Tonight's Episode: Interview with Cook It Raw's Alessandro Porcelli

Rene Rdzepi (Noma), Daniel Patterson (Coi) and David Chang (Momofuku)

Cook It Raw is perhaps the most anticipated culinary adventure around. For the last few years, CIR has brought together the greatest culinary minds working in the world's finest kitchens for a collaboration with local farmers, hunters, foragers, and craftsmen for one-off dinners unlike anything you have ever or will ever see. 

Cook It Raw came to public awareness when Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations followed the event (and Charleston Chef Sean Brock) to Japan. Now, for the first time, the public will have a chance to join in the fun when Cook It Raw BBQ Perspectives comes to Charleston ($100, Oct 26 2013), bringing in 40 chefs from around the world (everyone from Albert Adria of Tickets in Barcelona to Phil Wood of Rockpool in Sydney) to show their own spin on Lowcountry BBQ and all things local.  The focus on the local bounty is a thematic necessity of the event. 

Massimo Bottura (Osteria Francescana), Petter Nilsson (La Gazzetta), Magnus Nilsson (Fläviken), Fredrick Anderson (Mistral)

I was lucky enough to score an interview with Cook It Raw Director and Founder Alessandro Porcelli. This Italian ex-pat has been a driving force in turning Denmark into one of the world's culinary destinations. His first book, a compendium of Cook it Raw events, is available now.

Foodmancing The Girl: If you could, just explain why the general public should pay attention to Cook it Raw?

Alessandro: Cook It Raw is a blank canvas that at the end of each gathering it turns into a painting, drawn by heterogeneous minds and expert hands dedicated to highlight unique foodways through collaboration, creativity, tradition and sustainability. We encourage chefs, producers, artisans, farmers and academics to think as a team and to learn from each other. We work with the visiting country and its people to portray, together with a number of chefs and us from the organisation, a cultural food snapshot of a specific area creating an arena or exchange of ideas while allowing the flow of connectivity to spark new friendships and mindful experiences. Basically our main aim is to support changes in the way we're looking at food at all levels, from avant-garde cuisine to everyday cooking.

FTG: What is it about getting the chefs out of the restaurant that seems to get them so jazzed to participate?

Alessandro: Chefs, as many other creative professionals, are subject to routines. Routines are the antithesis of creativity. Cook it raw breaks this chain allowing chefs to experience people and culture and content which take 1 year to put together.

FTG: Up til now, Cook it Raw has been an invitation-only event. Why open it to the public?

Alessandro: Cook it Raw still is and will remain a gathering for a limited number of participants. It's a learning and engaging experience that is organized and documented better and better as we learn from it and grow with it. We want to share this experience through communicating it in as many ways and means as possible. The public event we're having this year is to share the dining aspect with a larger number of consumers.

FTG: What is it about BBQ in general, and Charleston in particular, that led to the decision to have this event here? Not that I am complaining, but going from Ishikawa and Poland to South Carolina seems rather odd.

Alessandro: Cook it Raw is about understanding and innovation, and the BBQ and Lowcountry cuisine that come out of Charleston provide a unique opportunity to do just that. This cuisine is a confluence of cultures, and Charleston is a place where modern chefs and producers are taking a strong look at the heritage and the complex history of the place to innovate moving forward. Charleston has just as much to offer to the international culinary conversation as Copenhagen or Collio, and we are here to learn and be inspired.

FTG: This is a question that we have debated after a few drinks: if you were one of two survivors of a plane crash in the Andes, what chef would you want along for the ride?

Alessandro: Without a doubt Eric Werner (Heartwood), not only he'll build us a spectacular wooden oven but he'll hunt down anything that moves and find any edible stuff men and animals can think, while having a great conversation!!!




(Photos by Eric Refner and Eric Olsson)

Tonight's Episode: Eau du Pork, Or Smoke under the Bridge

When I walked into the restaurant to meet up with The Girl and Captain Awesome, their reaction was the same. Pork smoke rolled off me like cheap cologne. To find out how this happened you have to back up a few hours on this freezing cold Sunday to the start of the BB&T Charleston Wine + Food Festival Rigs, Pigs, and Swigs BBQ event ($85).

This Sunday event, bringing together 10 fantastic pitmasters, promised more pork than you can shake a hunk of cornbread at. I made the brutally poor tactical decision to dress light on what would be one of the coldest days of the year, but the free pouring Canadian Club Dock 57 did a great job warming me up. Please don't lecture me about the quality of whisky, it was free and I was freezing.

That sign above, proclaiming the presence of Rodney FREAKING Scott, made the cover price worth it. Free alcohol and I don't have to drive to Hemingway SC? Winning! Why am I so excited? Mostly because Rodney Scott is one of the true heroes of the South. Whole hog, a dying art, is the center of his culinary universe. There is nothing fancy about his BBQ, but what it has is love and authenticity. There is a timeless nature to the meat that comes from his pits. Oh, and when he hands you pork rinds, you eat  every one of them. 

The most surprising, and amazing, dish was the Brunswick Stew from Southern Soul BBQ. This tomato based staple of coastal cuisine was perfect for such a cold day, and Southern Soul's version may be the best Ive ever had. If you want the recipe, check out our friends at Garden & Gun Magazine. 

From BlackJack BBQ's amazing brisket to the surprisingly tasty jalapeño cornbread from Smoky Oak Taproom, one would be hard pressed to leave this event any less then 10 pounds heavier. The other fun reason to show up for the closing event of the CW+FF, meeting Twitter friends in real life. Those people on the internet are real!!! 

My two big take aways, though, were on the negative side. I am officially over pork belly. The last five years of increasing appearance on menus everywhere has all but destroyed the power pork belly has on me. The other take away, I still HATE mustard based sauces. Seriously, you can tar and feather me and run me out of South Carolina, but no.....just no. 

Tonight's Episode: May I have the pork, with a side of pork

           There are some restaurants that seem to exist outside of time. Walking through the door takes you back decades, often to a simpler time. When you share a common history, the simple act of picking up a fork may take your emotions on a wild ride through time and space. For some it dredges up fond memories of work on the weekends for cash, large tables of friends and family, and a view of the world outside that you would be entering someday soon. For others, it might force you to remember the reasons you wanted to leave home as fast as possible. Time may mellow some feelings or sharpen others to a razor's edge, but the restaurant doesn't care. Sometimes you have to bury your feelings, pick up a plate, and go back in time.
          The Girl, her parents, and yours truly decided to take our dinner out in Ridgeville at the restaurant that was once the symbol of why I wanted to leave the South. Duke's BBQ has always seemed to have been there.  Situated just across the railroad tracks in a town slowly fading out of existence, Duke's still draws the weekend crowd from miles in every direction. This is the classic cafeteria style BBQ joint that at one time was in every town in the state. In the fall, expect to be sitting shoulder to shoulder with friends you've never met debating which local high school has the best shot at the state title. I'm almost certain every movie set in a small southern town has a scene filmed at Duke's.
        Well, that's two paragraphs, and we haven't even walked through the door. I warned you I had mixed feelings about eating here. You step through the door and the inside is almost as shabby and depressing as Ridgeville itself. Everything seems to be a shade of yellow. The walls are some kind of yellow. The table is some kind of yellow. The tea urns that are as old as my soon to be in-laws are some kind of yellow.  I wouldn't fault you for turning around and walking out at this point. Only when you look close do you see past the depressing and see the resilience of the South. There is a smile on everyone's face. A wave and a head nod quickly turn into handshakes and hugs. Simple tasks are conquered with a whistle and a song. Time may have passed Duke's by, but that doesn't mean you can't stop and smell the hash.
         That hash is the first thing to hit your nose. Not the pulled pork, not the fried chicken. The liquid BBQ just hangs in the air. As you get closer to the self-serve bar, you see more of the classics. Pulled pork, BBQ beans, rice for your hash, fried corn bites, hush puppies, and a range of veggies from rutabega to green beans. Remember, your $7.50 is for all you can eat; you don't have to load up on your first trip.

         After you fill your plate, you have three choices in beverage: sweet tea, unsweet tea, and something pink. (The Girl assures me it's pink lemonade.) Pull the 30 year old tap on some sweet tea and pray that all that sugar killed anything that might be growing in there. Next to the drink station are three pumps and a bottle of sauce. The bottle is a spicy vinegar that I love. In the pumps are Red, Sweet Red, and the evil God-awful mustard based sauce. I'm not sure if mustard sauce or Mark Sanford make me more embarrassed to be a South Carolinian. I prefer a mixture of the vinegar and Red.

       Sitting down at a table with my first styrofoam plate full, I begin to plan my attack. The colors meld together into a brownish-yellow blob, but the smell is heavenly. Starting with the BBQ beans, they are rich and hearty with a nice smoke note. The rice and hash are liquid gold, again with a smoky note but also a rich pork flavor. The pulled pork itself is good, though I have had better. The lack of burnt ends (the outside edge of the pig that gets nice and crispy in the smoker) is a letdown. The real star of my first plate are the hush puppies. These little nuggets are fried wonderfully crisp without being greasy. The same can not be said about the fried chicken. Mr. Robert is normally on the cast iron pan manning the chicken. Tonight, he wasn't, and it was obvious. Unseasoned and greasy, overall just not that pleasant. After a second plate, I turned to the banana pudding with nilla wafers. Oh, that is delicious.
           Relaxing after the meal I look around me. Duke's hasn't changed at all in the more than a decade since The Girl took me there on one of our first dates. So much about who I am and what I believe has changed, evolved, grown. I thought coming back I would look down on the simplistic food in the run down restaurant. Sitting there, staring at my last bite of pudding, I'm glad I came back. Authentic food from an America that is slowly dying. Go while you still can.

The Scores:
Ambiance: 2/5
Service: 3/5
Food: 6/10
Value: 5/5
Overall: 15 out of 25, This is a little taste of classic America that you won't be seeing for much longer.