If Dionysus, the ancient god of partying, had been at the Slow Food Pittsburgh's Pinot & Pork party Tuesday night at Le Mont Restaurant, he would have felt right at home. The wine flowed like water while the guests noshed, nibbled and -- yes -- pigged out on some serious food.

	Alyssa Cwanger, Post-Gazette Elias Kazas of Rosslyn Farms eats from his plate full of pork at Tuesday's Pinot & Pork dinner. Click photo for larger image.

But Hestia, goddess of domesticity, would also have approved. A dozen of Pittsburgh's best chefs transformed that prosaic foodstuff -- pork -- into dishes that were elegant, ambrosial and, for the most part, accessible to the home cook.

To be sure, there was some fancy fare at the different food stations: Baum Vivant's Toni Pais offered pork tenderloin stuffed with plums and served cold with a fresh Pinot Noir jam; Lucca's chefs had Thai-braised pork on black bean blinis; Le Mont's Robert Vargo served and sliced whole roasted pig; Vivo's Sam Di Battista topped his sliced meat with a pesto sauce of pureed cilantro, garlic and mixed nuts; and Bruschetta's contribution was pork brasciole stuffed with gorgonzola bread crumbs and topped with a roasted apple demiglace.

By the end of the evening, people were staggering out the door, clutching their stomachs and smiling.

Of course it helped that the pork was mostly from Niman Ranch, gourmet purveyors of naturally raised livestock, along with nearby Wil-Den Family Farms in Jackson Center, Mercer County; and that the wines came from some of the premier vineyards in France and California owned by wine-and-spirit company Kobrand Corp. All for $50.

A joint effort by Slow Food, Kobrand, Niman Ranch and Le Mont, the Pinot & Pork Walk Around Tasting was part of a countrywide marketing campaign designed to call attention to the complexities of the famous pinot grape, which has gotten its share of publicity in the Oscar-nominated film "Sideways." Some guests raved over the jammy-yet-delicate Foley Pinot from Santa Maria Hills Vineyard, while others preferred the more acidic Louis Jadot Cote de Beaune-Villages burgundy. For those who couldn't decide, the Taittinger Cuvee Prestige Rose Brut Champagne served as a nice all-purpose substitute.

But pork also got its share of the limelight, in the hands of chefs from LeMont, Eleven, Casbah, Kaya, The Carlton, Laforet, Baum Vivant, Lucca, Bruschetta's and Vivo, along with Parma Sausage Products in The Strip, which proffered a dazzling platter of prosciutto, capicolla, sopressa Veneto and other cured meats.

The Carlton's pork loin with feta cheese risotto in a sun-dried cherry compote and sweet bourbon glaze was perhaps the most luxurious plate of the evening, but more adventurous gourmands preferred Casbah's offering of juniper-and-pepper-infused fresh bacon, featuring a plush vein of fat. Some recoiled, but big Burrito Group's executive corporate chef Bill Fuller deemed Casbah's fatty bacon the most cutting-edge dish.

"Believe me, when all of you have gone, that's the dish we chefs will be finishing off," he vowed.

Others took a more subtle, homey approach. Laforet chef Michael Uricchio's pork rillettes recipe called for rubbing pork shoulder with a blend of cracked whole cumin, peppercorns and sea salt. Uricchio smoked the meat lightly and then slowly simmered it for eight hours. Home cooks could smoke the meat on a covered grill for 15 minutes one evening, and the next day, before going to work, braise it in a 200-degree oven for eight hours -- or even a slow cooker -- in a chicken or veal stock.

For more drama, there's Kaya chef Brandy Stewart's recipe: Salt and pepper a bone-in (for flavor) pork butt and let it sit in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Brown it, drain the fat and braise, covered, in a 250-degree oven for 3 to 4 hours. The braising sauce is key. Stewart pureed a handful of garlic cloves, a dash of soy sauce, equal parts of pineapple juice, lime juice and orange juice and a few jarred chipotle chilies in adobo, and poured it over the pork, covering about half of the meat. After cooking, the meat is shredded, placed on flatbread, covered with a bottled hot sauce and sprinkled with grated Manchego cheese.

The evening's bottom line: Pork isn't just about bottled barbecue or applesauce, and, sometimes, it's worth seeking out a better-quality meat from a mail order source or trusted butcher, said Uricchio.

"The biggest thing about this kind of pork is that it doesn't taste like cardboard. It tastes like real food."