My California: Fatted Calf

From converting classic dishes for a vegetarian diet to writing about my favorite butcher shop, I certainly do like to keep things diverse here at The Endive Chronicles.

A few years ago on a chilly winter day I sat in our drafty Westhampton Beach, NY house drooling over a blog entry on Becks and Posh about a salad made with jambon persille from Fatted Calf in Napa, Ca. I didn’t know when, I didn’t know how, but I did know that someday, come hell or high water, I would claw my way through the doors of the Fatted Calf if it were the last thing I did. Thankfully things didn’t get that serious and as luck would have it, last summer we transferred within 20 miles to this temple of carnivorous delights.

If being a carnivore was a religion, than visiting the Fatted Calf would be a religious experience. One of the first things that struck me about this place was the scent of  something gloriously meaty baking in the back,  filling the shop with its heady scent. I had experienced clean smelling butcher shops and foul smelling butcher shops, but good? It was a sign.

The butchers case was like nothing I have seen outside of the charcuteries of France. Duck legs sit preserved in their own delicious fat, bacon and prosciutto, smoked duck breast, piles of gorgeous sausages and crepinetes all waiting for me to take them home. The walls are lined with local products from soda made with varietal grapes and heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo and interspersed throughout were packages of dry cured sausages and bouquets of beef jerky. I should tell you that this is not just any beef jerkey, this is without a doubt the best beef jerky on the planet (it also pairs surprisingly well with bourbon). I put a bouquet of it in Phil’s stocking at Christmas this year and I am pretty sure he liked it better than all his other gifts combined.

The sausages and crepinettes at Fatted Calf are like nothing I have ever experienced before. Air dried or fresh, these are the most flavorful sausages in existence. The chorizo (pictured above) is not just good, it seems to capture the essence of Spain with its paprika laced porky goodness. While writing this yesterday, I was so overcome with Fatted Calf cravings that we were compelled to drive to Napa and buy a hefty supply of sausages namely, a ring of chorizo, a few mergueze, andouille, mushroom and breakfast sausages. I had no choice, there is so way one can spend an entire day thinking about Fatted Calf and not end up going to Fatted Calf.

They have an ever changing variety of pates, rillettes and sausages. The pate, like many of their items change depending to the week and even though I still haven’t seen the jambon persille, I can tell you that each one of these are nothing less than perfection. The rillettes are all amazing, but duck is definitely my favorite.

Want to know what else is sold at Fatted Calf? Only heritage pork, the porkiest pork in the land my friends. I thought I knew what good pork was, but after eating this, I realised I had never known it at all. It was as if my dog suddenly revealed he could talk, not that he wasn’t rad before, its just that now he is so much better. They sell many cuts of heritage pork, but where they truly excell is in the prepared roasts. The porchetta is not only herbaceous and tender, but addictively crunchy on the outside. Our favorite butcher there always gives us a taste of it (and everything else) whenever we’re in!

For my birthday in December, Philip gave my the gift of a class at Fatted Calf. It was a lively afternoon of forming chanterelle crepinettes, deveining livers, forming terrines and massaging truffled lardo across a prep table. I should also add that this lardo recipe was learned by our awesome instructor, Taylor Boetticher, from famous Tuscan butcher Dario Cecchini, who some of you may know from Bill Buford’s fantastic book Heat or Bourdain’s show “No Reservations“. Pretty cool, eh?

Throughout the class we were treated to various charcuterie such as pistachio mortadella, duck confit on crostini and the extraordinary and beloved porchetta. After all of that you wouldn’t think we needed lunch, but gather a group of passionate epicureans together and there will be some serious eating. We dined on more charcuterie, roasted beets and the crowning glory of the meal, a crown pork roast with apple. It was amazing. I can tell you all, that as I drove home from class that day I knew how fortunate I was to be living so close to such a treasure.

I hope you enjoyed this latest peek into My California. Do you have a favorite place like Fatted Calf or The Olive Press? I’d love to hear about it. Thanks for reading.