A nice crowd gathered on a beautiful, sun drenched afternoon yesterday to enjoy pork and wine at the Iowa Pork Producers Association Lawn Party held at the Jasper Winery in Des Moines.
The Winefest event featured the winner of IPPA’s “Ooey, Gooey, Saucy & Savory Pork Challenge.” Chef Jammie Monaghan of the new Des Moines restaurant called Bubba won the challenge and prepared buttermilk biscuit sliders filled with pecan-smoked pork leg, fried onions and rhubarb jam. By all accounts, the pork slider was a hit with the crowd of several hundred people.
Humboldt pig farmers Kevin and Lisa Rasmussen were among the IPPA volunteers and they took timeout to sample the Ooey, Gooey, Saucy and Savory sliders for themselves.
The Rasmussens were among about 20 IPPA Board and committee members who helped at the event and strolled the grounds serving the tasty sliders to the attendees, who also enjoyed food samples from other vendors and local wine and beer samples while listening to live music.
“The lawn party was a great time and a perfect way to connect to urban consumers. Partnering with “Bubba’s” and chef Jamie Monaghan was an awesome way to showcase what is possible when preparing pork,” said IPPA President Al Wulfekuhle, a producer from Quasqueton. “The IPPA staff and producer/volunteers did a wonderful job of interacting and passing out the pork sliders.”
IPPA also offered a pair of grilling kits as door prizes, pork recipes and information during the three-hour event.
The Sunday event marked the conclusion of a big weekend as IPPA also presented the 9th annual Swine Festival at the Iowa Culinary Institute at Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny on Saturday. The festival featured some of central Iowa’s best chefs and Iowa wineries. Fifteen chefs prepared samples of gourmet pork offerings while 13 different wineries sampled and sold their best vinos.
IPPA representatives were on hand to educate consumers about pork and pig farming, hand out information and give away pork recipes. IPPA also offered chocolate-covered bacon samples.
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