Art made Pork Rib Roulade for this weekend. I want to take a second and clarify what this actually is. It’s very Italian to roll things. My grandmother used to make braciole with beef, pork, or chicken, about two or three times a week. They love to roll things up. (think cannelloni, manacotti, or even rigatoni) This Roulade is no different. Since Art butchers his own meats, he cut the ribs, boneless, into strips saving some of the belly on each strip. Belly on the pig is simply bacon. Then, he rolled up the rib and belly meat, seared it, braised it, and then we serve it. Imagine getting ribs and bacon with each bite. It may be, one of the greatest dishes we’ve ever done. It’s being served with horseradish whipped turnips and a slightly spicy souther style braised green cabbage. If you like ribs and bacon, this is your dish.
Art Teams Up with Fairport High
Recently, Chef Art, went out to Fairport High School to get involved with Nutrition Month. Art, along with teacher Kelly Lang and student Chris Cullen, are attempting to educate students, teachers, and parents about local meats and produce. Art and Chris are going to create meals using local foods for the students to eat. The staff at Lento is extremely excited for Art and also proud.
Eating local isn’t just healthier, its better for our community. Shopping at the markets, meeting our farmers and their families means so much to all of us. I feel better connected to Rochester because of it and it gives me a strong sense of pride when my friends come from out of town and eat at my house or at Lento. Its nice to see Art being commended for his tireless work, running a business and educating.
So I’ll speak for everyone and say thanks, Arthur. I know I’m not alone.
Read the full article from Fairport-East Rochester Post about Art.
Coming Up This Weekend at Lento!
The rotisserie smoker will be up and running again this weekend. We did some beef briskets and they came out awesome. Now we’re going to do a ham and a pork shoulder. A real showstopper, for sure. A cooking method that has been around for a long time, but just never gets old. And it’s not too common to see anymore, unless you’re at a barbeque joint. But rotisserie and smoke go beyond just barbeque. Smoke can be an exotic seasoning when combined with the slow cooking of the rotisserie and the meats natural flavors and juices.
The beef brisket we smoked came from Seven Bridges Farm.
The ham and shoulder came from a whole pig raised specifically for us by Gansz Farm.
Also, homemade ice cream cake! Yes, that’s right. Just like carvel, only better. With Rocky road cookies, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate sauce. Everything made from scratch, of course. We made one last weekend and it sold it half a night. We’ll have one ready by Friday.
Introducing Our Rotisserie Smoker
We’ve been so excited about this for so long. I think it was as far back as last June when Art came up with the idea of making the kitchen bigger and to add the rotisserie smoker in the grotto next to our newly renovated kitchen. We closed for a week last July during construction. Then, Matt Sherwood, our resident builder and fixer of all restaurant related things, built this thing from scratch with no blueprints. It has enough torque to roast an entire pig! I guess we’ll start small first.
We fired it up on Saturday just to see how it worked. The whole area had a faint smell of campfire. It smelled like summer. We’re going to fire it up again this Wednesday. Come in and check this thing out!
Lucky to be a Line Cook
Memories, health, comfort, wealth, pride, encouragment, and love are all words I hold synonomous with food. Food is more than eating. Food is more than stopping hunger. Food is a gathering, a centerpiece, life. Sometimes its my whole day, other times its the whole week.
Even beyond that, sometimes it’s just plain fun. We have a great time in the kitchen, whether it’s prepping, baking, or right in the middle of service. There’s been so many times that I’ve actually laughed until I cried at work! I can’t imagine too many people being able to say the same about their jobs.
Food brings people together, whether it be my parents coming next week for the Super Bowl (I’m making venison chili), or my coworkers in the Lento kitchen. If it had not been for cooking at Lento, I wouldn’t have known these guys. And since, sometimes, they make me laugh so I hard I snort, I guess I’m pretty lucky I’m a cook.
