Epcot Food & Wine – Culinary Demonstration – Steve Lawlor – Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground

We selected this culinary demonstration for two reasons… (1) we’re huge fans of Fort Wilderness and (2) we hoped to see Chef Nick (we knew him from his previous post at Port Orleans French Quarter)

Specifics:

Food: Farm Fresh “BLT” with House Made Natural Bacon, Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground

Wine: Montes Limited Selection Pinot Noir, Montes Vineyard, Chile

This week (also on a Tuesday, as was last week’s event), Pam Smith was not the presenter, instead John Ekin was the presenter again (ha! this time nora was able to read the name on his jacket).

The wine was presented by Jenevra Altamodo, in contrast with some of the wine presenters she really seemed to know her material and to be very comfortable in the role of “instructor.”

Jenevra & John

The Montes Vineyard was started in 1987 by Arallio Montes. His goal from the beginning was to create a premium winery (in contrast to the large scale, non premium wineries in Chile at the time) – success! Montes is the number one premium winery in Chile.

In order to create the premium wines with concentrated flavors, most of the grapes are planted on hillsides – this creates stress and thus more flavors. The grapes for this wine are planted in the Casablanca Valley where the climate is slightly cooler and the temperatures are more stable. Pinot Noir grapes like to be planted close to water and this valley is about 10 to 15 miles from water.

This wine is considered to be more restrained and elegant than most Pinot Noirs. The finish is more on the back than up front of the tongue. It should pair very well with the bacon because of the fat content.

The food was prepared by Chef Steven Lawlor and his assistant Chef Michael. They talked briefly about Fort Wilderness and how wonderful it is (at this point, nora’s muttering under her breath “shut up, don’t tell everyone or it won’t be so wonderful anymore!”)

Chef Steven and Chef Michael

There was a half slab of pork belly for demonstration purposes. Yum!

Chef Steven smiles at the pork belly

best shot I got of the pork belly

If you’d prefer, you can cure and smoke the slab in its whole form and then slice later. You’ll need to smoke it for a longer period of time.

Why is this natural bacon? Because there aren’t any nitrates or other preservatives.

Why use a wet brine versus a dry rub to cure/marinate the pork belly? Chef Steven believes that the wet brine is a quicker method and that the flavors permeate more thoroughly with a wet brine than with a dry rub.

What is the bacon like after smoking? Is it “cooked?” Yes, it’s cooked, but it’s not very palatable or crisp. At this stage of the process, you can store your bacon in the freezer with parchment paper between the layers to keep them separate. It’s best to finish “crisping” it in the oven, the high sugar content will make it burn very quickly in a fry pan on top of the stove.

How do you make bacon crispier? Bacon that is cured with a higher sugar content will not crisp up as much as a bacon without sugar or with very little sugar. He talked about the sugar crystallizing on the bacon and that dimishing the crisping process. Nora thinks it has more to do with the hygroscopic (water loving and water attracting) principles of sugar molecules… if you have something with enough sugar in it, water in the environment is going to be attracted to the sugar and is going to latch on and hang on.

Cautionary note about smoking with wood chips: You MUST soak them (doh!), if you don’t they WILL burst into flames. You don’t want fire/flames, you want low heat and smoke.

Tasting Notes

• Wine

• nick really liked the color and the aroma of this wine as soon as it was sat in front of us, “it smells good to me and I don’t like wine”
• the “nose” was spicy with a nice acidity
• we both tasted it without food — not so great, flavors definitely more on the back of the tongue and it’s pretty spicy and very peppery
• tasting it with food — really benefits from the fats in the bacon and the aioli; excellent with food, the saltiness and tartness of the sandwich toned down the back of the tongue kick

• Food

• we both liked the bite of the whole composition better than the individual components on their own, very tasty
• bacon – we didn’t like the sweetness of the bacon, now nora says that a lot of people like sweeter bacon, but it’s not for us (of course, we grew up on saltier cured pork products), it wasn’t as crispy as we’d prefer
• aioli – nick really liked the flavor of this, just think of it as a fancy homemade mayonnaise
• tomatoes – the chef had said that he used a different tomato than what was in the recipe, those just weren’t good enough for today’s demonstration – all we can say is if he puts as much thought and care into the produce that is served at Fort Wilderness, we should be eating there more often! the tomatoes on our “sandwiches” were absolutely lovely, could have eaten a whole plate of these with the simple vinaigrette they prepared
• arugula (what a neat word!) – very nice with the vinaigrette and tiny bits of bacon, nice and peppery, it complemented the wine and add a little crisp to the “sandwich”
• basic vinaigrette – nora particularly liked this lighter dressing, maybe because it was made with a white balsamic vinegar?

Farm Fresh “BLT” with House Made Natural Bacon

Recipe – serves 4

House Made Natural Bacon

• 2 1/2 ounces kosher salt
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 7 1/2 ounces pure maple syrup
• 1 quart hot water
• 1 1/2 ounces brown sugar
• 1 pound pork belly (have your local butcher or meat market slice into 1/4 inch slices, this prevents the bacon from collapsing on the grill during smoking process)
• 1/2 pound oak wood chips (soaked in water for 24 hours)
• 1 old pie pan

1. In a medium size bowl mix together salt, pepper, syrup, water, and sugar until dissolved.
2. Place liquid in your refrigerator until cold (40 F)
3. Divide liquid between two zip-lock gallon bags
4. Place equal amounts of sliced pork belly in each bag
5. Place bags back in refrigerator with drip pans (just in case they leak) for 24 hours
6. Pull sliced pork out of marinade and pat dry
7. Place old pie tie of wet wood chips on a burner of your grill. Turn burner on medium high to get the chips smoking. Once the chips start smoking, turn the flame to low
8. Lay the sliced pork out on the opposite side of the grill and close the lid (the sliced pork goes directly on the grill, note that the burners are NOT turned on for this side of the grill)
9. Smoke for 1 1/2 hours with temperatures no hotter than 150 F
10. Remove from grill and place on a cookie sheet
11. Bake at 350 F until fully cooked
12. Remove bacon from oven and let it rest

• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped basil
• 2 egg yolks (pasteurized eggs)
• kosher salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 cups olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. In a food processor or blender or with a immersion blender, combine the garlic, basil, egg yolks, salt, and pepper; process to combine
2. With the machine running, slowly add the oil in a steady stream until it is all added and the mixture has emulsified
3. Add the lemon juice and check the seasoning
4. Chill until needed — this should last 2 or 3 days in the refrigerator without separating

Marinated Vine Ripe Tomatoes and Arugula

• 1 ounce white balsamic vinegar
• 2 ounces extra virgin olive oil
• 2 vine ripened tomatoes
• kosher salt to taste
• fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 2 cups fresh arugula, washed

1. In a medium size mixing bowl, whip together the vinegar and oil
2. Wash, core and slice each tomato into 4 equal slices
3. Season the tomatoes on each side with salt and pepper
4. Drizzle tomatoes with vinaigrette, reserve 2 tablespoons for the arugula
5. Toss arugula with reserved vinaigrette and season with salt and pepper

Crostini

• 1 loaf sour dough bread
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 4 ounces olive oil

1. Cut bread into 8 slices on the bias
2. Drizzle both sides of the slices with oil and season with salt and pepper
3. Place onto a cookie sheet
4. Bake them at 350F until golden brown
5. Remove from cookie sheet and let them cool

Construction of the Farm Fresh “BLT”

 nora… here you go, how to make a sandwich 101

1. Lay out all the crostinis
2. Spread a tablespoon of lemon-basil aioli on each crostini
3. On 4 of the 8 crostinis, place an equal amount of bacon
4. Place 2 slices of tomato on top of the bacon
5. Place equal amounts of arugula on top of the tomatoes
6. Place the remaining slices of crostini on each sandwich
7. Finally, enjoy! I did (direct quote from the recipe)

nora & nick