Last weekend I had the pleasure of being invited to Edisto Island in South Carolina to take part cooking a whole Berkshire pig with Jim Hagood from Blackjack BBQ in Charleston. While the highlight of the weekend was definitely learning how to cook a whole pig, the dinner the evening before – which we hope inaugurated an annual tradition – was definitely something to write home about.

We started with dry-rubbing and marinating the pig, and while it began slow-cooking I prepared lobster rolls for lunch (and ate my first whole lobster roll, believe it or not!). That was just the beginning of the cooking going on. Matt Walsh (a serious foodie and French Laundry alum) was busy putting together what was to be an exquisite dinner. When I arrived, he was already preparing a pig’s heart confit, which was slow-cooking in a mix of olive oil and duck fat, and topped with a slab of pig skin. Between the confit and dinner, we snacked on homemade venison and pork sausage, but dinner was really truly spectacular.

Dinner began with a first course of a thick toast with guanciale, poached egg, and sea salt with fresh white truffles from Alba. We had a second course of white truffle risotto (with heavy-handed truffle slicing by Rob Shawger) and then after a little break we moved on to quail stuffed with Benton’s bacon, chestnuts, and crouton and wrapped in caul fat and topped with brussel sprouts. The following course was my very own lobster meatballs topped with Parmigiano Reggiano, which was a pleasant departure from all the pork and truffle, and our final course was roasted rack of Mangalitsa pork with pomme lyonnaise, and roasted squash– all sauced in a fortified demi-glace. All totally decadent. Dessert was a warm chocolate tart that was 80% cocoa and each bite had to be consumed with homemade vanilla ice cream. Matt totally outdid himself. But that wasn’t it. Breakfast the next day stole the show with a gratin of risotto with fried egg and sliced white truffle.

After breakfast, it was time to check on the pig, which was slow-cooking for 20 hours. It was ready. The original preparations had been intensive: apart from the dry rub and marinade, Jim used a giant marinade syringe to inject the pig throughout. After two hours on Blackjack’s smoker, the pig stayed on a roaster for 18 hours at 250 degrees, until its internal temperature reached 190 degrees. All the meat was pulled and placed back on top of its crispy skin. I’ve definitely never eaten a pork as tender and moist as this was. This, of course, was hardly the only item at the barbecue on Sunday. Jim also prepared boiled green peanuts with Benton’s bacon, smoked baby back ribs, brisket of beef, wet jerky, and even hot dogs for the kids. Sunday’s barbecue was host to over 60 people, and by the time I left in the early afternoon, the whole pig had been devoured — a true testament to its delicious preparation.

I want to thank Conrad for hosting us at his beautiful plantation, and Mason for taking me out for “good Southern fun” at one in the morning. I’m obviously leaving out a lot of details of what was a day and a half packed with deliciousness, but it was great to meet new people with serious passion for food and cooking and look forward to making a tradition of this.