Quick Pic: Playing with Fire
You may have heard of Nose to Tail Eating, an economical approach to cooking in which every piece of the animal is used in some way. Guanciale, belly, trotters…these items crop up on menus from San Francisco to Williamsburg.
At Martin Berasategui, even pork tails (el rabo) are cooked. First, we cut off the thin tips, then we clean the skin and shave it with a razor. Then, we cut the tail lengthwise and scald it with a torch (below) to make sure no hairs remain and to expose the bone.
Scalding a pig tail with a butane torch means your other hand moves fast!
Vacuum-packed and cooked sous vide, the tails become tender morsels, a far cry from their humble beginning. To keep everything tight, we then roll the tails in plastic wrap as if they were a torchon of foie gras. Sliced and reheated in the oven with a roasted pork stock, the coins then make their unctuous mark on the Salmonete (roasted red mullet) dish.
It’s a long process, but it’s great to see even the tail getting the royal treatment.
eat. write. smile. 