Austrian Cuts

Pork skirt steak - wrap/roll and braise or sous vide.

As previously mentioned, the Wiesners visited America to teach hobbyists, chefs and meat processors about Mangalitsa pigs. At the second class there were three meat processors specializing in cured pork products: one from a huge company, one from a medium-sized company and one from a startup.

Shoulder cut for cured ham.

After Pigstock 2010 classes, the Wiesners visited our processor, Swiss Meats, to show them how to tailor their operation to our Mangalitsa pigs. I’m happy to report that they’ve trained the staff at Swiss to cut pigs with seam butchery techniques. As a result, we have a number of cuts that are novel to America, but beloved in Central Europe.

Neck with rib meat rolled up. Stuff and roast, cure or slice for coppa steaks.

How the pigs are cut is very important, because it has such an impact on the quality of the final products. For instance, country-hams are dry because of how they are cut. Our new shoulder and ham cuts will allow our customers to produce hams that will be moister. Likewise, the staff at our processor has been trained to harvest the high-quality hard fat for salami or lardo - an operation that wouldn't typically be done in an American slaughterhouse.

Neck with rib meat - back side.

Tenderloin

Sirloin - ribs pulled, boned out.

To my knowledge, this is a first for the USA; I don’t know of any other USDA-inspected slaughterhouse able to turn out seam butchery cuts. Wooly Pigs is proud to make this happen. It is entirely in keeping with our spare-no-expenses approach to quality.

You can order these cuts from Foods in Season.

Rack loin, ribs pulled, spine removed.

rack loin, backside

Belly - ribs pulled, breastbone removed, beveled and ready to cure.

Shoulder, backside.

Ham - bones trimmed, beveled, minimal cuts in meat.

Ham

High quality fat (very hard) for lardo or salami.

Cheek meat - big muscle and little muscle. Membrane intact.

Tremendously flavorful - braise or sous vide.

The pocket - slice meat, stuff it and roast or sous vide.

Pocket backside - slice, stuff and roast or sous vide.