Perth PorkStar 2015 – Bib & Tucker
PorkStar is a program run by Australian Pork Limited that encourages and inspires chefs to get creative with pork and include pork dishes on their restaurant menus. Each year, PorkStar takes its message on the road, travelling across Australia to hold special events that celebrate pork and the talents of local PorkStar chefs.
2015 is PorkStar’s 10th anniversary and Perth was the first stop on this year’s tour. Our PorkStar event was held at Bib & Tucker in North Fremantle, an invitation-only gathering of Perth’s top chefs, friends and champions of the food industry, and at least one very excited pork-loving blogger.
The evening’s menu was a splendid showcase of Western Australian Linley Valley pork, with a porktacular main course of rotisserie-cooked suckling pigs that I’d been shamelessly ogling as they turned on the spit. One pig per table, a nose-to-tail porkfest of King Henry VIII proportions, and oinks of approval all around.
The beers were by James Squire; the wines by Juniper Estate. 
Crispy pigs ear, green mojo, kohlrabi, habanero. 
‘San choy bau’ – charcoal roasted intercostals, black garlic, charred nectarine, witlof. Tender boneless strips of pork, savoury-sweet garlic and nectarine sprinkles, the crunch of witlof (chicory) – my favourite of the canapes.
Bib & Tucker Head Chef Scott Bridger
Confit and smoked pork neck, wood roasted fig, serano, sourdough
The porkyrazzi are everywhere! ‘Brawn and bread’ – pigs head, house pickles, nduja aioli, brioche
Entree – 16-hour pork cheek, crackling, ajo blanco, Pemberton marron, green apple
Before…
After. And the heart-stopping moment we realised each table would be served one of these…
Sides – cabbage, witlof and pear salad with sherry vinegar dressing; local Kipfler potatoes with lemon thyme and dripping; charcoal roasted broccolini with shaved blood plum and sandalwood nut. 
Rotisserie Linley Valley suckling pig with fennel aromats. A jug of Pedro Ximenez jus soon followed. 
CRACK! Do not resist the glory of crackling. 
Chef Chase Weber (previously of No.4 Blake Street, now head chef at The Standard) slices off some pork cheek. I’ve eaten and written about chef Chase’s pork croquettes, made with pig tail (see my blog post on The Standard)
Petit four dessert – I really liked the crackle dusted profiteroles filled with bacon ice cream and vanilla apple (I went back for seconds); Jac preferred the smoked Valrhona chocolate truffles with peanut butter parfait centres. The dessert wine, Juniper Estate Cane Cut Riesling 2012, was my favourite wine match of the night. 
Bib & Tucker Head Chef Scott Bridger with PorkStar Marketing Manager Mitch Edwards.Perth PorkStar 2015
- TFP and Jac attended Perth PorkStar 2015 as invited guests of PorkStar, an initiative of Australian Pork Limited.
- Perth PorkStar 2015 was held at Bib & Tucker – 18 Leighton Beach Boulevard, North Fremantle WA 6159
- Guests enjoyed beers by James Squire and matching wines by Juniper Estate.
- Last year’s Perth PorkStar was held at The Cabin, Mount Hawthorn.
- Check out the PorkStar website for more information about the PorkStar chef ambassador program, recipes and tips for cooking with pork, and images and video from PorkStar events across Australia.
Homer was right!
Homer: Lisa, honey – are you saying you’re never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal!
Homer: Heh heh heh. Ooh, yeah, right, Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal.
From ‘Lisa the vegetarian’, The Simpsons (1995), Season 7 Episode 5.
