Mangalitsa Dinner @ Vie with Boka Group Chefs - report

I had the pleasure of being at this delicious event last night. Much has been written about the Mangalitsa hogs -- mostly by Mike Sula at The Reader -- and the anticipation was very high. These hogs are known for their fat content, which lends itself to particularly lush and rich dishes.

The event began with a reception duing which gougeres and pork rinds prepared by Vie were served, along with sparkling wine. The meal itself was comprised of 6 courses -- 3 cooked by Vie chefs and 3 cooked by visiting chefs from The Boka Group -- Giuseppi Tentori of Boka, Stephanie Izard of the soon-to-open Girl and the Goat and Ryan Poli of Perennial. Pairings were offered with the courses and I thought they matched up extremely well with the dishes.


Vie: Smoked pork loin with shirred farm eggs and shaved white truffles
'06 Raventos / Blanc L'Hereu Reserva Brut Cava, Spain



Giuseppe Tentori of Boka: Head cheese with parsnip puree, pickled crosnes and sourdough chips
'08 Cliff Edge, Riesling, Mount Langi Ghiran, Victoria, Australia



Stephanie Izard of Girl and the Goat: Braised bacon and kingfish with shaved radish, Seedling Farm apple jus and caramelized shallot
'08 Daily, Chardonnay, Monterey, California



Paul Virant of Vie: Milk-braised ham, Caveny Farm persimmons, brown butter, Michigan chestnuts and fried cipollini onions
'08 Jigsaw, Pinot Noir, Oregon



Ryan Poli of Perennial: Fabada Asturiana (Spanish stew) of pork shoulder, chorizo, blood sausage, white beans, saffron and Iberico ham
'07 Bodegas La Cartuja, Priorat, D.O.C.a., Spain



Todd Feitl of Vie: Seedling Farms fruit mincemeat tart, Carr Valley applewood-smoked cheddar, caramel cracklins, organic creme fraiche and applewood-smoked sea salt
Hot spiced Seedling Farm cider with Woodford Reserve bourbon and mulling spices

All in all, it was a fantastic meal. I honestly could not tell the difference between this pork and other outstanding varieties I've had. This was unquestionably excellent, lush and rich but was it better than Berkshire, Mulefoot, Duroc or other proprietary cross-breeds I've enjoyed in the past? I think it would take a lot more dishes and meals for me to make that determination. Still, these dishes showcased the pork very well and were quite delicious in their own right. Across the board, the pairings really took the meal to another level. I know there are a few more Mangalitsa meals coming up around town (Boka, Signature Room, The Bristol -- and Blackbird will feature some Mangalitsa dishes on their regular menu) and I wish I could go to more of them. It'd be very interesting to see what other chefs will do with this ingredient and I'm guessing that the more one gets to cook and taste, the easier it would be to understand the strengths and weaknesses of this particular breed.

=R=

This was unquestionably excellent, lush and rich but was it better than Berkshire, Mulefoot, Duroc or other proprietary cross-breeds I've enjoyed in the past? I think it would take a lot more dishes and meals for me to make that determination.

Probably side-by-side exactly similar preparations, preferably minimal, would go a long way to help divine differences, if any. This could be a challenge to some restaurant wanting to really help people discern.

A few years ago, I went to a side by side tasting of three different pulled pork prepared by Mitchell's BBQ. The difference were the pigs: 1) Pig taken from a feed lot diet unknown; 2) Pig fed barley/soy and 3) Pig fed barley/corn. If they left the pork plain, I had a chance to possibly divine taste and texture differences. It was delivered to everyone already dressed in Carolina vinegar sauce, which rendered it impossible to feel any differences. It was all very good, but no dice on a blindfold test.

Regards,

Ronnie,

Great photos, as always.

I am surprised to see that there weren't more dishes focusing on the fat itself. I guess I expected to see cured lardo, porchetta, chicharrones, maybe even salted lard with the bread service - dishes that would really highlight the fat itself. It looks like the milk-braised ham might have some fat still attached (though a bit hard to make out given the camera angle), but everything else looks fairly well trimmed. When you see pictures of Mangalitsa fat (like this one and this one), it sets pretty high expectations of overt fatty goodness.

-Dan

dansch wrote:Ronnie,

Great photos, as always.

I am surprised to see that there weren't more dishes focusing on the fat itself. I guess I expected to see cured lardo, porchetta, chicharrones, maybe even salted lard with the bread service - dishes that would really highlight the fat itself. It looks like the milk-braised ham might have some fat still attached (though a bit hard to make out given the camera angle), but everything else looks fairly well trimmed. When you see pictures of Mangalitsa fat (like this one and this one), it sets pretty high expectations of overt fatty goodness.

-Dan

Thanks, Dan. I think it's hard to do that at one meal without getting overly-excessive but part of the issue is/was my shoddy reporting. The rinds, gourgeres, cracklins and the pastry for the mincemeat tart (which contained Mangalitsa lard) were all pretty fat-intensive. Combine that with the couple of dishes in which belly appeared and I have to say that the fat was fairly well-represented. Again, it'll be interesting to see what the other chefs do with their Mangalitsas.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Thanks, Dan. I think it's hard to do that at one meal without getting overly-excessive but part of the issue is/was my shoddy reporting. The rinds, gourgeres, cracklins and the pastry for the mincemeat tart (which contained Mangalitsa lard) were all pretty fat-intensive. Combine that with the couple of dishes in which belly appeared and I have to say that the fat was fairly well-represented. Again, it'll be interesting to see what the other chefs do with their Mangalitsas.

It makes sense not to have course after course be extreme fat. I guess I just expected to a couple of dishes where the fat was really on display - both in content and visually.

-Dan

dansch wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:Thanks, Dan. I think it's hard to do that at one meal without getting overly-excessive but part of the issue is/was my shoddy reporting. The rinds, gourgeres, cracklins and the pastry for the mincemeat tart (which contained Mangalitsa lard) were all pretty fat-intensive. Combine that with the couple of dishes in which belly appeared and I have to say that the fat was fairly well-represented. Again, it'll be interesting to see what the other chefs do with their Mangalitsas.

It makes sense not to have course after course be extreme fat. I guess I just expected to a couple of dishes where the fat was really on display - both in content and visually.

-Dan

Maybe that'll be the case at one of the other restaurants that got one of these hogs. I really wish I could go to all of the dinners but this time of year, the schedule is just too tight.

Tonight's dinner at Boka will be fairly similar to last night's dinner at Vie but chef Tentori told me that for tonight's dinner, he made a chocolate cake using pork blood (not sure if it's from the Mangalitsa). That should be quite interesting. And based on their winning dish at Baconfest, The Bristol's Mangalitsa dinner should also be very interesting. Chef Pandel clearly knows his way around a pig.

=R=

I'm not interested if the chocolate cake is made from any old pig blood.

Anyone going to the Bristol's Mangalitsa dinner? I'm debating whether to go to that or go to Blackbird for the Mangalitsa tasting menu offered next month.

We're going to the Bristol one. You could, after all, go to both