John Besh & Special Dinner

John Besh had to cook a very special dinner. There were a lot of important people there.

If you look at his menu, he used a lot of Louisiana ingredients. For example: shrimp, oysters, crawfish and blue crab. That's some of their best local food.

I noticed one particular ingredient - Mangalitsa pork. John Besh and his crew love Mangalitsa pork. In fact, based on this tweet, I think they might have killed one of these pigs for this dinner.

I'm honored that when he needs to make a really great meal, he uses Mangalitsa pork. I'm also happy that he's confident enough to just cook the belly and serve it. A lot of chefs are afraid to serve a piece of nearly solid fat.


From CNN's blog post:

Next course, a Mangalitsa pork belly “hot pot.” As Besh explained, the term "fusion" is thrown about but New Orleans' food is exactly that - a melting pot of African, French, Spanish, Native American, German, Italian and Cajun influences. He considers this his culinary tribute to the Vietnamese community in New Orleans.