Pyrenees-

Meet the Porc Basque.

And this is where it ends- 3 years later.

A hall of ham in the same Pyrenees Mountains ageing with the help of the dry Foehn wind.

Meet the Kintoa Ham.

The journey our food takes from live animal to edible product is a long and precarious one. Even a simple carrot is a year of careful work and attention to a complex web of details from soil care and weather to weeding, harvesting and preserving. In the four weeks that our students spend here in Southwest France, on the Chapolard farm and in the markets, shops and kitchen at Camont, they also make that journey. From an idea of what pork is to the visceral understanding of making food from seed-to-sausage, I watch as the one by one, each butcher, cook, or want to be farmer takes the steps in his or her own way. On the way to the mountains we stop at Hasparren- home of  the Louis Ospital workshop. Here, Ibaiona Pork Master Eric Ospital shares his little gourmet cult cut- lepoa, destined for the finest restaurants in Paris. I met Eric and the World of Ham a year ago here.

On the last trip to the Pyrenees Valley of Les Aldudes, the Spring ’13 gang of four (Kirsty, Adam, John and Analiesa) were joined by guest Welsh Pig Guru Illtud Llyr Dunsford. For a look at his own French Jaunt journey, check out his thoughtful blog here. Reading about his trip, inspired me to think about my own. Each small group I teach is different and although personalities do factor into learning and time spent together, I see a common pattern emerge. In the beginning, we all look for the similarities.

A pig is a pig is a pig until it becomes a PIG. While working at the Chapolard farm- Baradieu- all pigs are big- 400 lbs plus. Although housed in various European pig sheds just outside the meat cutting room door, they keep a rather low profile as our focus is on the final product- farmstead charcuterie. One of the reasons I whisk the group away from the cradle of a single farm focus is to shake our comfortable relationship with the family farm and introduce the idea that there are a hundred ways into the harbor*. 

This is a very different harbor indeed. This is where the differences begin to tell. These fern-thatched nursery sheds are located just outside the Pierre Oteiza production facility and boutique in Aldudes. Mother sows and porcelets  are kept here under a watchful eye until the piglets are weaned at 6-8 weeks when they are moved to mountain parks for the rest of their adult lives. It’s easy to spend a couple hours just watching the  juvenile antics of the young within walking distance of the restaurant where we enjoyed a long and porky lunch- from prized Kinto jambon to stuffed pigs’ ear terrine served with pickled cherries and a good bottle of Irouleguy.

We talked a lot on the road.

About people’s expectations in buying high welfare meat. About how good animal husbandry isn’t always as pretty as consumers would like to see. Producing good quality meat is a lot of work and yes, there is mud and pig shit. Just ask Kiwi Kirsty as she completes a couple weeks of continuing education mucking around with pigs. Her Plog  here is an insider’s few of Pig School here in Gascony.

Analiesa, John and Kirsty tuck into pig parts at Oteiza’s canteen/boutique.

Next, there are a myriad of small differences that begin to make themselves known. Here at the Chapolards, we make small boneless Noix de Jambon, like culatello but smaller cuts. But this high Basque valley area is famous for ham- on my own map of SW France I call it Ham Heaven. From these farms to this table, or in this case  from those Basque piglets to this beautiful Kinto ham rubbed red with the Basque panacea Piment d’Espelette,  there are a lot of small important steps: the careful tending and feeding of the animals who live most of their adult life outside until the age of 12-15 months; the slaughter and butchering of the carcasses; the salting, drying and ageing of the hams in this specially designed ‘sechoir’ or curing facility for another 12-18 months. A total of three years plus if add in the gestation period of the piglets.

Most often we eat the salty fruit of all these labors with barely a thought of the day-to-day work that goes into making our basic food. But I trust that after 4 weeks of up front and personal contact with the French farmers, butchers and charcutiers that grow, tend, slaughter, butcher and transform, this well-dressed group, including me, will spend an extra little moment of reflection on the people who make the food we eat. Thanks to all our welcoming hosts-charcutiers Eric Ospital, Catherine Oteiza, and farmers Josette Arrayat and Gerard Bordagaray!

Team PIG Spring 2013

at the Sechoir Collective de la Valle des Aldudes

* ‘Cannibal Ed’ Boden (1981-USVI)

What happens in the Pyrenees doesn’t always stay in the mountains.

Like the kiss and tell excitement of new love- discovering a new place, great food and the nicest people in the world- I can’t wait to share a few souvenirs from my most recent trip to the Pays Basque and the high valleys of the Pyrenees.

Snow on rocks. Being a born and bred island grrl, I am more salty sea then lofty peaks. But something about these Pyrenees peaks touch me. Maybe it’s the way the snowy high pasture  melt into grass green slopes. The early spring warm winds create the Foehn effect sending warm dry air swooping down the leeward side of the mountains creating a perfect micro climate for curing hams. And hams we found in all shapes, sizes and pig breeds.  But sometimes the unexpected is what makes you happiest. Looking for hams and black-bottomed pigs, we discovered friendship.

Meet my new best friends- Josette and Gerard.

Josette Arrayat and Gerard Bordagaray raise pigs- black bottomed, lop-eared, and meaty Basque pigs that are destined to become some of the finest hams in France. When I found out that Josette was the former head of the Filière de Porc Basque and knew all about the birth of this association, the breed and raised the breed, I was more than willing to make the trip across the mountains to find her. When I found out that Josette was Basque-American and graduated from UC Davis with an Animal Science degree, I was overjoyed. I could ask her all the questions I had without worrying about my BFA (Bad French Accent) and in-delicate curiosity. So after a quick phone call in which Josette insisted on meeting us in the supermarket parking lot at Lasse, off we flew along the snowy peaks and cleared roads for this rendezvous. A rendezvous with passion…

Meet Gerard. Cheese maker. Herdsman. Son and father in a long family line at Pelloenia, their large stone house sheltered into the steep hillside. Gerard makes cheese from the milk of their flock of Lacaune ewes. French Farmstead Cheese made from raw milk. Pyrenees Mountain cheese made in a white-tiled roomed with a view of the snow covered mountains across the narrow valley. Mme. Bordagaray- Maman- helps with wrapping the cheesecloth around the freshly pressed curd. The whey will be fed to the pigs. Nothing is squandered or wasted here.  Resources are hard earned and with just 10 hectares of vertical pastures, even alfalfa hay is brought in for the sheep.

Can you imagine inviting in 6 strangers into your home, stopping your work and explaning the why and the how of what makes it work? Can you imagine then inviting them back again in the morning for coffee and cheese making 101? and organizing a hotel and meal? and driving us back down the mountain again in the dark so we wouldn’t get lost?  These are my new best friends.

We came back in  the morning to watch Gerard heat, add culture and rennet, heat again and then wait patiently. Then he cut the curd and stirred, stirred some more, and waited. Rubbing the curd between his fingers until the curd kernels felt right, experience told him it was time. Pressed into a large block in the vat, Gerard scooped hefty blocks onto the stainless steel table and eye-balled the size needed for each different size mold. Wrapped in cheese cloth, pressed again, and brined over night, the cheese was now aged in their caves for 6 months to 2 years. Each cheese batch is numbered, the gray mold lending credence to the pet name “le petit gris’ of this fruity yet nutty cheese.

We came for pigs, discovered cheese, and found new friends who make the food we love with care, passion and patience. Thank you Josette and Gerard (Boys, Mom & Aunty) for your warm welcome to your hill-side home over looking Adartza. We carried a little bit of your hearts in our pockets down that Basque mountainside.

 Milesker!

Dominique Chapolard and I are excited to announce a series of two-day workshops in the USA in late April 2013. With two days to explore the French charcuterie pig- we can devote time to both hands-on seam butchery and making charcuterie a la . How does the Chapoalrds run their 100-acre farm and support 5 families with just 30 sows? Dominique calls it the Short Circuit- I call it Full Circle farming. However you call it, the trick is in working not just nose-to-tail but seed-to-sausage. Come learn how and why the Chapolard Family chose to butcher and transform into added value charcuterie all their pigs- 8 to 10 every week- selling them retail at local markets. Workshops are limited in size by venue to no more than 20 participants.

Dates & Locations: all events are open to the public.

• April 12-14 2013 SPECIAL Grrls Meat Camp Butchery and Charcuterie for Women with Kari Underly & Kate Hill- http://grrlsmeatcampworkshop-es2005.eventbrite.com/ (check out the page on the toolbar above)
• April 16-17 2013         Oklahoma City, Oklahoma- Francis Tuttle School of Culinary Arts in a brand new dedicated butchery classroom kitchen- http://francistuttle.edu/culinaryarts       Book here: http://thefrenchpig.eventbrite.com

• April 20-21 2013  SOLD OUT!       Lancaster, Kentucky- Marksbury Farm.  Book  here: http://marksburyfarm.com/

• April 23-24 2013         Woodbridge, Virginia- Stratford University School of Culinary Arts http://www.stratford.edu/culinary                                   Book here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5692065120 

• April 27-28 2013         Montville, Maine- Claddagh Farm Cookery School For booking fill out form here: http://kitchengardenfoods.com/ask/ 

Chapolard Farmstead Charcuterie:  ventreche, saucisse seche, chorizo, saucisson, filet sec, boudin, noix de jambon , coppa, paté de campagne, fricandeaux, paté de tête, boudin blanc, rillettes, 

Masterclasses & Workshops-  The French Pig: a workshop about farmstead charcuterie*

April 16-28 2013 USA

The Butcher, The Cook & The Gascon Roadshow 

When American charcuterie teacher Kate Hill and French framer/butcher Dominique Chapolard come from Southwest France, they pack their bags full of the traditional techniques of butchering and making French Farmhouse charcuterie as practiced on The Chapolard Family farm in Gascony.

What is Farmstead Charcuterie? Borrowing the definition from ‘farmhouse’ or ‘farmstead’ cheeses, ‘farmstead charcuterie’ is made with meat from animals raised on a single farm. On the Ferme Baradieu in Gascony, not only does the Chapolard family butcher 8-10 of their 12-month-old pigs each week and transform the 400 lb. carcasses into French Farmstead Charcuterie, but they grow all the cereal and feed on their 30 sow, 100 acre farm—a true seed-to-sausage operation.

This is a hands-on workshop as Dominique and Kate will help you discover the French way to butcher and breakdown a pig for charcuterie and create a butcher’s dozen of traditional French Farmstead charcuterieincluding: noix de jambon, jambonneaux, ventrèche roulée, fricandeaux, paté de campagne, paté en croute, paté de tête, saucisse de Toulouse, saucisson, saucisse seche, paupiettes, rillettes, and grattons.

This intensive, two-day master class includes 15 hours of demonstration tutoring and hands on experience. French-style seam butchery for charcuterie and making the above products are underscored by a comprehensive Seed-to-Sausage farming presentation based on the Chapolard’s modern approach to working their traditional family farm in Southwest France.

Workshop fees include: a generous share of fresh pork and charcuterie products produced over the weekend, lunches, written materials and a few fun French products.

For further information about each workshop, please contact Kate Hill or the local contact listed above.

WORKSHOP FEES

Workshop Fees include: 15 hours instruction- both demonstration and hands on; all meat and workshop materials costs; class written materials; lunches & beverages. Optional supper or other casual gatherings to be announced.

2013 Two-day Workshop Fees: $ 875 per person payable by Paypal via Eventbrite. Workshops limited to 20 participants maximum.

*Like Farmstead Cheese, when artisan charcuterie is made from pork produced from pigs on a single farm, we call it Farmstead Charcuterie.

Workshop Schedule 

Day One: 8 hours 

The French Pig from Seed-to-Sausage- Meet Dominique Chapolard the Butcher & Kate Hill the Cook.

Morning- Growing Charcuterie from the ground up- Discussion &  French Seam Butchery Demonstration.

9:00-10:00 Understanding Nose-to-Tail-to-Table thinking in farming. The Chapolards rear 500 pigs a year on their family farm growing all their own feed, butchering, transforming and selling 100% of their production and supporting 5 families.

A short discussion will set the foundation and talking points:

-working with the big pigs- 12 months+ 400

-feed to meat ratio

-taking the time

-texture, structure and taste

-curing mature meat

-balance fresh cuts and charcuterie

-direct sale profits us all- the French market system

10-12:00- A Perfect Breakdown from Whole Carcass to Sub-Primals- French style. (demo)

• French seam butchery, muscle over bone breakdown
• French cut chart and glossary
• working the tip- the elegant knife
• new cuts and ways of looking at the traditional whole muscles

lunch- 12-1:45 Round Table Discussion of Farmer to Butcher to Cook Business

Afternoon- An introduction to charcuterie by cook/author/ teacher Kate Hill

2:00- 5:00  Hands-On Butchery and Preliminary Salting

• Whole carcass breakdown lessons for Charcuterie Cuts- emphasis on whole muscle curing- sheeting out the ribs.
• Breaking Sub-Primals into Charcuterie Cuts- hands-on-knives
• Charcuterie Basics: how curing extends your meat locker by pickling, smoking, curing & drying, sausage
• All About Salting- how much, how long and why
• Preparing noix de jambon, ventrèche, & jambonneau
• Trimming and Grinding meat for fricandaux, paté and paupiettes.
• 

Day Two 9 hours: French Farmstead Charcuterie: cooked, cured and confited. 

Morning- Tete-to-Tail Farmstead Charcuterie- using the whole hog in the traditional French way.

9:00-10:00 Discussion “How to make whole hog butchery pay? Seed to sausage retail ideas.

• Added value products to make
• Team planning for whole carcass utilization

10:00-12:30 Understanding the Four Steps of Charcuterie: cooked, salted, cured, & dried.

Hands-on making the following products:

• Head: paté de tête, brawn or head cheese

Liver: fricandeaux, paté en croute, meat pies, and terrines,

Fat: fritons and confit de porc or preserving in fat.

lunch- farm lunch with discussion- ‘tout seul, tu meurt’ or how the G.A.E.C. system works.

afternoon- Hands-on transformation. Continue cooking and preparing charcuterie:

2-6 pm

Whole muscle curing-

• Ventrèche roulée or French bacon
• noix de jambon
• Charnu or coppa
• Seasoning, tying, netting and smoking
• Drying and ageing at ambient temperature

The Fifth Quarters of the Beast- cooking with offal and the all the trim

• Paté de tete
• Rillettes
• Pied de porc

Come run with the XL pigs…

(all the really good photography is by Tim Clinch, a few others are by me- all rights reserved for our next ebook project)

Notice in the first photographs, a normal sized pig- 6 months and the XL pig next to it. It’s a given that first timers here are stunned by the size of the 12 month old, 400 lb pigs- the XL Cochons.  Then the color of the meat- deep red and sturdy. The pigs are lean and the fat ratio is moderated by their diet from 6 to 12 months. But what happens next  that shocks students is flavor.

Sitting at lunch in Christiane and Dominique’s house, the surprise of the week might just have been the simple, straight forward shoulder roast studded with garlic and roasted at 200′ C or 390′ F- in other words- a very hot oven for 1+hour plus per kilo. the meat was tender, falling apart and full of flavor. A bowl of buttery potato puree absorbed the pan juices–perfectly simple. Amazing flavor.

I start to get into a groove of shopping, butchering, salting, and smoking as we reel off the a list of French Basix- charcuterie style.

Salt cured:

• noix de jambon- those little one kilo+ boneless hams  made from the seamed out muscles; peppered, smoked and hung for 4 weeks.
• Lamb hams as above
• pork tenderloin stuffed with foie gras
• duck breasts stuffed with foie gras
• magret de canard- fat duck breasts stuffed with foie gras and au nature.

Smoked:

• ventreche- fat slab of belly bacon and rolled like pancetta
• hocks & heart – brined
• poitrine de boeuf  roulee-spiced & hot smoked for pastrami
• flank steak- butterflied and rolled, salted, peppered and hot smoked

Cooked:

• Fricandeaux- paté de campagne
• Paté and terrines en croûte: veal, pork, rabbit, prunes
• Rillettes de canard
• Full on Cassoulet Chapolard featuring confited  pork cheeks, rind sausage, ventreche et al.
• Pork Shoulder a la Chapolard
• Paupiettes brasied with winter vegetables

Five days isn’t very long for a , but I dare say I think it changed a few lives- at least in one restaurant kitchen in St. Louis, MO and a butcher shop in Australia. I can only imagine what the 4 new students arriving today for 4 weeks are going to discover! For more information about booking a one or 4-week Butchery & Charcuterie-at-Camont course, just click HERE.

And look for some workshops coming your way in April!

1. Crack 3 eggs into a large bowl and whisk like crazy until smooth.

2. Put 1 cup of flour (125 gr) + 1/4 cup sugar (75 gr) + a pinch of salt into bowl and whisk again.

3. Add 1.5 cups of Milk (375 ml) + 1 tablespoon melted butter + 1 tablespoon rum, armagnac or crêpe arôme. Now, whisk again until the batter is smooth and just thick enough to coat a spoon and thin enough to pour easily.

That’s it. French crepes as easy as 1,2 & 3. The batter is always better if you let it rest a while- an hour or two. But if the very idea of these light and lacy crepes drizzled with honey or some of your homemade jam is driving you crazy, then put on the water for tea- now. Heat up a wide flat pan, a skillet or crêpe pan until a drop of water skittles across the surface.

I melt some butter in the pan and keep it on a high. I make the crepes as fast as I can by ladling the thin batter into the pan, giving it a swirl and letting it set. Then a quick flip to dry the top surface once I see a little golden color and that’s it. Layer them on a plate and keep making them warm under a tea towel until you are done.  Serve with a bowl of butter and honey, creme fraiche or jam. This recipe makes about a dozen crepes and a lot of friends. It’s pancake time for: Candlemas, Chandeleur , Shrove Tuesday, and Mardi Gras.