Farmyard to Fabulous: How we use the foods we've found

So we visited a farm and are thrilled to bring their product to our customers at Liliana's. Now we want to share with you where on our menu you can find it, and how you might cook that product at home, should you find yourself lucky enough to prepare these delicious foods in your kitchen.

On Wednesday we told you all about our family visit to Fox Valley Berkshire Pork. Our chefs love working with this high quality meat and finding new and exciting ways to utilize the products. (Lily loves their all natural hot dogs the best!)

So here is why we think Fox Valley Berkshire Pork is so great

In the 80's Americans went crazy for diet foods. Any food was inherently better if it contained less cholesterol, less fat, less sodium or less calories. Pork futures plummeted and the pork marketing board reinvented itself using "the other white meat" campaign. Commercial pork farmers bred the US pork population to be leaner and leaner to fill Americans demand for "less". Here's the problem: Americans started to wonder why pork didn't taste as good as they remembered it. Why wasn't it a little more filling, and little more tasty, a little..."more"?

Well, as you remember, pork farmers had spent over 20 years wrecking most of the US pork population by breeding it to be very lean and not very tasty. Innovative farmers like Bruce and Todd at Fox Valley Berkshire Pork have recently started raising pigs from the Berkshire line where they were smart enough to continue raising them the way they always have, healthy and yummy!

On our dinner menu, you can find Fox Valley Berkshire Pork in a number of dishes.
Jambalaya-Tomatoes, Andouille, Tasso ham, lardon and blackened shrimp with rice.
and these, available on our seasonal dinner menu, but may not be available forever:
Pork Chop-Huge 1-1/2 Berkshire pork chop with strawberry chutney, roasted red potatoes and fresh from our garden herb salad.
Pork Pasta- Pork pasta with peaches, cilantro, jalapeno and red onion with citrus sauce, topped with feta.


At lunch, try Fox Valley Berkshire Pork on these items:
Jambalaya- Tomatoes, Andouille, Tasso ham, lardon and blackened shrimp with rice.
and these, available on our seasonal lunch menu, but may not be available forever:
Pork Pasta- Pork pasta with peaches, cilantro, jalapeno and red onion with citrus sauce, topped with feta.
Berkshire Pork Burger-Fox Valley Berkshire pork, ground and mixed with herbs and spices. Grilled to order and served with guacamole and pico de gallo with Fire Lily aioli

Sneak Peek!
Our chefs are working hard to capture fall with the best that Wisconsin harvest season has to offer.
Fall menu (starting next week) will feature Fox Valley Berkshire Pork in at least 2 new ways:
At dinner:
Fox Valley Berkshire Pork Chop-with warm apple cranberry compote, swiss chard risotto and parsnip puree with chive oil

At lunch:
Turkey Bacon Sandwich-Turkey and berkshire pork bacon on a housemade roll with mixed greens, tomatoes and spicy aioli.

Here are Chef Dave's pork cooking tips:

1: When purchasing, look for marbling. A good cut of pork will have a nice mix of pink flesh and white fat.

2: If you can't find a nicely marbled cut, brining might help compensate.

-a great brine recipe is

-2 parts water

-1 part oil

-1 part apple cider vinegar

-1 part salt

-1 part brown sugar

- Fresh crushed garlic

- Fresh thyme

Combine in ziploc bag, add pork, squeeze out air, mush brine around pork. Let sit for one hour.

3: DONT OVERCOOK PORK. Know where your pork comes from, medium is fine.

4: When all else fails, let the Chefs at Liliana's prepare a delicious pork entree for you :)