Fun Playing With Snavely Pork

It has been less than two years since we were introduced to the fabulous heritage pork being raised by Ohio farmer Ed Snavely at his Curlytail Farm. This type of pork, also called "Berkshire" or "Karobuta" is extremely hard to get and can be relatively expensive, because it is raised humanely and has not had its natural fat bred out of it. Factory pork farmers only raise what they think will sell - and we all know how the pork industry has tried to re-brand pork as a health food - the "other white meat". Often, one must go to the farmer's markets or "know" someone to get the most fatty, tasty and gently raised products.

A little background on me and pork. I am a nice Jewish girl from New York. My father's mother kept kosher, but mom's parents had given up on kashruth during World War II. Still, old habits die hard - and sometimes they morph into bizarre permutations.

The basic rules of kashruth include the prohibition on mixing meat and dairy products in the same meal, and the prohibition on eating certain parts of certain animals or the entire animal (such as pig or shellfish). During my formative years, the family eating habits reflected a cultural respect for these rules, while allowing them to be bent or broken. Thus, we might have bacon with breakfast. But almost never was pork a dinner item - and the few times mom tried to serve pork chops, they just didn't taste good to us kids. I never cared for ham or shellfish much, and I would never drink a glass of milk with a hamburger or cold cut sandwich. I can only remember one encounter with pork sausage - in the lasagna at an Italian restaurant where we celebrated Mothers' Day one year - and I remember that I picked it out. And the weirdest twist - mom regularly made veal or chicken Parmesan which we kids inhaled - yet the thought of a cheeseburger was gross!

So, it was with this ethnic, cultural and food background that I moved to Ohio to marry a man named Osterman. A man who regularly took for lunch all sorts of disgusting-looking pork-based cold cuts. A man who adored all forms of sausage. A man who only wanted to make me a pork roast with sauerkraut for New Year's Day - a staple NYD meal in his family's Bohemian tradition.

During our dating phase, he had made this delicacy for me once, using a supermarket pork roast. I really tried to like it, but it had that . . . I don't know . . . that porky taste. So, the tradition was put on hiatus.

I've lived in Cleveland for 12 years now, and within the last six or so, have been fortunate to discover this great passion for all things food which drives this blog, among other things. Also, I have made the acquaintance of several amazing chefs, who practically worship the pig, and have encouraged me to lose my boundaries and just try it (play with your food!!). And so, I can honestly say that thanks to my husband, and to chefs like Michael Symon, Matt Harlan, Dominic Cerino, Doug Katz, and with a little help from author Michael Ruhlman - I have learned to enjoy and appreciate salumi, sausage, and other assorted pig parts. (Ruhlman hosted a dinner at the now defunct Battuto restaurant that featured an amazing assortment of dishes from an acorn finished heritage pig.)

And so - the culmination of this education was the re-introduction, last NYD, of the Pork Roast and Sauerkraut to our home. But not just any pork roast - this is a fat bejeweled wonder from Snavely Farms. Bob discovered last year that the best way to make this dish is to roast the pork naked - no seasonings, no nothing - to about 140 degrees. He then adds the sauerkraut and slow cooks it to tender delight.

This was our second year of enjoying a Snavely Pork Roast at New Year's time - though it was actually the day after NYD; we were still finishing our Christmas Day Lamb and Brussels Sprouts on January 1.

Ok - I've talked enough - here are the pictures of us playing with our Heritage Pork and Sauerkraut:







These are what the pot looked like when it came out of the oven. Note how the roast is enrobed with beautiful looking fat. The skin was nice and crispy, too.







Snavely Pork Roast on the Platter - a beautiful thing!



I confess - I still can't eat the straight pork fat; but Bob doesn't let any go to waste! A little artisanal finishing salt and a grate of black pepper is all this baby needs. It tastes like no pork I ever tasted before. It tastes like no pork you will get at your local megamart. It is a plattered commercial for why we need to get back to sustainability, to basics and non-engineered foods - mostly because they taste good - and isn't that the main reason that we eat?

Playing Slowly With Cheese

Last Saturday, our local Slow Food Convivium hosted a Cheese Tasting at the lovely Baricelli Inn in Cleveland. The Inn is home to the Baricelli Cheese Company, where Chef/Owner Paul Minillo shares his knowledge and love of great cheese.




The Cheese Company Cellar

I admit to some fussiness when it comes to cheese. I attribute this to my rather severe mold allergy. I don't care for veined or rinded cheeses (though I will eat the inside of some rinded cheeses), though I will always taste them before rejecting them. I am also pleased to report that I took most of these photos without flash, for the first time getting the exposure right! Hopefully, I will succeed in making a habit of going without flash.

We began with a choice of red or white wine and a basket of just-baked bread:




Cranberry-Walnut Bread

Chef Paul explained how the tasting would proceed. Our first plate would be warm, to feature the Bellwether Farms Sheep Ricotta.


Stuffed Shell

The ricotta was mixed with salt, pepper, Italian parsley and lemon zest. The pasta was cooked to perfect al dente and the shell was plated over a bit of delicate tomato sauce. The lemon was a twist I would never have expected and it tasted wonderful, though I would have liked a taste of the cheese without it.

The rest of the cheeses were served at room temperature, in two courses. The milder cheeses were first, to be followed by the stronger cheeses. The cheese plates were accompanied by grapes, dried apricots and walnuts:



I usually do not care for dried apricots, but these were marvelous and complimented several of the cheeses quite well.


First Course Cheese Plate
Starting at 9 o'clock with the Lake Erie Fresh Goat Cheese, which offered a fluffy cloudlike goodness. At 12 o'clock is the Oakvale Farmstead Habanero Raw Milk Gouda, followed clockwise by Fiscalini Farmstead Lionza Raw Milk Cheddar, Bellwether Farms Carmody, and finally, the Lake Erie Blooming Rind Goat Cheese, which was quite young.

I liked them all, though I could only manage a small taste of the rind (though I cleaned out the inside quite well!). I expected the Gouda to have more heat, but it was actually a very mellow heat that worked quite nicely. The cheddar and the Carmody were likewise most tasty.


Chef Paul Minillo Explains the Second Course of Cheeses


Starting at 12 o'clock and going clockwise, we enjoyed the Cowgirl Creamery Pierce Point, Uplands Cheese Company's Pleasant Ridge Raw Milk Reserve, Meadow Creak Dairy's Raw Milk Greyson, Roth Kase's Gruyere Surchoix and Roth Kase's Buttermilk Bleu.

These stronger cheeses surprised me a little bit - I usually find Gruyere too strong for my palate, but I really enjoyed this one. In fact, I liked all of them very much - except the rind of the Cowgirl (but I again polished off the creamy inside - yum!) and, try as I did to like it, the Bleu. And the two Bleu lovers at the table said it was a very mild Bleu. Oh well, I did my best before gifting it to my tablemates!

Our afternoon at Baricelli was delightful. Not even the snow falling outside could dim our good cheer. We had such an excess of cheer, in fact, that we could not bear for it to end. So we didn't let it end - about eight of us decided to keep playing together! But that will be the subject of my next post.