Herb Eckhouse Sent me a Cured Mangalitsa Shoulder

Herb Eckhouse, founder of La Quercia, sent me a cured Mangalitsa shoulder (cut paleta-style).

He tried curing one as an experiment.*


I wasn't expecting it, so I opened it in the store to take a look. The UPS Store employee marveled at the "piggy's foot."

It arrived in two pieces.

The golden paste covering the exposed meat it is Herb's version of sugna. He makes his with cornmeal.

The cured shoulder tastes great. The fat tastes like awesome Mangalitsa lardo. A lot of people would probably slice the shoulder and put it on flatbread (pizza). I'll probably eat most of it in slices, without any accompanying carbs.

* Herb only cured one shoulder, and it isn't for sale. If you want to buy cured shoulders from our pigs, Johnston County Hams sells them.

Seattle Dinner Party

As I've mentioned on this blog before, Mangalitsa brings amazing people together. The people who love to eat Mangalitsa and seek it out are often ridiculously quality-sensitive.

I was reminded of that Saturday evening.

My friend Chris had a dinner party. He's been mentioned on this blog before; he does molecular cuisine and is a Mangalitsa fan. If you are lucky enough to get invited to his place for dinner, say "yes!"

The menu:

• Assorted cheeses, olives, truffle and foie gras pate
• Pacific oyster with rice vinegar and ginger
• Grapefruit cured salmon
• Caramelized carrot soup
  
• Arugula, persimmon, pomegranate salad
• Pasta alla chitarra with pork sugo and porcini
• Mussels and clams with vermouth, cannellini beans and cavelo nero
• Spiced pork stew with polenta, root vegetables and gremolata
• Pumpkin cake with pecan streusel and maple ice cream

Chris's wording on the menu is modest. In reality:

• The oysters were shucked with liquid nitrogen and dressed with sauce beads produced with liquid nitrogen. The oysters taste better as a result.
  

• The carmelized carrot soup was produced in a pressure cooker. It tastes incredible, like butterscotch soup.
  

• All the pork was Mangalitsa, from my personal stash. I also brought some dehydrated Mangalitsa bacon for the first course.
  

• The ice cream was made with liquid nitrogen, giving it an incredible texture.
  

The story behind the wine was even better.

Two of the guests, Bill Fleckenstein (Fleckenstein Capital Management) and Chuck Miller owner/founder of Seattle Wine Storage, have excellent wine collections. Bill has an extensive white burgundy selection. Chuck collects reds. If they bring the wine to a party, you are covered, because they won't just "bring the wine", they'll provide an entertaining full-featured "wine service".

It started pre-dinner, with Chuck showing up early, bringing twenty bottles and glasses for everyone. Showing up early gave him time to come up with a plan on what bottles to serve with the different courses.

During dinner, Bill and Chuck opened the bottles, checked them for cork (TCA), explained to the guests the story of the wine, and ribbed each other about the wines. They've been tasting wine together for at least sixteen years. It is great fun to watch them interact.

When they detected cork, they moved on to substitutes. That's one of the reasons Chuck brought so many bottles.

Les Impitoyables

Bill brings his own glass to events and restaurants. Called Les Impitoyables, the uncompromising, its special shape allows him to enjoy wine more, because he can smell it better. It also means that he can detect faults like cork when others can't.

Les Impitoyables towers over the other glasses.

The glass is intimidating; look at it dominating the table!

If I was a sommelier and a guy showed up with that glass, I'd be praying that he brought his own wine: if he drinks my wine, he might find fault with it. If he brings his own wine and shares it, it should be amazing.

My favorites were the dessert wines. Bill brought a wonderful Sauterne.* Chuck brought a memorable Madeira.

Being the first to import and produce Mangalitsa pigs in the western hemisphere has resulted in me experiencing some amazing things. The foodies and paleo people (sometimes paleofoodies) I've met have been incredible.

* I like Sauternes and Tokaji - they are both made from grapes affected by noble rot. Having lived a lot in Central Europe, I drank Tokaji before I had Sauterne. So when I drink Sauterne, I'm reminded of Tokaji. Similarly, when I eat Iberico, it reminds me of Mangalitsa.

Scientific Conference on Mangalitsa Pigs

The Hungarians are putting on a scientific conference on lard-type pigs. The text starts with:

Do we know enough about the treasures borne by the Hungarian Mangalica pig?...

Clearly we don't.

I suggest we eat our way through a lot of them to answer the question.

Robb Wolf on Bacon and Paleo Diet

Jake Platt, owner of three CrossFit gyms eating Mangalitsa lardo.

In a recent podcast (from 10:53 on), Robb Wolf, author of The Paleo Solution, addresses the issue of whether or not people should eat bacon.

From what I've seen, a very small number paleo dieters avoid farmed animals and salt, figuring that Stone Age humans didn't eat that way.

Many paleo dieters I know use bacon as a staple fat. When people cut out dairy and vegetable oils, you see people heavily relying on things like coconut cream or bacon or lard.

Robb sounds generally pro-bacon, which is good (because it means he can enjoy Mangalitsa products) - as so many CrossFitters do.

My own Mangalitsa-based program (cyclic low-carb with resistance training) seems to be working.

Billionaire's Farm Buys some Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa Pigs

Swallow-bellied Mangalitsa sow

I recently sold some Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa breeding stock to a billionaire.

The people I dealt with are his farmers. He owns that they run for him.

When talking with one of the farmers, I asked who the guy was. She explained, "he owns such-and-such company". If I told you the name of the company, you'd recognize it; they've got locations all over the USA.

Besides breeding Mangalitsa pigs, the owner also breeds thoroughbred racehorses.

I think it is great that when thoroughbred racehorse breeding billionaires want to raise pigs, they choose the best: Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa.*

Also, I'm a bit horrified to note that I've been writing "Swallow-belly Mangalitsa" for years now, when, according to the pig references, the term is "Swallow-bellied Mangalitsa". It makes sense: we say "red-blooded American" and not "red-blood American".


* I can't help but be reminded of Ordell in Quentin Tarantino's "Jackie Brown", talking about how the AK-47 is the best gun (NSFW!)

Ruth Reichl Still Thinks Mangalitsa Lard is the Best Fat

Ruth Reichl is quoted in the Wall St Journal (Nov 5, 2011) as saying:

The nicest cooking fat I've ever encountered is Mangalitsa lard. Right now I make my pie crusts with half butter and half lard. It's amazing stuff: It's pure white, and it's not piggy the way so much lard is. And it's such a pleasure to work with. I've never had dough that was so soft and lovely.

You can order some here.

It is odd to think that I'm personally responsible for people like Ruth Reichl being able to live better lives via luxury lard.

Eat this Pig or Else

Zagat has a post about a Mangalitda dinner:

Tonight and tomorrow are the last two nights to enjoy whole Mangalitsa pigs at Corsino. Chef Tomas Curi procured 1000 pounds of the precious pork, a cross breed of wild boar and lard pigs, and a cousin to the treasured black-footed Iberian pigs of Spain. Curi’s creations are changing daily, but one can expect snout-to-tail dishes like roasted loin chops over fig wood with fresh figs; belly confit with chicory and citrus vinaigrette; and crispy pig’s ear salad with puntarelle and poached egg. Through November 4.

I'm not sure about their ManBearPig story, but the food sounds good.

If you want to read about the history of the Mangalitsa breeds, here's some accurate info.

Ba Bar - Mangalitsa Soup

Ba Bar has a Mangalitsa phở special. I got to eat it wtih Eric Banh (Ba Bar and Monsoon owner) and Art Nelson of the Mercury Wine Group.

After tasting some of mine, some guests sitting next to me also ordered it. They really enjoyed it.



You can see a slice of roast Mangalitsa shoulder in the upper left corner of the photo.