Today’s NewYorkTimes Dining section includes a feature article on ICE alum (and recent ICE Alumni Hall of Achievement inductee) Matt Weingarten and writer Steven Rinella’s quest to host a genuine pig roast.
Weingarten is the Executive Chef at Inside Park at St. Bart’s, a restaurant known more for refined business lunches than rustic whole hog roasts. Their attempt was a lesson on the ins and outs of cooking a whole pig. A first backyard attempt was extinguished by firefighters. The second attempt in Pine Plains, NY, involved digging a roasting pit with a tractor and cutting down two trees for enough firewood.
Weingarten’s recipe for the whole pig was a rub of salt, brown sugar, allspice, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves and juniper. He then filled the chest cavity with pineapples, butternut squash, red onions and rosemary. The pig was wrapped in banana leaves and burlap before being lowered into a pit filled with hot, glowing embers. It took 22 hours for the pig to roast, but in the end it was all worth it. Rinella writes, “The meat was cooked to absolute perfection: moist, a little greasy, and easily plucked from the bone.” Though it sounds delicious, we doubt we’ll see it on the menu at Inside Park at St. Bart’s anytime soon. Maybe we’ll start teaching pig roasting classes…
Check out a slideshow of the photos from The New York Times!
