458 MAIN STREET
BEACON, NY 12508
(845) 440-8676
OWNERS: MATT HUTCHINS, JOHN KAVANAGH, AND JOHN KELLY; EXECUTIVE CHEF: MATT HUTCHINS
When Chef Matt Hutchins first popped up on our radar, he was the opening chef at Peekskill’s Birdsall House, who—when the kitchen closed—moonlighted on Birdsall’s decks as “DJ Mood Swing.” I remember Hutchins standing near the ladies room with his crates of vinyl, playing an unending lineup of The Coolest Music Ever. I picked out The Smiths, Fugazi, Television, and Patsy Cline, but a lot of the music was more obscure. Periodically I’d see diners holding up their phones (with beers gripped in their other hands), trying to identify the songs that Hutchins was spinning. If only these diners knew that the chef who’d just seduced them with locally sourced, pork-centric comfort food was also the guy responsible for Birdsall’s amazing sounds.
In September 2011 Hutchins decamped from Peekskill’s Birdsall House to pursue his own venture, which was rumored to be located somewhere farther north. Hutchins took his sweet time before announcing what that project was to be. In lieu of news, his fans were teased by Hutchins’s Facebook reports of nearly supernatural foraging hauls of morels and hen-of-the-woods mushrooms. Had Hutchins gone feral?
Finally, in March 2012 Hutchins debuted The Hop Beacon, a hybrid beer store/bar/restaurant that slings more than 150 retail craft beers alongside a geeky draft list for growler fills and drinking on-site. To complement the beers, Hutchins is spinning a menu that offers locally made artisanal cheeses, handcrafted pickles, and all those house-made sausages, terrines, and pâtés that earned him his rep. Still staunchly locavorian, all of The Hop’s meats are locally sourced and butchered in-house. It’s also a nose-to-tail restaurant: Very little precious protein is wasted.
And DJ Mood Swing? He’s morphed into the singer/bass player of the temporarily named Marquee Mooners, a band that covers the music of proto-punk icons Television. Hutchins’s next project is rumored to be a tribute to Fugazi. Meanwhile, you’ll find him at The Hop, generally with a beer.
(SERVES 6)
For the forcemeat:
1 (2-pound) rabbit
¼ pound fatback or fatty pork
Pinch of ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground coriander
3 dried bay leaves, ground in a spice grinder
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon white wine
2 teaspoons minced parsley
⅓ cup Thompson raisins
⅔ cup toasted pistachios
For the terrine:
Caul fat (as needed), soaked in brine, then rinsed
Thompson raisins (as needed)
2 reserved rabbit loins
For the lemon-saison vinaigrette:
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup Saison beer or Biere de Garde, a strong ale originated from the Nord-Pad-De-Calais region of France
1 tablespoon minced shallots
2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar
2 teaspoons whole grain mustard
2 tablespoons honey
Juice of ½ lemon
½ Meyer lemon, seeds removed, minced
1 teaspoon parsley
Pinch of cayenne
2 teaspoons salt
Ground black pepper to taste
For the Champagne-pickled vegetables:
Enough assorted vegetables (baby carrots, cauliflower, green beans, radishes, turnips, beets, garlic scapes, squash, etc.) to fill a lidded 1-quart container
½ cup water
½ cup granulated sugar
1 cup Champagne vinegar
For the finished dish:
½ baguette
Several leaves of frisée, washed and dried
1 cup Berkshire Blue from Berkshire Cheese Company
To butcher the rabbit and prepare the forcemeat: Using a boning knife, remove the legs from the rabbit. For the forelegs, slide the blade behind the shoulder blades and pull the knife up toward the neck until they break free. For the hind legs, wrap the blade around the pelvic bone from the belly to the spine, drawing the cut toward the tail. Bend the legs back until they break a little from the spine. Run the knife through to complete their removal. If the sternum has not already been split, do so by laying the rabbit on its side and cutting through the center of the sternum with the knife, cutting away from you to avoid any accidents. Lay the rabbit on its belly and pull back on the ribs with your fingertips while applying pressure on the spine with your thumbs until they break from the spine and the chest cavity is open and facing downward. Make a cut with the tip of the knife down either side of the spine, directly against the bumps on the spine. Then, fillet the loins off, simultaneously removing the belly flap. Roll the loins off the belly flap with your fingers and reserve, covered, in refrigerator. Flip the carcass and remove the small tenderloins under the belly region of the spine. Debone all the legs and cut the meat into 1-inch cubes. Cube the tenderloins and belly flap meat, add to the rest of the cubed meat, and reserve.
Note 1: Hutchins recommends roasting the rabbit bones, then simmering them with water into a stock for another use. When the rabbit is especially large, he confits their forelegs, and makes a sauce with the reduced rabbit stock.
Place the cubed rabbit and fatback (or fatty pork) into a large mixing bowl. Fold in ground cloves, coriander, ground bay leaves, cinnamon, ginger, red pepper flakes, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, brown sugar, and nutmeg and mix thoroughly with your hands until evenly incorporated. Refrigerate mixture for at least 1 hour, covered. When thoroughly chilled, remove the mixture and grind it once through a meat grinder fitted with a medium die. Then fit the meat grinder with a small die. Remove half of the meat mixture and grind this once more through the small die. Combine the finely ground meat with the more coarsely ground meat. Add all remaining ingredients and toss the mixture thoroughly by hand until everything is evenly dispersed and the liquids have been incorporated.
To assemble the terrines: Line two 2½-cup, lidded stainless steel terrines with plastic wrap, leaving an overhang on all sides. Squeeze the excess liquid from the caul fat, then line the terrines with caul fat, ensuring that it covers the entire inner walls of the terrines with about 2 inches to spare, left overhanging on the outside. Trim whatever exceeds the overhanging 2 inches with a small knife or shears. Fill the bottom of the terrines to one-third full with raisins, packing them down tightly. Layer the next one-third of the terrines with about ½ pound of the forcemeat. Lay one rabbit loin in the center of each terrine, trimming them if they are too wide. Be sure the loins do not touch the edges of the terrines. Cover the loin, filling the last one-third of the terrines with another ½ pound of the forcemeat. Pack down the terrine with your hands. Fold the caul fat over to completely cover the top of the terrines. Trim excess. Fold the plastic wrap back over the caul fat and trim the excess. Cover the terrine with its lid, tying it down tightly with two pieces of butcher’s twine.
To cook the terrines: Preheat oven to 300°F. Place terrines in a large, deep roasting pan that is slightly taller than the terrines. Fill the baking pan with hot tap water to about ¼-inch below the lid of the terrines. Place the baking pan in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the baking dish from the oven. Remove the terrines from the water bath and refrigerate overnight.
Note 2: Hutchins will often cook just one terrine, then pack the rest of the forcemeat for freezing, pairing 1 pound of forcemeat with one loin and some caul fat. According to Hutchins, “It freezes beautifully.”
To make the vinaigrette: Whisk the oils together, then add the beer slowly, whisking constantly. Whisk in the remaining ingredients. Refrigerate until needed.
To pickle the vegetables: Trim and clean the vegetables. In a large bowl prepare an ice bath. In a large pot of boiling water, cook the vegetables until they are barely tender. When vegetables are tender (but still firm), remove from boiling water and shock them in an ice bath to halt the cooking. Drain vegetables and place in a lidded container. In a medium pot heat water, sugar, and vinegar and bring mixture to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove the brine from heat and cool slightly. When tepid, pour the brine over the vegetables and refrigerate overnight until needed.
To plate: Preheat oven to 400°F. Split the baguette in half lengthwise and cut the two halves into ½-inch slices. Place on a baking sheet and toast in the preheated oven for 5–7 minutes, or until the crostini are golden and crisp. Set aside. Toss the frisée with a few teaspoons of vinaigrette, being sure not to over-dress the lettuce. Season it with salt to taste. Garnish the edges of six plates with a few drops of vinaigrette. Slice terrines into ½-inch slices. Place a small bunch of frisée off center on the plates. Place a few pickled vegetables on the frisée. Onto this base, layer crostini, pickles, and slices of terrine with leaves of frisée, finishing with one slice of the terrine. On the opposite side of the plates, place a few slices of the Berkshire Blue. Garnish the plates with assorted pickles and sprinkle top of the terrine layer with a pinch of salt. Serve cold.