Q&A sausage maker Paul van den Hooven

Sausage maker Wild Vleesch is Paul van den Hooven’s dream come true. After developing dozens of sausages, he created a pulled pork croquette. Made with slowly cooked and then pulled ‘shredded pork’ – as the Rotterdammer pur sang puts it – in a marinade inspired by Texas BBQ style. He calls it ‘Croquétje’.

Which food/sausage trend should we put an immediate stop to?

I’m not a trends person. I have no idea what they are, when it comes to sausage or food. I roam through city and countryside and let myself be surprised by what I encounter. For example, I go through the greenhouses with the growers at Uit Je Eigen Stad and see and taste what they are growing now. That leads to new sausages. Croquétje also came about by chance, because I moved into a space with an entrepreneur who told me he was going to set up a croquette business. “Then I know the first croquette we’ll make together”, I said. Let’s stop following trends and go on our own (food) adventures again.

Most memorable food experience?

In no particular order and not a complete list:

• cabrito from the smoker at Cooper’s Pit BBQ in Llano, Texas
• homemade buffalo burgers at the campsite in Wyoming
• a plate full of food from my own garden and sausage kitchen
• the fantastic, velvety frijoles refritos, fried in lard, at Market Square in San Antonio, Texas
• sitting down at Restaurant Dertien by Pepijn Schmeink and eating only starters
• a fantastic Wagyu steak I once bought from Herman ter Weele in Oene
• the very first dry-cured and smoked ham I made myself
• slow-cooked oxtail from my own oven
• mussels Thai-style
• the platter of embutidos, washed down with a very good manzanilla sherry in a little tent in Granada
• eating at Pure Passie by Leonard Elenbaas in ’s-Gravenzande
• eating at Antichic by Ron and Ank, Rotterdam
• sampling all the dishes at the KCBS BBQ championships
• the jamón ibérico bellota that is always in the house
• BBQ lobster on holiday in Normandy
• and recently: croquétje, my own croquette with shredded pork

Favourite drink?

A whiskey a friend brought back from England, which is fortunately now available here too: Laphroaig PX Cask Triple Matured. I’m a fan of deliciously smoky whiskey anyway, but this one has also been aged in PX casks. Casks in which Pedro Jimenez sherry was aged, a dark sherry with flavours of currants, leather and chocolate.

Indispensable kitchen gadget?

The rack from which pieces of bacon, dry sausages and hams hang on hooks in my sausage kitchen.

What would you never eat again?

The vegetables from my childhood, boiled until they turned to mush. Food needs to have bite ! That’s why I grind my sausages coarsely; it keeps the texture of the meat recognisable. I have a fresh sausage, the Rauwe Rotterdammer, which I grind through such a coarse plate that I had to sign a declaration saying I use it at my own risk. You can buy that sausage at Worscht on Czaar Peterstraat.

Which country is your favourite when it comes to food?

Rotterdam is a muse for me as a sausage maker too. Around 170 cultures live here. And because I worked as a youth worker in the old neighbourhoods for 30 years, I sat at the table with a large proportion of them. If we’re really talking about countries: it varies. Mexico is a favourite. The Mexican layering of flavours is haute cuisine to me. I also enjoy Moroccan food.

What should everyone try at least once?

Shredded pork, in other words pulled pork. To begin with, in my croquétje. And then the real thing. Not from the supermarket, nor from many trendy lunch and other places either (at best, it comes out of the oven and has never seen a BBQ). Just come to one of the now numerous KCBS BBQ championships in this country on a Sunday, and you can taste what every team has to offer.

What is the best supermarket product?

From the organic supermarket: the chilli chocolate by the brand Vivani. Otherwise, I avoid the supermarket.

What is still on your food wish list?

Huitlacoche, a fungus that grows on corn cobs and is also called ‘Mexican truffle’. I came across it in a post by a home sausage maker in Arizona, and then heard my neighbour, who is married to a Mexican woman, speak about it enthusiastically. So it will soon be in my theatre.

Which cookbook should everyone have on their shelf?

I have rows of cookbooks in the utility room. And beside my bed too. But the book I keep reading, and which everyone should have, is On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee. It doesn’t contain recipes so much as offer a wealth of knowledge that helps me when I cook. I always want to know what exactly happens, and why it happens. Try finding that in a cookbook.

What do you like to make at home when you want to eat quickly and well?

Thai chilli by Master Chef Matt Follas. A super-simple dish that is on the table in no time. With a green chilli that you simply make yourself in the mortar. Fresh!

Which dish makes you lose all self-control?

Porchetta. As a sausage maker who buys his own pigs, I have access to beautiful mature pigs weighing more than 120 kilos carcass weight. Sometimes I let myself be tempted and remove the loin and belly in one piece, season the inside and roll the whole thing up like a roulade. You’re talking about a tree trunk of meat. It first goes into my smoker for hours (fortunately, I have a large one on a trailer), and then I crisp up the skin. A beautiful mix of crackling skin, firm meat from the loin and soft, succulent meat from the belly. I always eat far too much of it.

Text: Marjan Ippel
Image: Frank van Dijl