James and Julie Petrakis, the Chefs and owners of The Ravenous Pig and the new Cask & Larder restaurant, released their new cookbook The Ravenous Pig: Seasons of Florida. To celebrate, they hosted a cookbook release party at their Ravenous Pig restaurant in Winter Park, FL. The event featured hors d’oeuvres from recipes in the book, beer, wine, and signed first-edition copies of the book. The official cookbook release was a few days after this event.
(click image to enlarge)
The cookbook features beautiful photography of the Florida food recipes, the products used, and the people in the restaurant community they have built. You get a sense of who they are, the quality of food they create, and (for me) a new view of Florida food culture. How do they cook? In seasonal fashion, of course. The focus is on the produce that is in season during that time of year and what is available on the local Florida coast as far as seafood. The combination leads you to create a fresh, local, and seasonal dish at it’s peak flavor from what I can see. The book also features year round recipes that include lamb burgers, fried chicken, pastries, cocktails, desserts, and pantry items like vinaigrettes to name a few. I don’t want to give away too much, but it is a beautiful book from front to back and can teach everyone more about Florida cooking.
What’s a cookbook release party without food? The Ravenous Pig kitchen and bar put together a great sampling of treats for attendees of the book release party. Here’s a few of the dishes that I got to try.
(click image to enlarge)
Sample of The Ravenous Pig Old Fashion – Bacon Infused Buffalo Trace Bourbon, Vanilla Maple Syrup, Bitters – One of my favorite cocktails and of course it has candied bacon.
(click image to enlarge)
Blood sausage on crostini, Fried Boudin ball, Smoky Pastrami Sturgeon on a rye crostini & caviar crema
The Blood sausage on crostini and Fried Boudin ball were probably my favorite savory bites of the event. I wanted more but I wasn’t greedy, I just had this one plate.
(click image to enlarge)
(left) Fried Boudin ball
(right) Smoky Pastrami Sturgeon on a rye crostini & caviar crema
(click image to enlarge)
Mini fried balls of… (will update it if/when find out). They were good!
(click image to enlarge)
Shrimp and grits in a spoon
(click image to enlarge)
Churros with chocolate One of my favorites of the event!
(click image to enlarge)
After a small reception of thanking everyone who was involved with creating the book, attendees got a chance to visit with James and Julie Petrakis, along with getting their signed copy of the cookbook. To pick up your own copy of the book, stop by The Ravenous Pig or you can order one online from their website www.theravenouspig.com/shop/
The Ravenous Pig
1234 N. Orange Ave.
Winter Park, FL 32789
407-628-2333
www.theravenouspig.com
Words and photos by Julius Mayo Jr.
Content and photos © Droolius.com 2012
