The fat of the land

Photograph: Jeff Gurwin

Forget, for a moment, about the dark clouds of economic doom and think instead of baser pleasures that are accessible during bull market or bear, with an expense account or without. That’s how we regard the crispy pork nuggets ($4) at Char No. 4 (196 Smith St between Baltic and Warren Sts, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn; 718-643-2106), an eminently affordable luxury of braised pig’s feet, cured skin, smoked ham and pork shoulder encased in a toasty crust of Japanese bread crumbs. The bite-size morsels serve as both snack and reminder that great things can come of recessions: A restaurant’s butchered leftovers can be the starting point for a superstar dish. You know the whole nose-to-tail thing? It’s not just about eating intestines and snouts for bragging rights—it’s about not throwing shit away.

In this spirit, the Midas-like chef Matt Greco lovingly turns his restaurant’s pork scraps into gold. Along with feet and shoulder, Greco slow-cooks bits of house-smoked bacon and ham (delicious trimmings deemed too small for the restaurant’s fancy sandwiches), then recombines the meat with the reduced braising liquid, which has been transformed into a delicious jelly. Greco’s homemade hot sauce—pickled Thai bird’s-eye chilies blended with roasted garlic paste and salt—has an addictive, tongue-numbing quality and administers the equivalent of a gentle spanking to the fatty croquettes. It’s kind of like an American regional classic; a selective scrapple, if you will. And at six nuggets for $4, this is a value meal we can get behind.

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