A Pig Called Wanda
Posted by Karen Hamilton on Saturday, March 28th, 2009Tags for this Article: bc, butchers, butchery, canada, downtown, events, Foodists, Gastown, knives, manly men, meat, pig, pork, vancouver, wanda
Say hello to Wanda.
Wanda was purchased by some of the men of the Foodists collective a few weeks ago. She said her farewell to her time at Sloping Hills Farm this past week and was greeted with much excitement and knivery this morning.
Mark, Boris, Ben, James, and Anthony are gathered here at Evan’s ultra-hip Gastown flat. Their mission: transforming Wanda from her state of rigor mortis into some of the most mouth-watering do-it-yourself sausage, prosciutto, pancetta, pork belly, ribs, coppa, head cheese, and more. I’m present as photojournalist in order to share the day with you as we experience it.
The photos on Flickr will tell you the story best, so make sure to refresh this post and the photo album as the day progresses. My favourite visuals and quotes are below.
Update – 6:30pm
I couldn’t stay for the whole day since my in-laws are in town for the weekend. I left before the dinner hour with a care package of pork chops, sausage links, and pork mince, my appetite appeased by the day’s snacking on bacon, foie gras, wine, and pieces of Wanda.
I’m sure that you’ll be able to pull up plenty of evening-time Pig Day action by the “Butchers of Gastown” if you search around on Flickr and Twitter. Enjoy — we sure did.
Memorable Moments:
The men, every 10 minutes – Where’s the hacksaw?
The men, every other minute – This is so awesome!
James – That bacon smells like the future!
James – What did the Bible say about animals with cloven hooves?
Karen – Oh my god…five men all cutting up a pig. What a great shot. [snaps photo]
The men – Is this turning you on a little bit?
Karen – …Maybe a little.
Evan – There’s bacon fat on my beer spout.
Boris – Oooh, there’s nipple on my bacon!
Mark – Boris shall henceforth be known as baconmaster…or master baconator.
Evan – Wow, the internet is so smart!
First injuries of the day: Mark and Evan have both been pierced by their knife enthusiasm.
First fatality of the day: Mr. KitchenAid succumbed to asphyxiation in its attempt to grind Wanda’s luscious but tough skin for sausage. We brought in a second KitchenAid stand mixer; it similarly wasn’t up to snuff. Mark finally gave in and picked up a new hand grinder (the “Porkert”) from Ming Wo. It slowly and painfully did the job. Lesson learned: an industrial grinder is highly recommended for pigskin…unless you’re a bit of a masochist.
James – It’s not about the size of the sausage…it’s about the flavour inside.
Karen, on packaging a few sausage links to take home – I’ve never had skin sausage before…
Ben – For food, you mean.
Anthony – Can I get a reacharound here?
The fruits of our labour—well, not so much fruit—salumi, hanging to cure. The rest of the photos from the day can be viewed at our Foodists Group on Flickr.
Posted on March 28th, 2009
Joseph Wu says:
Now that looks like fun! And the Bible says that you can eat animals with cloven hooves as long as they chew their cud.
Posted on March 28th, 2009
Johnathon Vaughn says:
Awesome! Keep up the good work boys! What music is playing in the background? Soundtrack to Psycho? Texas Chainsaw Massacre?
Break out the St. John cookbooks for nose to tail goodness!
St. John Cookbook
Posted on March 28th, 2009
Lex says:
I live WAY too far away!
Posted on March 28th, 2009
Andrea Busse says:
I’m so jealous I’m not in there with a cleaver!! I’m also jealous of that amazing kitchen. When can we move in?
Posted on March 28th, 2009
Nancy Wu says:
How cool. Too bad this website wasn’t scratch n’ sniff. ;D Gorgeous kitchen and what timing: I just found this video on Vancouver magazine: http://videos.vanmag.com/video-5341-How-to-Butcher-and-Eat-a-Pig
Posted on March 28th, 2009
Thom says:
Somebody care to explain what skin sausage is- or at least jot down the recipe???
Posted on March 28th, 2009
Boris says:
@Thom – it’s sausage made out of ground up pig skin. And pig fat. And spices. And yes, it IS delicious.
Posted on March 29th, 2009
Evan Leeson says:
:-)
Posted on March 29th, 2009
Thom says:
Boris- so you have skin and fat. There must be some meat? What ratio of skin/fat/meat do you use?
Posted on March 29th, 2009
Boris says:
Anthony didn’t use a recipe per se – I’ll get him to come back and look at this thread and leave his own comments. I just did some googling, and I believe it’s called “cotechino” – here’s one example of a recipe: http://www.recipe4all.com/recipe/Cotechino-5506/
We may very well have thrown in some meat scraps as well, but it WAS mainly skin – and has a particular flavour and texture because of it.
Posted on March 29th, 2009
degan says:
wow, what an amazing day! I can’t wait to see what recipes come out of this!
Posted on March 30th, 2009
susie gardner says:
if you need any help eating any of that… just let me know. i’ve been practicing my appreciative-oh-god-this-is-so-delicious-yum sounds.
Posted on April 1st, 2009
Foodists fun with Wanda and the Butchers of Gastown : Tiny Bites says:
[…] Revisit the day’s live commentary on Foodists.ca […]
Posted on April 7th, 2009
carlos says:
great space for butchery and cool pictures check my videos on pork butchery !! you will like that !!
http://www.vimeo.com/2870493
i have all the video on facebook !!
ill love to join and pitch in next time great web site
Posted on December 27th, 2009
pg says:
Hey.. question.
The misses just bought me a Porkert for xmas from ming wo (huzzah) and I was wondering about dies-size: one only came with 1, a 4.5 mm (3/16″ blade).
Going through ‘charcuterie’ it mentions a 2.5 mm small-die for the sausages.
Which did yours come with and was it ok? I wonder where I can find more die sizes for the porkert in town.
(crossing my fingers on the old thread)
Posted on January 6th, 2010
Gourmet Fury » Florence: Offally Pretty says:
[…] regions. (Chicken butts grilled on a skewer in Taiwan, anyone?) Judging from the cult post, A Pig Called Wanda, I sense some readers hold the same […]
Posted on September 11th, 2012
Thomas sabo shop says:
Wonderful web site. A lot of useful information here. I’m sending it to some buddies ans additionally sharing in delicious. And obviously, thanks on your effort!
Posted on May 23rd, 2013
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