“Oh! There’s my ear!” proclaimed a diner at the Fair Hill Inn last Friday. I glanced over my shoulder to see her fork with speared, fried pig ear disappear into her mouth. Her dinner companions rushed to fork in their own pieces, plate noise somewhat subduing the crunch emanating from the first eater’s jaw. I quickly followed suit.
Who amongst us could concoct a meal using an entire lamb or pig, nose to tail? Many could, very few do. Not only do the rarest types attempt this at home, restaurant menus consisting of liver, kidney and heart dishes in addition to roasts and ribs flit in and out of culinary history incognito. Relished by their creators and some diners, such meals create ‘an experience’ for most eaters, something they can chew somewhat fearfully and live to tell the tale about around the office cubicles.
If you think you are more adventurous than my reductionist evaluation of the eating public, then you still don’t get it. Eating the whole animal is using (some would say ‘honoring’) the fella to its utmost, an act both practical and magical. There is adventure and creativity, but it’s also about eliminating waste and most importantly – satiating oneself in entirety. I’ve enjoyed a lamb and a pig prepared from nose to tail over the last couple of weeks, both cooked by Chefs Brian and Phil of the Fair Hill Inn. Lacking an office cubicle and co-workers for a proper drooling audience, you internet readers may feel free to imagine my facial gymnastics and pleased moans as you read the following highlights.
How did they prepare the heads? No apple in snout for piggie, nor split cranium of lamb was set upon our tables. Rather, for both evenings the chefs boiled the heads to obtain material for a terrine. Pressed and chilled, sliced into triangles and set upon frisee salad from their garden, accented by pickled green beans and the house-made mustard (a stone-ground, jazzed version of Dijon). The pig dinner terrine dish also bore the fried pig ear crunch, which clearly amused guests and lightened the dining room mood.
Both dinners contained sausage, grilled cuts of meat and braised ones as well. All were succulent and full of robust flavor despite the equally magnificently concocted sauces and sides also awaiting notice on the plates. I don’t know if the menus are planned to slowly but surely stimulate one’s sensorial awareness, but the last-served braised lamb (with a demi-glace) made me consider slaughtering our remaining lambs immediately. Likewise with the pork ribs; I was ready to buy a piglet and get to work.
Priced at $55 for each meal (which includes 5 courses and 5 different wines but does not include tax and gratuity), I found these unusual menus to be a financial steal. The portions may seem small, but you realize as the courses keep coming that these foods are truly satisfying and by the time you sign your bill, you wonder how you fit it all in. Check on the Inn’s web site for up-to-date info on such special offers. They are regularly open for dinner Wednesdays through Sundays, closed Monday and Tuesday.
The lamb was one of ours, and the pig came from Trebs Thompson of Whimisical Farm, just down the road in the other direction, who has been exceptionally kind to me with advice and visits. Using meat grown 2 miles away and their own vegetables, the two chefs are making it all as local as possible. Don’t know how to find food, animal or vegetable, nearby you? Look on LocalHarvest.org. You just might come home from your next errands trip with a half a cow! As for me, the ducklings grow exponentially and daily, plans are in the make for a December beak to tail extravaganza. Anybody hungry?
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