Duelling Braises

So service is over, a relatively short and sweet one, but there is one more thing to do. Me and my sous chef have two massive pigs legs sitting next door in the fridge, and they need some long term loving. Braising is one of the nicest parts of cooking, the slow, sensual process of dragging flavour into and out of the victim of the braise. Not only do you get a phenomenal tenderness in any protein, but also a wicked meaty and flavourful liquid out of anything you braise the protein in. One of these pigs legs is going to become a massive ragu, pulled and stewed into our pasta sauce for lunch's papardelle. It's been doused in red wine, tomato paste, and mirepoix, loaded up with mustard and bay, and will be slowly relaxing over the course of tonight in order to fully facilitate our desire to make our pasta delicious.

The other leg is getting what I feel is a more dinstinctly fun approach. Braised with tons of apples and cider, it will become a pork and apple terrine for garde manger. The thing is, folks, that winter is, though apparently not fully upon us, nevertheless arrived. And this necessitates new things in the Domus kitchen. When you are prisoner to the seasons, which I would have no other way, winter is a difficult time for salads. There are no greens to be had, you see. Our beloved suntech tomatoes are done for the year, and even spinach doesn't hold until this point. Thus, we turn to other avenues of food to satisfy those hungry mouths in the dining room. The result: this delightful pig in a bath of aromatics, mirepoix, apples and cider; bobbing along in it's own lovely fashion. I'm supremely excited for this one. I think we'll be fully decking this platter out. It's the first thing I'm doing when I get back from my weekend.