Jeremiah Leighton grew up in Friday Harbor. He has always been motivated to cook, even from his earliest days getting his first easy bake oven for Christmas when he was three.
Outdoor life was always a part of his upbringing: family trips reenacting the French and Indian War, hunting, and raising pigs and sheep with the 4-H club. Cooking on open fire and understanding where your food comes from have always been a part of his way of life.
In the early 2000s he moved to Bellingham and started working in local kitchens where he spent the next 10+ years moving up in the ranks, first meeting and working with The Admiralty Lounge’s Owner, Jabriel Donohue, in 2008. Leighton was working at a local pizza restaurant when a chance meeting reconnected him with Donohue, who asked if he would like to join him on a new restaurant project.
His style of cooking borders seasonal comfort food with roots in French and European fare. Leighton has a careful love not just of cooking and eating, but the full experience of how we interact with food, which is sometimes expressed by novel touches like dessert served in individual cellophane wrappers to inspire the youthful joy of unwrapping a treat or making and plating Admiralty’s deviled eggs as though you’d just walked into your grandmother’s kitchen.
Imperial Swine Pork Belly
Ingredients
1 pork belly, skin on
1 smoked hog jowl
1 orange
1 lemon
1 lime
¼ cup ground toasted coriander
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
Instructions for preparation
- Starting with your hog jowl, cut into large cubes and purée in a food processor until smooth. Add in the zest of orange, lemon, and lime, then blend till well mixed. Set aside.
- Lay out your belly skin side-down and trim any silver skin and extra meat that is too thick (you want a uniform layer of belly). Using a sharp knife, trim all sides of the belly to make an even rectangular shape (1-2 inches off each side).
- After the pork belly is trimmed, score the meat ½ inch deep and 1 inch apart diagonally. Repeat the other way to make an “X” pattern.
- Dust the meat side with coriander, salt, and pepper and rub into the belly.
- Press the hog jowl puree into the pork belly in a uniform layer. Save any leftovers for stock.
- Roll the pork belly into a log lengthwise. Using twine, tie the belly into 11-12 sections depending on size. Cut into 13- or 14-ounce pieces between each knot.
- Place into vacuum bags, seal, and cook in a sous vide immersion circulator set to 168 F for 16 hours.
- Remove from the water bath and lay flat in the refrigerator to fully cool. Once cooled, open bags and remove any fat and juice (save for stock), pull off twine, and store in a sealed container.
Mojo Rojo Sauce
Ingredients
8 garlic cloves
2 dried Arbol chiles
2 tablespoon New Mexico chili powder
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon Sherry vinegar
Instructions for preparation
- Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
Charred Anaheim Chilis
Ingredients
4 Anaheim chilies charred on grill or open flame, placed in a sealed container to rest, peeled but with stems left on, slit down the middle to remove seeds
1 cup mixed cheese such as white cheddar, mozzarella, or brick cheese
¼ cup cream
Instructions for preparation
- In a food processor, combine cheese and cream and pulse until a dough forms. Fill the chilis with the cheese mixture and set aside.
Hominy Succotash
Ingredients
1 cup white hominy soaked in buttermilk overnight
1 cup chopped green cabbage
1 cup cactus, cleaned and sliced into ¼-inch strips and pickled
Juice of 1 lemon
Instructions to make the dish
- With a table-top fryer, Dutch oven, or heavy stock pot filled halfway with oil, deep fry your Imperial Swine Pork Belly at 350 F for 10-12 minutes or until the internal temp is 165 F.
- While the pork cooks, make the Hominy Succotash. Add 2 tablespoons of neutral oil and your cabbage to a sauté pan over medium heat. Cook until it has softened and browned slightly.
- Add the hominy and cactus. Bring the heat to medium high, stirring often, (if hominy starts to stick, add 2-3 tablespoons of water to deglaze the pan and keep cooking until the hominy has softened)
- Season with salt and pepper and the juice of your lemon.
- In a separate pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil, add your Charred Anaheim Chilis, and cook on both sides until browned and the cheese starts to melt.
- Remove your pork belly and allow it to rest for about 3 minutes. Slice in half and place each piece end to-end, overlapping slightly. Pour succotash over the middle of the pork belly. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of Mojo Rojo Sauce next to the belly and place Anaheim Chili on top.
