Devout Muslims and Jews might tell you otherwise, but pigs have a leg up on their poultry and cow counterparts—especially when it comes to sustainable eating. Unlike poultry or even beef, the pig is commonly used in its entirety. It’s not abnormal to cook with pork blood, intestines, feet, head or to toss the whole pig in a grinder for sausage or charcuterie. So leave it to New York City, a whirlwind of world cuisine, where you could hypothetically piece together an entire pig by hopping from restaurant to restaurant.
And there could be no finer tour guide than the unofficial pork priestess of Williamsburg—Sara Bigelow. As a butcher herself and the former general manager of The Meat Hook, she’s an advocate for transparency in meat production, humane eating and sustainable food sourcing.
Vegetarians, turn back now. You won’t find anything here but the whole hog. Members of the carnivore club, join us as we eat our way across a pig with a woman in a man’s world who knows a thing or two about local sourcing and the messy web of meat production. Let’s get porky, New York.
Sara Bigelow gives us the lowdown below on some of her favorite pork dishes in NYC and
Brooklyn.
Fresh baked goodies at Marlow & Sons
The sausage, egg and cheese biscuit makes one heck of a hangover cure.
Marlow & Sons
"There isn't much in the way of good breakfast in my neighborhood before 10 a.m. If you're hungry before then, you're at a diner or you're out of luck. The sausage, egg and cheese biscuit at Marlow & Sons is a lifesaver at 8:30 a.m., when you've been out way too late and somehow you're up too early. It's made with breakfast sausage from Marlow & Daughters, which happens to be the first place I ever cut meat. Good stuff."
Charcuterie offerings from Benoit
Image courtesy of Benoit
Forcemeat, a mixture of ground, lean meat emulsified with fat
Image courtesy of Benoit
Tertulia's cojonudo with smoked pig cheek, quail egg and pepper
Image courtesy of Colin Clark
Benoit
"The charcuterie board at a Benoit gives you the chance to try different parts of the animal cooked in many different ways, from organ meats, such as liver, made into mousses and cured fats to odds and ends formed into beautiful forcemeats."
The 24-month cured jamôn serrano at Tertulia is worth the wait.
Images courtesy of Dillon Burke
Tertulia
"Ham is one of my favorite things that comes from a pig. At The Meat Hook, we got to experiment with country hams, which are the American answer to the European traditions of prosciutto and regional jamones. While I'm confident that many American country hams can stack up to the finest Spanish ham, good country ham sliced thin and served on a charcuterie board is a little harder to find. Jamon serrano and Iberico aren't bad substitutes."
Fung Tu
"Pork is good in everything, and a perfectly fried egg roll is no exception."
Pork belly egg roll
Image courtesy of Fung Tu
Sisig "pig face" rice bowl
Images courtesy of Lumpia Shack
Lechon kawali fries
Lumpia Shack
"Filipino food has a tradition of using every part of the pig, and Lumpia Shack in the West Village does an amazing job of making that accessible to the average eater. I love the way Neil—chef and owner of Lumpia Shack—uses pigs feet, ears, hocks and jowls to make amazing (and fried!) food that many people wouldn't otherwise think of eating. Lumpia Shack is also really committed to sourcing good meat, so I always feel good about whatever I'm eating there."
Meat Hook Sandwich Shop's Italian sandwich packs deli meats, mozzarella, peppers, onions, lettuce and dressing between a sesame-seeded hero roll.
Meat Hook Sandwich Shop
"The Italian at Meat Hook Sandwich Shop has a little bit of everything. Whipped lardo, pepperoni, mortadella, roasted pork loin and lots of good condiments. What I like about this sandwich is that it uses so many cuts of pork—a whole roasted muscle group, rendered fat, a forcemeat made from lean muscle (usually ham) and a smoked sausage which uses trim from all over the pig. This sandwich has it all, and it's delicious."
Prosciutto toast with aligot
Images courtesy of Buvette
Buvette
"Sliced ham + melty cheese + potatoes cooked with even more cheese, all over buttered toast. It's the perfect coldweather dish, but I order it whenever it's on the menu, regardless of the season."
The spicy 'larb kua moo' at Kiin Thai incorporates fresh and cooked vegetables for texture and crunch.
Images courtesy of Kiin Thai
Kiin Thai
"Ground pork can come from anywhere on the animal, so chances are you're eating a little bit of the whole thing. This larb dish pairs nicely spiced ground pork with fresh and cooked vegetables, a perfectly cooked egg, and pork cracklings. It's really filling and hits lots of textural notes (crunchy, snappy, soft, crispy)."
If you pop into The Meat Hook and look for Sara behind the butcher counter, you might be disappointed to learn that after six years on staff, her time has come to look elsewhere for personal growth. Sure, she picks up a shift now and then, but Sara is focusing on her first year of business school at NYU and gaining more tools beyond her niche. What’s next after a background in butchery and an MBA, you ask? It just might have something to do with pigs.
Arden Shore is a writer, dot connector and sock collector from Los Angeles who believes if everyone wore more yellow, we would be one step closer to world peace. She dreams of being interviewed by The Paris Review. Follow her meanderings @ardyparty.
