Everything Different than All Others

Chef Manfred Stockner with Mangalitsa lardo and whipped lard.

There's an article on an Austrian website about Wolfgang Pucher and his Mangalitsa pigs (translated article here).

He refers to the 5 A's, the saying, "Alles anders als alle Anderen" -- everything different from all others. With Mangalitsa pigs, that's true - they are completely different - the inconvenient hair, the small litters, the massive quantity of high-value fat, the incredibly meaty meat, etc.

Pucher has produced really great stuff, including the fatback used to make the lardo above. I ate that lardo, and it changed my life.




The article also mentions Chef Manfred Stockner, one of the best chefs in Austria, and a guy skilled at using entire Mangalitsa pigs in a fine dining setting.

Pucher mentions the difficulty of finding good processing for his pigs - a big problem for a small specialty producer. Reading about his problems, I get happy about Swiss Meats.

Mike Sloan of Swiss Meats, holding fatback.

Pucher says the Manglaitsa lardo is the best product to make from the pigs. I think I understand why he says that; the Mangalitsa produces fat very efficiently, and its fatback tastes ridiculously good.