Practicing for the Audition

Last night Kitty and I had a couple of my oldest and best friends over to critique my "Audition" dish. Ken and Will are good enough friends that they can be honest without the risk of hurting my tender little feelings. I was planning to just cook the andouille stuffed tenderloin for the audition although I had been toying with the idea of also including Boudin as a tenderloin-stuffer. Ken brought a pound of Boudin and I decided to give it a shot. After all, who wants good Boudin to go to waste. It was a hit. I now feel certain that I should prepare both the boudin and the andouille stuffed pork. After we were about half way through the meal, I noticed that the hot spices in the boudin worked well with the sweetness of the fig gastrique. To keep this consistient throughout the dish, I went back in the kitchen and added some Indian chili powder to the gastrique. It worked so well that I have decided to add that to the audition recipe. I have also decided to forgo the chived basmati rice in favor of a dish that I call Grits Cochon. Essentially, the grits are cooked in a mixture of milk and ham stock and seasoned with a bit of pork fat and chopped green onion. So without further ado, here is the completed dish of Boudin and Andouille Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Fig Gastrique over Grits Cochon .
Bon Appetit!
~Tom