CleverRoot

MERRILL SHINDLER: I love bone marrow—it's a guilty pleasure of mine. Mostly, I've had it in soup and osso buco. Doesn't it get overcooked in dump- lings? BRIAN LETH: Actually, it was inspired by Chinese soup dumplings. You've got to cook the marrow at a low temperature, very carefully, or you wind up with a big puddle of fat. You cook it at around 150 degrees while mixing onions with the marrow. MS: Do you have a prep chef whose job it is to scoop out the marrow using a tiny spoon? BL: No, we get the bones cut horizontally with a band saw, so the marrow scoops right out. They have to be very careful cutting the bones; it's easy to lose a thumb if you don't pay attention. MS: How else do you prepare marrow? BL: I like to roast it a lot. For me, it was lardo before people discovered lardo. If you're Italian or Eastern European, you know bone marrow well. It's very filling. MS: You have a fondness for pasta shapes that diners may not know. Like cresta di gallo looks like a rooster's comb. Caramelle looks like little candies. And what's mezze maniche? BL: It's like a half-size rigatoni. [Italian for "short sleeves," it was originally called maniche di frate: "friar's sleeves."] We serve it with a pork ragu and pecorino cheese. The cresta di gallo is served with squid and fava leaves. The caramelle is served with a sheep's, cow's and goat's milk cheese called La Tur, with pomegranate molasses and walnuts. MS: You have a taste for rustic flavors: bone marrow, rich cheeses—and boar shank. Is that hard to find in New York? BL: I've been using boar shank for years. It's very tender if you cook it right. It's decadent compared with pig, a more complex meat with less fat. You have to cook it with a certain delicacy. We cure it in salt, sugar, fennel and chili. MS: Are they wild? BL: Actual wild game is hard to find. But the boars do run free, and then are trapped and go to mobile slaughter houses. They're not wild in the sense that there are hunters out with dogs shooting them. MS: And you serve the boar with honeycomb. Which seems so unexpected.. . BL: A friend introduced me to serving honeycomb with meats. It looks cool, it tastes good. It's unobtrusive. But people remember it. It's a very cool ingredient because no one expects it. Chef Brian Leth runs the kitchen at Faun Restaurant in Brooklyn, New York. Chef Brian Leth cures boar shank in salt, sugar, fennel and chili and serves it with honeycomb, an unexpected pairing. s u m m e r 2 0 1 7 | 6 9 PHOTO: TORALF SUEMMCHEN PHOTO: MICHAEL TULIPAN ■cr s s

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