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bringing home the bacon As a traditionalist, "work" comes first, and no shortcuts are taken by Keller or his staff, as you can see by the photos of the "Bacon and Eggs" being prepared. Every inch of the pig's head and trotters are used, employing techniques that permit nothing to be wasted. Although the end result takes days to complete, Thomas whipped through these initial preparations, explaining the key essentials as he went along.  Chef Thomas Keller in his kitchen at his restaurant, The French Laundry, ready to start the demonstration Passion.
I am looking for one word that says it all, and I am going to go with passion. With
passion comes commitment, but that is more or less a by-product of the drive to
get it right, the vision of a purist. Just two hours in the kitchen with Thomas
Keller, and you get to experience a man absorbed in his work, unaffected by the
world that has discovered him. "Take the skin off, just like a salmon. The skin is gelatinous. Lots of gelatin comes from skin. Roll the skin and tie it, like this. Braise it in anything, and it gives body." Keller points out several times as he goes along that the recipe utilizes everything. Nothing is wasted. Additionally, this process creates viscosity, instead of the old method of using flour. As he scores the meat with his Japanese Mac knife (it holds the sharpness more than any other knife he works with), he butterflies the cheek, pounds it into a square, all the while pointing out the different parts of the pigs head that are blending into the final piece. Finally, he ties the skin up tightly, seasons it with salt and freshly ground pepper, and begins the cooking process. Before refrigerating for the night, Keller will sprinkle some pink nitrate on the meat. "The nitrate is pink so that it is not mistaken for salt. The nitrate is a cure, and prevents botulism." These two separate preparations are both elaborate and each is enormously satisfying in its own way. The first uses the succulent fatty meat in a pig's head, wrapped around cooked pig's tongue, pig's ear, and sweetbreads, rolled tightly into a cylinder, and oven-poached all day. After it's cooled, it's sliced into medallions, sauteed, and served with a gribiche sauce. The pig's foot, or trotter, a classic French country preparation, is also stuffed and cooked over an extended period. Recipes from The French Laundry Cookbook 
WITH SAUCE GRIBICHE Cut off the ears and reserve. Split the skin and meat down the center of the head, (1)beginning at the top and working around the snout and to the back of the head to split the skull down the middle.(2) Then, beginning on one side of the head, run the knife along the contour of the head, following the bone structure, to remove the skin and the attached meat. (3)Be careful to remove the piece of meat on the temple, behind the eye, first and then the cheeks; you want these pieces of meat to stay attached to the skin. Follow the line from the jawbone to the snout. Repeat on the other side. Remove the tongue and set it aside. Lay out the piece of pig, skin side down. At the back of the top of the head is a flap of meat that is very fatty. Trim off the fat until you reach the meat. Run a knife along the skin and remove the skin from the meat and remaining fat (much as you would skin a fish fillet)(4). You can roll up the skin and tie it in a bundle; it adds a great deal of gelatin if added to stocks. Trim away and discard the excess bits of skin, the gums, and the ear canal. Trim off the top of the fat until only the very white fat remains. Score the fat in a crosshatch pattern. Trim the excess fat from the inside. Butterfly the meat of the cheek and crosshatch the interior.(5) Pound the piece flat and season with salt and pepper. Dice some of the pig's ear and set aside. 
Braise the tongue as you would veal tongue (see cookbook page 112). Arrange batons of cooked tongue, sweetbreads, and diced pig's ear over the meat. Roll the head in plastic wrap to shape it (as you would the torchon, then remove the piece, roll it, and tie it in cheesecloth.(6)(7) Place the pig's head in a pot, cover with stock (chicken or white veal), and add aromatics (carrots, onions, leeks, bay leaves, thyme sprigs, and parsley stems). Cover the pot in foil and place in a 300°F. oven for 6 hours. Drain the cooked meat, rewrap it in cheesecloth, and hang it for 1 day in the cooler. Slice the pig's head into medallions. Brush with Dijon mustard, dredge in fresh bread crumbs, and saute the pieces in oil. Serve on a bed of the gribiche sauce, garnished with chopped egg white and a halved egg yolk of a hard-boiled pheasant egg and fresh tarragon.     SAUCE GRIBICHE 1 heaping teaspoon finely minced shallots 1 1/2 teaspoons finely minced capers 1 1/2 teaspoons finely minced cornichon ' 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 tablespoon Banyuls vinegar or sherry, 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1 heaping tablespoon finely chopped hard-boiled egg white 1 tablespoon finely chopped hard-boiled egg yolk 1/4 teaspoon finely minced tarragon 1 teaspoon finely minced Italian parsley 1/2 teaspoon finely minced chives This wonderful sauce will serve four. The ingredients in the sauce have a high degree of acid, so the proportion of oil is higher than usual. Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir together. The sauce can be refrigerated in a covered container for a few days. Makes about 1/2 cup    PIGS FEET WITH FRENCH GREEN LENTILS Try to buy pig's feet, or trotters, that are long, with half or all of the shank attached. The shank will provide more meat and skin, for a nicer wrapper. To Cook the Pig's Feet Split the trotters lengthwise. Place a bed of mirepoix and aromatics (carrots, onions, leeks, bay leaves, thyme sprigs, and parsley stems) in the bottom of a rondeau, or deep straight-sided braising pan. Place the trotters skin side down over the mirepoix. Sprinkle the top with more mirepoix and aromatics. Add chicken stock to cover by 2 inches. Cover the pot with a lid and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Transfer the pot to a 300ûF. oven and cook for about 6 hours, or until the meat is falling away from the bones. Remove from the oven and cool for an hour to make them easier to handle. Remove the trotters from the liquid, debone them, and discard the bones. Remove the meat, shred it, and reserve. Remove any sinew still attached to the pig's skin. The skins will become the wrappers, For the Farce Dice some sweetbreads and season them. Dredge them in flour and cook in 1/8 inch of hot oil in a rondeau until they are crispy and golden brown. Drain the sweetbreads and wipe out the pot. Add some chicken stock (twice the volume of sweetbreads). Bring the liquid to a boil and add the sweetbreads, some minced shallots, a few drops of white wine vinegar, and some butter. Simmer to reduce the liquid until it thickens and coats the sweetbreads. Add a vegetable brunoise, some chopped chives, and the reserved meat. (If the sauce begins to break, add more stock.) If desired, finish with white truffle oil. Transfer the stuffing to a bowl and let it cool to room temperature. To Stuff the Trotters Remove the skin from the refrigerator. If it is too stiff to work with, place it in the microwave briefly to make it pliable, or let stand at room temperature until softened. For each trotter, place a piece of caul fat (soaked and drained) on a work surface; it should be large enough to wrap around the stuffed trotter three times. Place the skin (outside down) on the caul fat and season the inside of the skin. Place the farce down the middle of the skin and roll it up in the skin. Roll up the stuffed trotter in the caul fat. Heat 1/8 inch of oil in an oven proof saute pan over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add the trotters and brown on the first side. Turn the trotters over and place in a 300ûF. oven for about 10 minutes, turning occasionally. (They need to heat evenly, or they may burst.) Serve the trotters on a ragout of green lentils garnished with lardons of smoked bacon. Makes four servings, with shank, or two without shank |
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so scrape them with a knife to make it a uniform thickness. Refrigerate both the skin and the meat to chill. Strain the cooking liquid and reserve.