Do you promise to cook the pig, the whole pig, and nothing but the pig.......

I do...... So, I'm finally getting around to finishing this post about the suckling pig from Blackbird and Thackeray Farms. As you can see from the stamp, this little guy was homegrown right down the road on Wadmalaw Island, SC.

The first thing I did was break it down into the primal cuts, sorry the graphic nature of the pigs head, but hey its apart of what we do and apart of being on top of the food chain.

After braising the pig for 4 hours at 275, I let it rest uncovered for about an hour and a half(sorry I got busy and forgot to take pics). Chicken stock, Madeira, and regular aromatics went into the braise.

After cooling down enough to handle, I then proceeded to pull the skin from the pieces and lay it flat in a 200 pan. You have to really take your time when you start to pick the meat and make sure you find all the cartilage and bone pieces. The last thing you would want is a paying customer to bite into one. I mixed the meat together, added more seasoning and probably about two cups or so of braising liquid to the mixture. Next it presses over night, here is a pic of the pressing apparatus....

A little blow torch heat on the back of the pan and running a pairing knife down the side helped me get the meat out clean.

Cut portions....

We have baby hot peppers growing in the garden and I knew I wanted to incorporate them somehow. So, I just picked a variety and charred them in a skillet quickly and made a compound butter to mount the braising jus....

The final dish:

Seared Suckling Pig, Truffle Goat Cheese Sheet, Garden Pepper Jus, Crispy Celery Root, Basil Powder....

It sold great and everyone had great comments about it, hopefully we can duplicate this and maybe use it for the fall menu.....