chaofun

Me and a small group will be there tomorrow! Looking forward to it.

Wife (jchao) and I are interested in the Rocks Pig and Pinot. First friday in Dec is perfect. We went the other week with our crew and you said we ate all the pig Good stuff. Looking forward to the next time.

pork

hog jowl rillettes, cranberry mostarda 5.75

pig tail croquette, apple butter, quail egg 5.25

crispy pig ears, frisée, apple 5.75

smoked ham baked macaroni and cheese 5.00

fried pork rib, south carolina bbq sauce, cucumber salad 7.50

twice cooked jowl, peanut sauce, lettuce cups 6.50

pork burger slider, pickled onions, truffle mustard 4.00/ea

cornmeal fried bacon, mole 5.00

pork belly, greens, rye 7.00

bacon chocolate chip cookies, sweet onion-bacon ice cream 4.50

I have a whole shoat thinking about roasting it will be around 15 bucks a person

That pig reuben the other Friday was magnificent, my favorite. I'll be there tomorrow with some friends, looking forward to it.

What a gorgeous day to have a picnic!

It was great to meet everyone and put handles and names to faces. And all the food was magnificent. What a amazing spread. As a virtual newbie I think it was cool to meet other folks with the same love for good food. Looking forward to future events!

And of course Leigh, thanks for organizing and all your hard work!

I noticed this myself the other day. Meatcrafters did show up at the Crystal City Market yesterday for the first time. Their canopy still had Stachowski's photo on it and they DO have his Kielbasa. I picked up a package of half smokes too. Excited to give them a shot!

Yo, Jamie (or anyone else in the know) - any news you want to share on Meatcrafters?

You know, since your name is completely purged from the website, and all that...

Always calibrate before starting. A dip in some boiling water to verify high temp is easy and quick.

Yup... you live you learn.

What kind of smoker do you have? If you have a Weber Smoky Mountain this is a good resource: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/

For me the keys has been top grade Brisket (lots of marbling), baste/mop/spray more often than other meats, and a reliable thermometer. For about a year, I had been using a thermometer that was 50 degrees off.

Check out the Arlington Courthouse market, we picked up a pint last sat. The vendor did not have a sign, so I don't know which farm it was.

Just FYI

It appears that Meatcrafters will be at the Crystal City Farmers market:

http://www.donrockwell.com/index.php?showtopic=11477

Looks like Nathan Anda's Red Apron Butchery will be there as well.... Sounds awesome.

Dan's will get you there, and quick. Relatively cheap too.

As far as Va BBQ I am partial to two in particular:

Buz and Ned's in Richmond (specifically ribs)

B'z BBQ company (Formerly known as the mighty midget kitchen) based out in Paeonian grocery in Leesburg, Va

Though I do think the best BBQ is usually out of your own smoker.....

Where do you all get your pink salt from? I did a quick run through some markets close to me in NOVA and couldn't find any.

Yeah its not required. It does add to it in color and flavor, but you should still get a really good product.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/09/dining/0...d7b&ei=5070

Went over the Christmas/New Years break. Tried the smoked meat at Schwartz's.... it was wonderful, enough has been said about it here. Its somewhere in between corned beef and pastrami I would say. Yum. The bagels at St-Viateur are really good, but different from New York. They are sweeter, and due to the wood oven baking have a toasted taste.. at least the sesame ones I had did.

One restaurant in particular I got from chowhound that was AWESOME is le club chasse et peche. One of the best meals I have had. In particular the seared scallops, the piglet risotto with shaved foie gras, was just wow. I really loved my braised pork short rib entree as well.

The other restaurant Europea, was also very very good. This we just kind of stumbled upon as Sundays and Mondays a lot of restaurants are closed. Also a tip, many businesses/restaurants seemed to be closed for the holiday. I think a lot of folks decide to go someplace warm for the holidays. But anyway, we tried the 5 course tasting menu which ended up being 9 courses. The chef kept sending out "gifts" which of course I promptly ate. By the end I think I over did it, but it was a very good deal, and quite delicious.

We had to cut out trip short so we never got to try Au Pied or poutine..... next trip.

That was awesome. The smell of charcuterie out of that trooper was incredible.

Stachowski Charcuterie sales and pick up for orders

Tomorrow Sunday December 21 from 12-2 p.m.

Meet me on Pershing drive in the parking lot near the intersection of Route 50 in Arlington.

I will have

Christmas Boudin flavored with cardamom and ginger 12/lb

Venison Pate 19.5/lb

Country Pate 10.50/lb

Rabbit Terrine 13.65/lb

Fresh Kielbasa 5.53/lb

I will be driving a junkie trooper. The password is chacha.

Hey I'm chaofun. I live in Rosslyn, and I love food. I'm not associated with "the business", but perhaps some day I'd like to. I'm a BBQ nut, I can make a darn good rack of ribs, and pork shoulder on my little Weber Smokey Mountain. I traveled all over NC sampling BBQ for a couple days. Some folks do wine tours I do BBQ tours. Also I'm half Filipino and half Thai, and I can make a mean chicken adobo, and red curry. Hope to be posting again soon!