Le Pig Mac and Other Meaty Delights

Le Pig Mac

Donald Link is my new favorite boyfriend. He has brought Le Pig Mac to Nashville as well as other meaty delights at his Nashville outpost of his original Cochon Butcher in New Orleans. You just have to smile when you eat Le Pig Mac – two house-made sausage patties with his own special slightly spicy sauce, house-made pickles and an excellent soft bun grilled in butter. In butter. It is excessive. Well done, Donald. Well done.

So Noah and I were giddy with excitement when we walked into the place. It smells like the best meat emporium in the world. They smoke and cure all their meats at the restaurant. And this in a town that used to be known entirely for it’s fried baloney sandwiches. We put on our big people pants, loosened the belts and commenced to wallow in meat.

Pastrami

The pastrami is heavenly. Tender and tinged with sweet smoke. Of course, we shared.

Pro tip: Always share. You get to try twice the food. Even eating off each other’s plates is encouraged.

So, sadly for us, we sat directly across from the meat counter where they sell even more delectable house-made offerings.

Sausages

How could we resist the venison sausage? We didn’t. And we’ll have some boudin, please.  And some cured buckboard bacon, which you eat raw like prosciutto. We had a sample slice. It was very nice. That’s a lie. It was delicious. But I liked the rhyme.

Sausages 2

And then we bought a small slice of head cheese to try. I’ve always wanted to try it and if you’re going to try pig head parts you might as well eat some made by the master. And then we had to get some Cochon hot sauce, hot vinegar and whole-grain mustard. Forty-nine dollars poorer, we wallowed out of the restaurant with stupid silly smiles on our faces.

So here’s the thing. Excellence doesn’t come cheap. Buying products produced from ethically, sustainably raised animals does not come cheap. At Cochon you will pay $12 for a sandwich and you’ll happily hand over the cash because not only is it delicious, it’s a stand against Smithfield, Tyson and all the other industrial producers of “food.”

But mostly you’ll pay that because it’s worth it. Food memories may not be important to some people, but they’re everything to me.

Post note: We just tried the venison sausage with the whole-grain mustard. We are out…of…control.

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