Pig Dinner in Glendale

The other night, my friend Sue Moore, the former meat forager at Chez Panisse in Berkeley—who can now be found serving her fabulous grass-fed hot dogs from her Let’s Be Frank trailer at the Helms Building—invited me to a remarkable dinner party. She had bought a 250-pound pig from Magruder Ranch in Mendocino, had it butchered and then drove it home to L.A. in the back of her Prius.

Pre-dining chitchat included Sue detailing the genetic profile of the pig, what it had been eating, how it was butchered and so on. TMI! I quickly went for a glass of wine. The party was hosted by Kathleen Sacchi in the kitchen of her Fine Art of Catering & Events in Glendale. She invited several chefs to cook: Charlie and Kathleen Schaffer, a husband-and-wife catering team; and Trevor Zimmerman of Deuce Events. There were about 20 or so guests, including Food Inc. producer Robert Kenner and his wife, Marguerite; actor John Pleshette and his producer wife, Lynn; and a bunch of other pig-loving friends.

Trevor broke down the pig and prepared the appetizers and dessert, while Charlie and Kathleen readied the dinner. We started with some coconut shrimp wrapped in prosciutto, mini Cuban sandwiches and delicious deep-fried taro root chips.

Then came a salad of grilled romaine, purple-hulled peas and crispy pig ear. (I’ve eaten pig ear before, so I wasn’t too shocked—and I have to say it was really good.) The next course was a ravioli full of bacon and leeks with a jus of apple cider and mead-glazed ribs. Perfection.

Pork and turnips three ways was the main course: a loin, some ribs and a trotter cake filled with leftover cuts and wrapped in some sort of crispy skin and served on a bed of turnip slaw. All were pretty amazing. (The pork cake was my favorite.) Finally, dessert was crazy and cool at the same time: an olive-orange cake, slightly pan fried in bacon fat; hazelnut-corn ice cream with maple syrup, crème anglaise and bacon brittle.

The sweet and savory blend combined with all the kooky textures was really heavenly. I mean, it’s no different than waffles swimming in syrup with a side of bacon—just a more sophisticated preparation.

All in all, it was a blast. I'd love to cook one of Sue’s pig dinners—she’s had several around town—but currently she’s out of pork. But I hear she has put up a couple of legs for prosciutto. Well, maybe when the legs are cured, I'll get to do that dinner.