This is what love looks like. Today Chef Adam hosted a cookout at his house in Snohomish county (which is considered out in the country by Seattle standards, however, for me it was merely a 'suburb'). He invited the whole kitchen crew, FOH, past and present, friends, neighbors, and there was a good turnout.
Adam's pretty good about coming up with stuff, improvising, that is. I mean, he is a chef, so that's part of the requirement anyway. The picture is the makeshift pit he used to slow cook the pig. Instead of cooking it 'whole' he butterflied it and flattened it out. Even before he got it over the heat, he smoked it in his cedar smokehouse beforehand.
Note that this was a small piggy. Maybe 60 pounds if that much. Sorry, Babe.
I got there around 3 pm. Joe, Anna, Scott, Will, and Nick were already there. By the time everything was said and done, there were probably 50 people that showed up. Trust me, there were a TON of people. It was good. A keg of ice cold PBR, Fat Tire, whiskey, and wine. I had a great time.
You know you're at a 'foodie' cookout when the side dishes include marinated beets and chantrelles that someone picked earlier. Mmmhmmm, I love chantrelles. Sorry, I digress!
Back to the cochon, it did kind of look weird. I mean, the eyes did at least. Adam had made a sort of grilling basket type deal so it could be rotated and flipped over as needed. I followed the guys out to the pit and watched them flip it over. A big spot of skin had puffed up and burned to a nice crisp. Will poked a hole in it and ate a piece. Pretty much, we ate the whole little "puff." That was one of the best parts, the crispy skin. But it was only probably 3:30 and it wasn't ready to come off yet.
So before it got dark (and before I forgot) I took pictures of the pit setup and also the smokehouse which is very nice. Wish I had one.The good thing about this is that you can keep the fire outside of the house and not have to open the door and such. On the left is an old grill that Adam had cut off the legs. So the fire and whatever wood you want to use is burned in there. You shut the lid on it, and the smoke goes through the pipe into the smokehouse. There are a couple of holes for vents between where the roof and wall meet. Small chicken wire covers the floor and crumbed lava rocks cover that. Duh, no one wants to step in mucky and gross shit afterwards...The house is made entirely of cedar and there's a little wire shelf inside where sides of salmon or whatnot can be laid out. The thing is, it probably never gets over 80 degrees fahrenheit in there. Ever. Which of course, is pretty much the perfect temperature for cold smoking.
I really enjoyed today. The food was phenomonal and the company was amazing. And oh, there was also more protein in the mix. Adam had also made sausages (not sure what type of casings he used though) and a smoked/grilled leg of lamb. The lamb was pretty damn good. Personally, it ran a tight race with the pig.
And I finally got to meet Bosley, Tori's pug. He was a cutie!
The triangle was rang for dinner..."everybody take 5 and get sumthin' to eat!!!!!!!!"
And Tori brought zucchini bread. Which is probably the BEST zucchini bread in the world. No, seriously, it really is.
Drew brought his guitar. James brought cigars. Paul brought margaritas.
And later on tonight, Drew played guitar and sang out on the patio for everyone. Brandon wanted to dance and so he played a "dance" number.
I'm sorry I didn't take anymore pictures of people, but I remember it. And that's all that matters.
Various skulls and a grouse (I think) on the smokehouse door. Gotta have some character to it, right?
I told you the eyes were creepy. I don't know who ate them. Or if they were eaten, for that matter.
I must say, good cochon brings people together. Good times, good times...
je
