Main Ingredient: Pat Pascarella On Ossabaw Pork

Caption

At The White Bull, Chef Pat Pascarella serves farm-to-table dishes like Ossabaw porcetta with shishito peppers, mustard seed crema and popcorn, pictured above. / GPB

Chef Pat Pascarella trained under Eric Ripert at Le Bernardin in New York, but earned his Southern street cred as executive chef of The Optimist in Atlanta. In 2018, he went on to open The White Bull in Decatur. We caught up with Chef Pat at The White Bull, where he told us his "Main Ingredient."

The White Bull churns its own butter and mills flour from Georgia red wheat. The menu changes to reflect what the restaurant can buy from farmers across the state, so Chef Pat threw a little twist. Instead of the country ham that is the centerpiece on many a Southern Christmas table, he chose Ossabaw pork, from a Spanish breed of pig that evolved in isolation on Ossabaw Island in south Georgia. Chef Pat Pascarella names Ossabaw pork his "Main Ingredient."

Here is Chef Pat's recipe for Ossabaw porcetta with shishito peppers, mustard seed crema and popcorn, shared with his permission: 

Ossabaw Porchetta with Shishito Peppers, Mustard Seed Crema & Popcorn

Serves: 6

5 lb. Pork belly

1/2 cup Breadcrumbs

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp Rosemary, chopped

1/4 tsp Sage, chopped

1/2 lb Sausage

7 ea. Shishitos

3 Tbsp Pickled mustard seeds

1 cup Heavy cream

⅛ cup Popcorn, popped

1. Combine breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, rosemary, sage, and sausage. Spread the mixture out evenly on the non-skin side of the pork belly and roll it into itself. Tie the pork belly. Roast it for 3 hours at 350F degrees.

2. In a sauté pan, add oil and sear the shishitos.

3. In a pot mix, the cream with the pickled mustard seeds.

4. To plate cut two 1-oz pieces of porchetta (pork belly) and put it on the plate. Drizzle mustard seed crema sauce around the plate and top with shishitos and popcorn.