Greenmarket Sausage Week 2011: From the Whole Hog to the Comfort of Cassoulet

Greenmarket Sausage Week 2011 at Jimmy’s began with a bang (or at least some bangers) and concluded with competitive casseroles (of the French variety), bringing together food lovers of all varieties looking for a break from the wicked winter weather.



Our friends from The Piggery loaded up half a hog and did an incredible carving demonstration on January 16. Brad showed us his cool cutlery skills while Heather hung around the bar, making everyone feel like they had just come ‘round to lunch with a beloved sister. The fun started with a great spread of spicy sausages, mixed greens, charcuterie, smoked ham with beans, grilled chicken, and other seasonal fare whipped up by the great 43 chefs. Then Brad did a nearly two-hour long slicing and dicing demo, carefully explaining how all parts of the pig are turned into edible cuts and extras (we learned where the lard comes from). If you missed the show, Working Class Foodies did a brilliant video of last spring’s butchering demo, which you can check out to see a similar demonstration.

Thanks to The Piggery, which is one of four CSAs currently using Jimmy’s No. 43 as a distribution point in Manhattan, we had plenty of great pork dishes on the menu all week long.

Saturday, January 22, was the culminating event for Greenmarket Sausage week: Jimmy’s No. 43’s 3rd Annual Cassoulet Cookoff! At the end of stuffing ourselves, the people’s choice awards went to:
• Emma Feigenbaum and Cody Williams of Martha Stewart Test Kitchen (1st prize)
• Andrew Gottlieb, Mr. Food (2nd prize)
• Simon Glenn, aka Tchoup Shop (New Orleans Caterer – 3rd prize)
There were a great variety of entries judged by Cathy Erway, Ed Yowell, Matt Timms and Rachel Wharton. Donna Gelb was our recipe tester. The judges’ choice awards went to:
• Andrew Gottlieb (1st prize)
• Simon Glenn (runner-up)
• Raiza Costa of Brazil (Honorable Mention)
• Emma Feigenbaum and Cody Williams (Honorable Mention)



Huge thanks go out to Heritage USA, Microplane, Anolon Gourmet Cookware,and Wusthoff, the great companies that donated this year’s prizes.

Grrenmarket Sausage Week!

January 16th to January 22nd, Jimmy’s No. 43 is proud to honor NYC Greenmarket and the incredible vendors that sell their sausages. We at Jimmy’s No. 43 are proud supporters of Greenmarket and local farms, and act as a host site for several CSAs, one of which is The Piggery. The Piggery’s heritage pork and sausages will be featured on the menu throughout the week and a series of educational and delicious events will be offered to the public.

January 16th from 1:00 – 4:00 PM - The Piggery Lunch and Butchering Demo. The Piggery is a unique pig farm in the Finger Lakes region of New York. This is their mid-winter celebration where farmers Heather and Brad will showcase their skills as farmers, butchers, and making charcuterie. They will be demonstrating how to butcher a hog and there will be a light lunch of specialty pork. There will be live bluegrass too! Tickets are $35 per person and can be purchased at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/142348.

January 22nd from 1:00 - 5:00 PM - Third Annual Cassoulet Cookoff to Benefit Greenmarket. Our Third Annual Cassoulet Cook-off will be benefiting Greenmarket, so all entries must feature ingredients from local farms like Violet Hill Farm, Flying Pigs Farm, or 3 Corner Field Farm to name a few! Amateur and professional chefs are welcome; past participants include Cathy Erway (Not Eating Out In New York), Peter Hoffman (Savoy), Matt Weingarten (Inside St. Barts), and Theo Peck and Nick Suarez (The Food Experiments). We are looking for participants, so if you are interested, please contact Jimmy Carbone at foodkarma@gmail.com. Tickets are $20 and available at the door only; all proceeds from the door will be donated to Greenmarket.

3rd Annual Cassoulet Cookoff

Via http://www.ediblemanhattan.com/20101222/jimmy-no-43s-3rd-annual-greenmarket-cassoulet-cookoff/

Start:
January 22, 2011 1:00 pm
End:
January 22, 2011 4:00 pm
Cost:
20.00
Venue:
Jimmy's No. 43
Phone:
212-982-3006
Address:
43 E. 7th Street, New York, NY, United States, 10003
Amateur and professional chefs join forces for the Greenmarket Cassoulet Cookoff! The event benefits Greenmarket, so all entries must feature ingredients from local farms such as Violet Hill Farm, Flying Pigs Farm, or 3 Corner Field Farm, to name a few. Tickets are $20 and available at the door only; all proceeds will be donated to Greenmarket. Think your cassoulet stands a winning chance? Send Jimmy an email at foodkarma@gmail.com to register.

Cassoulet Wrap-Up and a Recipe!

Food writer and friend, Cathy Erway posted a great recap of the Cassoulet Cook Off on Not Eating Out in New York. She was also kind enough to include her Moroccan inspired cassoulet recipe!

Just before the Cook Off, I received an email:

"i am french and from the south so i know cassoulet and i was wondering if you are doing this only this week end and if it's possible to enjoy it only during the special event ???? i mean is it possible to eat your cassoulet saturday night for example ???"

Well, my French is rusty, but...

Bien sur, mon ami! Il y a cassoulet à la carte pendant l'hiver a Jimmy's No. 43. Bon Appétit!

I hope that answers your question!

Cassoulet, Cassoulet, HOORAY!

This year's Cassoulet Cook Off was a blast. Greenmarket supporters and cassoulet lovers responded to the foodie buzz and came out on Saturday to taste and taste and taste again. Cathy Erway was there, as was Metromix's Kelly Neal. The big news of the day, however, is that Theo Peck of The Food Experiments (also known as "Mr. Cook Off) won the Judges' award. Nick Suarez, another cook off favorite and Peck's partner-in-crime at The Food Experiments, walked away with a more than respectable second place. The People's Choice award went to Emma Feigenbaum and Sandy Gluck. For a fun read and cassoulet wrap up, check out Theo Peck's blog Carnivore Hearts Herbavore. Congratulations Cassoulet Kings and Queens!

Cassoulet Cook Off- Saturday, January 16 from 1:00- 5:00 PM

In the dead of winter, there is little that is more comforting than cassoulet. Beans and sausages are the backbone of this hearty meal, but the rest is subject only to the chef's imagination! Duck, goose, pork, tomatoes, carrots...if you have some cassoulet, you know you are being well fed.

Last year, Ed Yowell (Slow Food and Greenmarket board member) suggested the Cassoulet Cook Off. One thing that most of the Greenmarket farmers (who raise meat) have in common is that they make (or have made) sausages from their animals. There are so many good sausages at the Greenmarket: 3 Corner Field Farm - lamb sausages, merguez, chorizo, Italian; Flying Pigs Farm - pork sausages, includign my favorite chorizo; Catskill Merino - lamb sausage, inlcuding an interesting spiced sausage; and pork sausages from Tamarack Hollow and Ted Blew. That's just at Union Square! There are many more!

The Cassoulet Cook Off is a benefit for the Greenmarket. $20 at the door buys you a sampling of 15 different cassoulets from pro and amateur chefs. Vote for your favorite! There will be drink specials at the bar on small production beers from B. United Importers. For example, a Reissdorf Kolsch and Schlenkerla Helles Lager will be only $5 a glass!

2nd Annual Cassoulet Cook Off

Dear Friends and Cassoulet Lovers,

In January of 2009, Jimmy’s No. 43 hosted its first Cassoulet Cook Off to benefit the Greenmarket in NYC. Cassoulet packed the house that Saturday afternoon, and we aim to do it again in January of 2010 as part of our Greenmarket Sausage Week. We will feature charcroute garni, bangers and mash, of course CASSOULET - all from Greenmarket farmers like Flying Pigs Farm, Violet Hill Farm, Tamarack Hollow, and 3 Corner Field Farm.

On Saturday, January 16, from 1- 5:00 PM, the back room will be filled with a variety of cassoulets created by inventive minds with impeccable palates. Some chefs, some amateurs, all food lovers: Could one of these cassoulets be yours? We are looking for participants for this year’s Cook Off. Here are the criteria:

-All Cassoulets should feature some Greenmarket ingredients and food sources should be acknowledged
-Cassoulets will serve 200 x 2 oz tastes.
-Participants should bring their own serving devices. We will have sterno.
- prizes include $100 and $50 cash prize for winners, gift certificates, cooking untensils.
- judges : chef Matt Weingarten and others to come
- contestants: Nick Suarez, Theodore Peck... you???

Anyone interested in participating should contact Jimmy Carbone at 212 982 3006 or by email at jimmypotsandpans@earthlink.net.

All proceeds from the door will be donated the day of to Greenmarkets of NYC.

Cheers
Jimmy Carbone

Interesting Food at Savoy

Peter Hoffman of Savoy has been doing the Greenmarket thing for almost 20 years now. After perusing the archives of his dinner series which has been going on for 15 years, I have to give kudos to this man. He also asked Jimmy's No. 43 to participate in his upcoming cassoulet event, March 14 at Savoy. Now he is our new best friend!

Escape Your Winter Blues- Cook Something, Then Eat It!

All this talk about cassoulet has me searching for recipes. Luckily, Cathy Erway has been kind enough to post her lip-smacking cassoulet recipe. Take a day off, go shopping at the Greenmarket and make this cassoulet for yourself and a few cold, tired people you love. It will be the best day you'll have all winter!

Cassoulet Roundup

Saturday's Cassoulet Cookoff drew in a large crowd from the cold streets of New York to sample some warm, sausage-y goodness. I would like to take a moment to thank the warm-hearted chefs who gave their time and talents (not to mention ingredients!) to support the Greenmarket.

Cathy Erway's cassoulet was teased with apple and made with maple cured sausages and ham hocks from Tamarack Hollow Farms. Andrew Field of Rockaway Taco and RICE favored us with a root vegetable cassoulet using ingredients from Migliorelli Farm and John D. Madula Farm. Phillip Kirschen Clark looked to Violet Hill Farm, Three Corner Field Farm and Paffenroth Farm to round out his creation. Melissa Rebholz, a former Greenmarket manager, dubbed her masterpiecethe Cassoulet de Chomage (Cassoulet of Unemployment!) using pork and lamb from Tamarack Hollow Farm. Jimmy's No. 43's own Chef John Crabbs' entry was created with products from Three Corner Field Farm and Violet Hill Farm. Both Kelly Geary of Sweet Deliverance and Chef Mark Bello of Pizza A Cassa prowled the Greenmarket and hunted down the finest ingredients for their delightful entries.

Many thanks to all who came to support a cause very near and dear to our hearts... and stomachs! Eat local! Eat delicious!

Sausage, Cassoulet, Hooray!

Cassoulet is the new roast chicken, so it seems. Brewer, author, and tastemaker Garrett Oliver (Brooklyn Brewery) wishes he could showcase his terrific cassoulet at the Cassoulet Cookoff this coming Saturday (Jan 17 from 12:00- 5:00 PM at Jimmy's No. 43). Unfortunately for us, he is scheduled to lead a tasting at Mohegan Sun. David Leite (Leite's Culinaria) will be cooking a cassoulet at his friends house and I bet Hoppin' John Taylor will be making a low country version for himself. Cathy Erway will be participating in the Cassoulet Cookoff but in the meantime, I will cook her delicious sausage and polenta recipe for lunch today!

Do you have a cassoulet story to tell? A good recipe? Let us know!

The Mid-Winter Sausage and Wheatfest is Upon Us!

It is cold out there this week! It would be all too easy to be grouchy and miserable during this January cold snap. OR, you could put a positive spin on things and consider that the weather has conspired to make Jimmy's No. 43's Mid-Winter Sausagefest all the more satisfying. Comfort food is never more enjoyable than when you are in need of comfort. I'd say this weather qualifies!

Here's the delicious run-down:

All week, Jimmy's No. 43 will be featuring Greenmarket sausages and beers from B. United Importers and New Jersey's High Point "Ramstein" Brewery.

Tuesday, Jan 13 Sausagefest Kickoff! Enjoy a sausage plate sampler and a B. United beer tasting.

Wednesday, Jan 14 Ramstein Night. New Jersey's High Point Brewery's German style beers and sausages.

Thursday, Jan 15 "Beer Meet-Up" Tasting in our Tasting Room. Sample 6 tastes of German wheat/winter and ramstein beers. $24.00 per person- see Jimmy's No. 43 site for more information on events in The Tasting Room.

Friday and Saturday, Jan 16-17 Cassoulet on the menu! Try our house cassoulet made with Greenmarket sausages.

Saturday, Jan 17 Cassoulet Cookoff and Greenmarket Fundraiser. $20 at the door, all proceeds benefit the Greenmarket and all the flavor goes to you! 12:00- 5:00 PM No reservations needed.

Cassoulet Cookoff and Greenmarket Fundraiser!

During the week of January 13-17, 2009, Jimmy's No. 43 will host a week long celebration featuring the best in Midwinter Greenmarket Sausage and German Beer. We'll call it Sausage and Wheatfest! This event is a collaboration with Slow Food NYC and the Greenmarket's Ed Yowell and part of our unwavering commitment to good, real food!

The closing day of the event, Saturday January 17 from noon until 5 :00 PM, will be dedicated to a Cassoulet Cookoff which will raise funds for the Greenmarket. For a $20 donation at the door you can come in and taste the fun! All proceeds will support the Greenmarket. Local favorite Sixpoint Craft Ales, will be available at the bar for additional charge per beverage.

Here are the rules: Each participant will cook one dish that will include at least one sausage from an approved Greenmarket vendor/farmer.

A few of the cookoff participants include:

Cathy Erway, noteatingoutinny.com
Chef Mark Bello of pizzaacasa.com
Chef Phillip Kirschen–Clark, formerly of WD~50, Jimmy's No.43, and Pegu Club
Melissa Rebholz, Greenmarket supporter and cook at Roberta's in Brooklyn
Kelly Geary, chef/owner of Sweet Deilverance.

For further information visit the Jimmy's No. 43 website.