More about snout-to-tail eating at tonight’s Cochon 555 later. Tonight you’ll have to be satisfied with two photos that illustrate what I didn’t get to witness while I was sequestered, eating and judging the porcine handy work of five talented cooks.
To demonstrate the skill it takes to break down an entire pig — complete with head and skin — why not have someone break down an entire pig?
So there was Aaron King, of Garden Market in Des Moines, going at a roughly 75-pound duroc with only the aid of a hacksaw and his knives, while everyone around him ate pork.
He was out of practice since the last time he had taken apart a whole hog was five years ago, and that made him nervous. It took him about an hour and a half, and he ended with all the bits laid out and a tidy, cleaned ribcage.
Oh, how I would have loved to stand and stare as Aaron dismantled that animal. But I only caught the beginning and the end.
Ugh. Pig is just about the last thing I’d want to overdose on. Pig and snails and licorice and olives.