We hosted a few photographers last night for our 2nd Annual ‘White Elephant’ gift exchange. But this time we stepped it up with some UGLY sweaters! My friend James and I did a bit of cooking for the evening. We made two very rustic Tuscan dishes. We started with good fresh butchered meat from the Farmers Market. A ‘Boston Butt’ roast and a whole slab of bacon. Here are a couple shots of us cooking and a slideshow of all the ugliness floating around in the garage! You can also check out more photo on Jessica and Becker’s blogs. 

James and I cutting up the slab of bacon for the Faggioli e Cottica which is like a bean stew that Julius Ceaser ate over 2000 years ago. We used one side of the bacon for the beans and the other side we seasoned, rolled, and tied to cure Panchetta. It should be yummy in about 3 months!

Here’s the pork roast, also known as a ‘Boston Butt’! It’s seasoned with Cajun spices, Grey salt, and Rosemary. We also inserted cloves of garlic into the middle of the meat. 

Here’s the us incasing the roast in dough. We baked the roast for five hours and let it steam and stew inside the hard casing of the bread. This technique predates the crockpot! 

I just literally cracked the bread with a hammer and I’m cutting a hole in the top so pull out piece of pork to serve. It was so juicy and falling apart, very tasty!