ACF Professional Chefs & Apprentices of NE Annual Fundraiser

On Sunday,October 23rd of the ACF Professional Chefs and Apprentices of Nebraska had our annual fundrasing dinner. This is something that I have been a part of since 1999 and have hosted it at the places I work a few times and have always cooked for. This years I was a bit bigger part of the planning and execution than I had been in years past.

Earlier in the year I offered to do a educational presentation on the difference and benefits between heritage breeds and conventionally raised pork and whole hog butchery and utilization. Building on that idea we decided to base our dinner and the menu around the heritage breed hog we would be purchasing for the presentation and showing how to use different parts of the animal throughout the meal.

We were able to get a beautiful big Red Wattle from Travis at TD Niche Pork and on the Tuesday before the dinner at the college and I gave the presentation and several members of the chapter and myself butchered the pig and compared it to the convetionally raised Yorkshire-Cross pig I purchased from our Southeast Community College Agriculture Program. The Red Wattle shined compared to the Yorskshire-Cross which is still a exceptional product.

Here's are some pictures from the butchery and the dinner.

This is the Amazing Red Wattle Hog that we got from TD Niche Pork. This picture was taken right before it went in for harvesting.

This is of me preaching the gospel of heritage breeds

Still talking

Removing the Ham

Talking about the kidney.

Demoing the seperation of the belly and loin

This was really cool for me. Teaching my former instructor about whole hog fabrication.

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Several Chefs working on finishing up the work

The Dinner Menu

The First Course. My Course. Slow Roasted Pork Belly with a Cocoa Rubbed Smoked Pork Ravioli, Candied Bacon and Bacon Emulision. This dish was over the top in pork fat goodness. Couple more tweeks and it could be a perfect dish.

Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup utilizing the Pork stock from our Red Wattle

Maple Leaf Farms Smoked Duck Breast Salad with Wisconsin Camembert Cheese Beignets & Caramelized Walnuts

Slow Roasted Dried Fruit Sausage Stuffed Red Wattle Loin with Robert Sauce, Butternut Squash Risotto and Fresh Greens Beans and Bacon

Trio of Desserts: Mocha-Pecan Torte, Pumpkin Cheesecake and Fresh Berry Tart utilizing the Lard from our Red Wattle in the crust

Beer Drank while writing this post: Mountain Standard by Odell Brewing Co out of Fort Collins, CO.

Blue Blood Brewing Co.

I'm not one to really think much about or set new years resolutions because typically I just find that they get thrown off to the side people really don't really see them through but this year I'm making some changes and one of them is to try and keep up on this blog more. I want to really use this as a journal of what is going on in world of food and beverage. I've done this on one of my other blogs and it has really helped me to go back and reccount what I've done. So this is the first of many to come of me trying to catch up on what has been happening.

On December 7th I was excited to go to the opening party for the newest brewery to open in Lincoln, Blue Blood Brewing Co. Its always exciting for me to have a new local brewery opening especially one that is only about a 3 minute drive from my house. I met up with a fellow beer enthusiast (or as I typically put it "brew geek") to check out the brewery. I first heard about this brewery a few months ago and had been swinging by on my bike occassionaly to see what was happening.

The brewery is featuring two beers to start and both were available for tasting at the party. They have 1327 Pod's ESB that I thought was a nice and refreshing brew that will be great in the summer and paired with lighter foods. They also have 834 Happy As Ale which I thought was a really good american pale ale. I can't wait to drink more of it.

Right now since the brewery is still growing they are only set up to offer beer in kegs and will be soon offering the two beers in cans which I can't wait for. I have been able to get to have the beers again while I've been out at a couple of local restaurants and bars. I've also heard rumors that they will be working on some new offerings including a porter which I'm really happy to hear since it is my favorite style.

Here's a couple of pics I took at they brewery:

They gave all of their tanks a name which I thought was clever.

Here are a couple of images of what their cans will look like:

I really like the design on both of the cans. Look forward to seeing them in my fridge and cooler soon.

Beer drank while writing this post: Single Wide IPA by Boulevard Brewing Co. out of Kansas City, MO.

Catching Up.

I've been behind on posting lately. Lots going on in my butchery and beer world that I would like to blog about just haven't had a chance.

My pig came in so here is a short video I took on the day I went out to pick it out. Later.

The Great Nebraska Beerfest

On August 27th I was able to head to Papilion and partake in the Great Nebraska Beerfest. I was extremely excited to be able to get to this event. I've been wanting to go to a beerfest or beer event for a long time and have always seemed to have some kind of conflict. So when this one came up I canceled the plans I had and bought a ticket.

A co-worker and fellow beer geek friend of mine Rob was able to go with me which was nice since I didn't have to go and wander around alone and Rob being much more responsible with a bit more self control was also able to make sure I made it back to Lincoln.

When we got in it was like a beer overload. There were so many to choose from and we took a minute to try to figure out were to start. One nice thing was that about every 15-30 minutes a brewery was having a special release and we let that kind of guide us around.

As we went and continued to try the beers I was contiually impressed by so many of the different beers that I've never tried before. I wished over and over again that some of these breweries beers were available in Nebraska so that I could drink them on a regular basis. Hopefully in the future as I continue to travel I can pick some of them up.

The one thing that I took away from beerfest is the new trend that I think beer is going. I think that sour beers and saisons are the new trend. I also saw a lot of high alcohol barrel aged beers. For me personally I'm really happy to see that sour beers and saisons are getting some time in the spotlight.

After beerfest was over Rob and I hit up the main sponsor of the event the Nebraska Brewing Company for dinner which was definetly needed after the large quantities of awesome beer we had drank. I had a pizza that the crust was made from the spent grain left over from their beer. It was a really good pizza that had a great crispy thin crust.

Some of my favorite beers from Beerfest were:

• Crooked Stave's Surette




• Grimm Brothers Brewhouse's: Fearless Youth and Little Red Cap




• Gottberg Sour Belgian Porter




• Cigar City Saison

Here's some pics from the fest:

the fest

the taster glass

Rob, me and my our new friend from the beerspot.com


the barrel aged beers at Nebraska Brewing Company

Beer drank while writing this post: Lattitude 48 IPA by Sam Adams out of Boston, MA

Book Review: The Butchers Guide to Well Raised Meat

I read quite a few books. All of them are about food, cooking etc. I don't ever really read any books for "fun". If I can't learn anything from them I'm really not that interested in reading them. It does take me a while to get through the book. One, I'm not a very fast reader and two, I always end up reading things I have to for homework instead of the books that I want to read. Not that the homework books are bad. Actually some have been great and this one that I had to read for a class was what really got me back into beer. But I would always have another book to read.

The book that I just finished was The Butchers Guide to Well Raised Meat by Joshua and Jessica Applestone and Alexandra Zissu. This book defintely gets a high grade from me. It is very well written and if you really want to learn why you should want and eat properly raised animals this book is for you.

This book had a ton of information in it about pastured animals and really gave you a feel the philosphy of the Fleishers Butcher Shop. One of the things that I really enjoyed about the book was how candid they were about the whole business of meat from how they source their products to the reasons and challenges of using and practicing whole animal butchery.

This book is really more of a guide though. It shows some butchery and explains how to do others but its value is more than what it tells you about how to Butchering but the value is in what they tell you about purchasing and sourcing animals.

One of the highlights from the book for me was the human cut chart. I heard in an interview that they had to fight to get that in there and I'm glad they did. I think it is a great learning tool for people to use to help understand how and why the muscles are what they are. I also liked how they do the "driveway pig roast." I think they way they built the pit out of cinder blocks is a great idea and one that I plan on using in the near future.

Beer Drank while writing this post: Tumbler by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. out of Chico, CA.

Branched Oak Farms Berkshire Pigs

I mentioned in earlier posts that I'm buying a pig that is being raised at Branched Oak Farms. Doug the owner of the farm gave us a great tour of the whole place and showed us how they milked their cows as well as the cheese cave. I think that these pigs are going to taste great because of how they are being fed and raised and can't wait to get it on my table and the stove. I'm a couple months behind on this post but these pictures were taken on a visit when Lexi and I visited the farm on July 18th. The pigs have gotten quite a bit bigger since the last time I had been there. I'll have some current pics soon since I plan on going back out to the farm soon.

The Jersey Calves that are hanging around outside while the cows are being milked.

The temp for the day was about 100 and the heat index was about 105 so the pigs were covered in mud and most of them just stayed in the mud hole they were keeping cool in.



The mud hole that the pigs loved that they were keeping cool in.


When they put the whey in the trough the pigs came running to eat it. I'm hoping all of the whey they are eating is going to give their fat a nice butteriness.


After we were done checking out the pigs Lexi got to help with the cows. In this picture she is spraying the cows hooves with peppermint oil to keep the flies away.

Beer Drank while writing this post: Oktoberfest by Lakefront Brewery out of Milwaukee, WI.

Firehouse Brewing Co.

Last month in July my family and I went on Vacation to the Black Hills in South Dakota so one of the first things that I did was do a brewery search and to see what South Dakota had to offer. The only brewery we were going to be close to was the Firehouse Brewing Co. in Rapid City.

Luckily it is both a brewery and a restaurant which makes it easy for me to get to since the family was with me (meaning they don't have to wait while I go beer geek out). We went there for dinner. I'm not sure if it is sad or not but it was probably the thing that I was most excited about while we were on vacation.

The restaurant and brewery are located in an old firehouse so the restaurant of course follows that them. The menu was pretty much the standard brew pub fair. I was able to get some Bison brisket which was good but I really wasn't there to eat.

I was able to have 2 of their beers while I was there. I'm always a big fan of red beers so my first choice from the beer list was the Firehouse Red. I really liked this beer. It really hit the mark for a great malty red. The second beer that I was able to have was the Smoke Jumper Stout. I also really like smoked beers and this one was good. I would have liked a little more smokyness to it but it was still a very well made beer. When we left I picked up a growler for my collection full of the Firehouse Red which was nice to have back at the hotel for the last night of vacation.

Overall I thought the Firehouse Brewering Co. makes some pretty good beer and will look forward to having more of their offerings if I ever make it back to the Black Hills.

Beer drank while writing this post: Levity Amber Ale by Odell Brewing Co. out of Fort Collins, CO.