WABI-TV 5 Morning Show once again celebrated National Pig Day with the 2nd Annual Bacon Fest.

For this years Bacon Fest we reached out to the students in the Culinary Arts program at Eastern Maine Community College to come up with some creative recipes that included bacon and other types of pork. The three recipes the students came up with were English Pork Pie, Grilled Bacon Stuffing Stuffed Pork Chops with Spicy Pineapple and Honey Glaze, and Maple Bacon Whoopie Pies.

The recipes the students developed are below.

English Pork Pie Recipe
adapted from Saveur Magazine

Brittany Gilman - EMCC Culinary Arts Student

Ingredients
1 cup lard, cubed and chilled
4½ cups flour
½ tsp. kosher salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 lb. pig's feet
8 oz. pork bones
6 whole black peppercorns
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 rib celery, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley
1 tbsp. savory, chopped
2 lb. pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into ¼" cubes
8 oz. pork belly, cut into ¼" cubes
8 oz. slab bacon, cut into ¼" cubes
1 ½ tsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste
½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
½ tsp. ground mace
½ tsp. ground black pepper
½ tsp. ground white pepper

Instructions
1. Make the pastry: Rub lard into flour and salt in a bowl until pea-size crumbles form. Add 1 cup cold water; stir until dough forms. Shape into a disk; wrap and chill.

2. Make the broth and filling: Bring feet, bones, peppercorns, onion, carrot, celery, parsley, and 3 qts. water to a simmer in a 6-qt. saucepan over medium-low heat; cook for 1 hour. Strain to remove vegetables. Return broth, feet, and bones to saucepan and continue simmering. Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine shoulder, belly, bacon, salt, nutmeg, mace, garlic, savory and peppers. Heat a large skillet and sear the seasoned meats on all side. Add meats and any drippings to sauce pan and cook until meats are fork tender - about 90 minutes. Reserve cooked meat. Discard feet and bones. Reduce broth to 2 cups. Cool broth and filling separately.

3. Heat oven to 350°. Roll ⅔ of the dough into a ¼″-thick circle; transfer to an 8″ springform pan and line bottom and sides. Place meat filling in pan; brush dough edge with egg. Roll remaining dough into a ¼″-thick circle; place over filling. Trim and fold under edges; crimp to seal. Cut out a 1¼″-wide hole in center of top pastry. Brush pie with egg and bake until evenly browned - about 45 minutes. Let pie cool, then gradually pour reserved broth into the hole in top of pastry, waiting occasionally for it to distribute through the pie, before adding more. Chill pie to set broth into a jelly before serving. Serve cold.


Grilled Bacon Stuffing Stuffed Pork Chops With Spicy Pineapple and Honey Glaze

Liz Schwartz - EMCC Culinary Arts Student

Serves 4

4-2 inch thick boneless pork loin chops
Salt and white pepper to taste
8 slices of bacon, diced up
1 tbsp. dried sage
2 tbsps. chopped fresh parsley
1 cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup chopped carrot
2 cloves pasted garlic
¼ tsp. white pepper
½ tsp. salt
1 ½ cup vegetable stock
4 cups of ¼” bread cubes, slightly stale
2 cups of unsweetened pineapple juice
½ cup of honey
½ tsp. of cayenne pepper
¼ tsp. salt

Directions:

Stuffing
Render the bacon pieces over a medium heat, remove bacon bits and drain on a paper towel. Reduce the heat to low then add the chopped celery and carrots to the bacon fat and cook until tender. Add the onions and cook until opaque. When all vegetables are cooked, add the garlic, sage, ½ tsp of salt, and white pepper, this should cook just until the garlic becomes aromatic. Deglaze with the vegetable stock, scrapping the bottom to release all of the flavor. Pour this over the bread cubes, toss to coat evenly, add the bacon bits to this mixture and incorporate well. Set aside.

Glaze
Using a stainless steel pot, combine the unsweetened pineapple juice, honey, cayenne pepper and ¼ tsp of salt, reduce this until it is half of its original volume, about a cup.

Pork Chops
Using a small paring knife, cut a pocket into the pork chop without cutting all the way through. Season the inside cavity with salt and white pepper. Fill using the stuffing mixture using about ¼ to half a cup of the stuffing depending on the size of your chops. Season the outside of the chops with salt and white pepper.
Have an oven preheated to 375 degrees as well as your grill set to a medium high heat.
Place your chops on your grill so that they have a 45 degree angle with the grill bars. As soon as the pork chops release from the grill, turn them 90 degrees and place back on the grill bars. When they release from the grill again, flip and repeat the previous steps. We are not looking to completely cook the chops on the grill because they could dry out, we want nice grill marks.
Brush the glaze liberally on both sides of the chops before placing in the oven. Cook until they reach an internal temperature of 145 degrees. Reheat the glaze to kill any potential bacteria from brushing on chops previously then pour a little over each chop. There will be extra stuffing and that can be baked off in a separate pan in the same oven while the chops are finishing up baking.

Note: If you don’t have access to a grill, you can sear the pork chops in a pan with a little vegetable oil until a golden brown crust forms, glaze then bake in the oven entirely.

Maple Bacon Whoopie Pie

Stacey M. Gatcomb-EMCC Culinary Arts Student

Yield-About 20 cakes

Ingredients:

1 box Family Sized Brownie Mix
2.66 Ounces Oil
2 Large Eggs
16 Ounces Vanilla Frosting
6 Ounces Fluff
6 Ounces Bacon
4 Tablespoons Maple Syrup

Procedures:

Preheat over to 350 F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper
Combine Brownie Mix, Oil, and Eggs in a medium bowl. Beat 30-40 strokes until just combined.
Drop by rounded Tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet, about 2 inches a part.
Bake 9-11 minutes until edges are set. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.
Beat frosting and fluff in medium bowl with electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy. Stir bacon and maple syrup into filling.
Place half of pies flat side up. Spoon 2 Tablespoons of filling in center of each pie. Top with remaining pies, rounded side up. Press gently.

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