Pig Necks, Fatback, Lardo & Knight Salumi

Chef Bond's Lardo - Boston Globe

The Sausage Debauchery has photos and explanations of the Mangalitsa he's curing, including a neck.

Pig neck. Just think - when did you last see that at the butcher counter?

Wooly Pigs sells Mangalitsa necks, shoulders (paletilla-style, to Johnston County Hams), hams and other cuts appropriate for curing, like hard fat for making lardo or salami. We also - and proudly - make the best lard.

Rey Knight stunned by the fat quality.
Photo by Audrey Chin.

Just yesterday, Rey Knight of Knight Salumi ordered our hard fat from our next kills (you can see some of this fat here on p. 7, bottom right, behind the sirloin). You can use that to make lardo, like Chef Bond's, pictured above.

Mangalitsa lardo tastes great. The Wiesners export pepperoncini lardo to Japan, where it is a luxury, used to produce sushi. It is difficult to explain how much better Mangalitsa lardo tastes than the typical American lardo - but soon, thanks to Wooly Pigs and Knight Salumi - Americans will learn.

It is extremely unusual that fatback would be sold at a premium, and sought after by meat processors. People have spent decades trying to breed the fat out of pigs, because, in the mass market, pig fat is a money-loser.

The fact that a meat processor wants to buy the hard fat and make lardo is vindication that Wooly Pigs - a company built on the most fat-prone, best-tasting pigs, is making the right moves.