Posted on Wednesday, December 16
Where: Blackbird
Blackbird is going whole hog for January, featuring an epic seven-course tasting menu of the woolly Hungarian Mangalitsa pig in all its glory. The $115 menu, available nightly through January, is a feat of snout-to-tail prowess by Chef Michael Sheerin, who received two hulking Hungarian hogs from Triple S Farms in Stewardson, Illinois.
Beloved for their well-marbled and meltingly tender meat, Mangalitsas are easily adapted to multiple cooking preparations, as evidenced by Sheerin’s diverse, internationally inspired menu.
The tasting begins with a spicy chorizo macaroon, which Sheerin makes by whipping housemade chorizo and chorizo broth with a gelling agent into a meringue-like texture. The spicy wafer is then shaped into a macaroon and dehydrated into a light, crunchy puffed cookie, served with a zesty tarragon cream cheese and pine-cured ham.
Next up is smoked lardo, whipped into a butter-like consistency and served with a vibrant salad of spicy winter radishes, sea beans and nasturtium.
Third course is a Mexican-inspired bowl of hominy-testa tortellini with pozole consommé. Pasta dough is made with hominy, filled with succulent testa meat and floated in a light broth of hominy, pork and chiles, exuding the traditional sweet, sour and savory flavors of an ample pozole stew.
A “breakfast” plate of braised ham with black pepper jam and egg yolk custard is Sheerin’s play on ham and eggs. The meat is brined and slow-cooked until tender before roasting to a caramelized conclusion in the oven. The egg custard is made by poaching yolks at 64 degrees for an hour and allowing them to set before slicing and rolling in breadcrumbs to achieve the flavor of toast.
Choucroute is next, Sheerin’s take on the European sauerkraut and sausage tradition. Sauerkraut is made in-house and will be served with blood sausage and pancetta.
Sixth course is a roasted Mangalitsa sirloin, lush with well-marbled meat, served with sweet accompaniments of warm “apple pie” and house-cured plums. For his play on pie, Sheerin starts by pureeing spice-roasted apple and adding a gelling component to solidify and shape into a pie-flavored cube, topped with a “crust” of graham cracker streusel.
An intermezzo of coppa with blood orange sorbet follows, preceding a one-of-a-kind ham hock Napoleon dessert with kumquat and vanilla. Here, Sheerin gets help from Pastry Chef Patrick Fahy, who uses Mangalitsa lard to make the puff pastry and layer with ham hock cream and candied kumquats.
The tasting finishes with two sweet and savory mignardises. Chocolate-covered chicharones are dipped in chocolate and dusted with cocoa, and chocolate candies are filled with bacon caramel.