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The participating chefs take their places on the line with Paul Kahan (right) directing. (Chuck Sudo)
Last night we attended the sold out mulefoot pig dinner at Blackbird sponsored by the Chicago Reader. Reader food critic Mike Sula has been chronicling the progress Dee Dee since he persuaded the paper to buy her last year, bringing attention to this rare endangered breed of swine in the process.
Mulefoots are distinguished for their non cloven hooves, which resemble, well, mules. They also reach a weight of 400-600 pounds by the age of two, with a rich texture to the meat and good fat content. Sula frequent filings for the paper and the Reader's "Food Chain" blog have charted the growth of Dee Dee under the care of farmers Linda Derrickson and Mark Kessenich, who were in attendance.
Instead of being served some of Dee Dee last night, diners were served dishes prepared from three separate mulefoots by an all-star lineup of chefs assembled by blackbird's Paul Kahan. With the exception of Jason Hammel and Amalea Tshilds of Lula Café, the menu was created by a veritable family tree of chefs working under Kahan. The other featured chefs were Justin Large of avec, Blackbird's Mike Sheerin and Tim Dahl, Brian Huston of the reaching-overhyped-status Publican, and Vie's Paul Virant (a former chef under Kahan). the dishes ranged from Hammel and Tshilds's simple and elegant pork belly with house cured sardine to Virant's roasted crepinette, delicately layered with pickled onion, country bacon and a pinot noir jam. Wine pairings were donated by a board member of Slow Food Chicago, which also was the beneficiary of the dinner
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What were the wine pairings?
I'll have to look back at the menu for specifics.
The same Gerwutztraminer was used for the Lula course and dessert. And there was a pinot noir with ravioli that brought out the flavors of the consomme even more.
But there was one Indian syrah that stands out (paired with the country ham) that had some serious sediment in it. And this was after a thorough decanting. It had the spice of an underripe syrah, the jamming bright fruit of a perfectly ripened one and a touch of alcohol on the nose that reminded me of a neutral spirit.
If it was a blind tasting I would have easily mistaken this for a fortified red.
What? They make poor quality Syrah in India? Who knew????
I try to never drink donated wine....
what? no bacon candy?
No. No bacon candy.
But... pork rinds!!!! Chicharrones.
Pork rinds which you can go have (for a few days, anyway) at The Publican. By the way, just for the record, the '07 Londer Vineyards Gewurz served with course 1 and the '07 Londer Vineyards sweet Gewurz served with dessert were different wines, though I think few recognized the fact Sunday night (but I have video of the bottles so I can prove it!)