A growing number of local chefs will tell you that a whole hog is a wondrous
thing. Theyve embraced nose-to-tail cooking and are pleased to report that
even skittish diners are growing bolder about sampling the goods.
Diners are more adventurous these days, but there are still some things folks
just aren’t ready for — like half a pig’s head, roasted, peering up at them
from a plate.
Chef Lee Skawinski made that discovery at last year’s “Whole Hog Dinner” at
Vignola, one of his restaurants here in Portland. Everyone talked about the
pig’s head, but it was the least-ordered item on the menu that night.
“We had played with it a couple of times before, and we had seen someone do it,
and we were like, ‘This is novel,’ ” he said.
Perhaps a bit too novel for Americans who are used to their pork coming neatly
shrink-wrapped in the supermarket. There won’t be any pig’s head at this year’s
dinner, which will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, unless it’s in the form of head
cheese.
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