Misti Norris: 4 ‘F’s – Farm, Forage, Ferment, Fire

Misti Norris from Petra and the Beast

What we covered in this episode

Chef Misti Norris talks about her passion for farms, foraging, fermentation, and fire.
She shares her love for charcuterie and fresh pasta.
Chef Misti Norris explains how she took consumers from comfort food (gumbo, stews) to more unique offal dishes (pig parts, chicken hearts, veal tongues).
During the pandemic she went to a curbside menu for a little bit with more comfort food dishes that were a little more approachable, but still within their philosophy of using local farms and continued supporting local smaller businesses.
The concept for the restaurant Petra and the Beast has always been within a philosophy of sustainability. They are a low waste kitchen.
Chef Misti Norris describes how her beef heart dish is prepared.
We learned about her sources of inspiration and her creative process. Think graphic novels and vinyl toys!
Chef Misti Norris has done numerous pop-ups around the country and she describes some collaborations she has done with other chefs.
Her ingredient obsession is turnip.
When she was eight years old, the first time her ‘maw maw' made boudin balls, was the moment that sparked something in her and established a real connection with food.
Chef Misti Norris shares a pork rillettes recipe.
Series of rapid-fire questions.
Link to the podcast episode on Apple Podcasts http://bit.ly/Misti_Norris

Links to other episodes in Texas

Conversation with 3 Chefs in Austin (Chef Andre Natera, Chef Kevin Fink, and Chef Fiore Tedesco) – Vol 1

Conversation with 3 Chefs in Austin (Chef Andre Natera, Chef Kevin Fink, and Chef Fiore Tedesco) – Vol 2

Chef Fiore Tedesco – L'Oca D'Oro

Chef Michael Fojtasek – Olamaie

: Misti Norris @ Petra and the Beast

: 12 month turnip kasuzuke @ Petra and the Beast

: 14 month kasuzuke sun farms turnip ham

: Charcuterie Board @Petra and the Beast

: Mushroom caramel and amino glazed TX purple carrots

: Chef Misti Norris

: Sagohachi cured torihamu rolled with smoked kale powder and dried peppers.

: collard green cappalletti, puffed purple hulls, half sour and garlic chive beurre monte, smoked hot sauce, pancetta stecatta.

Misti Norris' pork rillettes recipe

You could get pork shoulder or beef chuck roast, or any kind of protein that you want to use.
You braise that out and essentially until meat is falling-apart tender and fat is soft.
Transfer meat and skin to a large bowl and pour fat and any cooking liquid in a pot into a heatproof measuring cup.
Shred the meat and add some fat, duck fat if you have some at the house, or if you have some extra pork fat, and the braising liquid you saved.
Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, pickles to it. You can add a little bit of vinegar, lots of nuts. We love using pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, peanuts, pecans, stuff like that for texture.
Pack the “rillette” mixture into jars, pushing out any air bubbles.
Top each with a few spoonfuls of reserved fat and chill until set, at least overnight.
Serve with sourdough bread or crackers.

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During the pandemic, we went to a curbside menu for a little bit with more comfort food dishes that are a little more approachable but still within our philosophy. We never stopped using our farms and continued supporting our local smaller businesses. Chef Misti Norris

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The concept for the restaurant Petra and the Beast has always been within the philosophy of sustainability. We are a low waste kitchen.

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Our main philosophy is to be a low waste, as sustainable as possible within the realm of supporting our smaller farms. It is almost like a community-based philosophy that we have for our restaurant.

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The concept of the restaurant is really using all the parts of fruits, veggies, and animals as well. Anything that gets done away either gets composted or preserved.

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One thing we love to do, especially for tastings, is to take one vegetable and used different techniques or methods and do it multiple different ways on a dish.

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iI was just an immediate love. I just fell in love with the whole process of butchering and aging.

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I'm a huge collector of graphic novels and vinyl toys. I think a lot of inspiration sometimes will come from something I see or something that an artist does.

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