Wooly Pigs

Sold!

2012-01-06T12:52:00.000-08:00

I've just executed an agreement to sell my pigs and brands and other intellectual properties to Mosefund, one of my oldest and best customers.

I'm almost out of the luxury pig and pork business - but I've still got meat to sell.

If you want to buy Mangalitsa, please call me at 253-508-3604. That includes lard, cured shoulders, raw meat, etc.

If you want live pigs - breeding stock or feeder pigs - I suggest you call Michael from Mosefund at 201-289-0210.

Part of my agreement with Mosefund includes a noncompete clause. I spent most of yesterday and the day before calling former live pig customers, explaining that for at least one year, I wouldn't be able to consult with them.

I've enjoyed helping all my customers and potential customers these last few years. Besides consulting with them, in cases where I couldn't serve consumers, or I felt a customer could serve them much better, I typically recommended the Mangalitsa products of others to the consumer, figuring it would be better for me in the long run. However, due to the noncompete, that stops right now.

Quick Hams

2012-01-03T09:35:00.000-08:00

Mangalitsa ham on foodista.com

These guys in London did their hams the fast way. If you follow this link, there's more info. Mangalitsa hams produced that way taste incredible, but take very little time to produce. There's less risk of spoilage.

Nevertheless, some people fetishize bone-in hams, unaware that unless you've got your process down, there's a lot of things that can go wrong.

Here's a recipe for quick hams from The Herbfarm's Chris Weber on foodista.com

On the topic of hams, I should mention that here you can buy bone-in Mangalitsa hams, from Johnston County Hams.

Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa in Costume

2012-01-02T23:51:00.000-08:00

I saw this absurd photo on Mosefund's twitter feed.

Big News

2012-01-02T04:35:00.000-08:00

Selling

Heath Putnam Farms is in the process of selling its pigs and brands to Mosefund.

There'll be more news about this in the future.

Victory Lap

I'm currently planning a trip to the Wiesner's in Austria. I'll get to learn (finally) how to cut up the pigs. I've cut up a bunch (along these lines), but I've never felt really good at it. By going when they'll be killing a bunch of pigs, I ought to get plenty of practice.

I've wanted to visit the Wiesner's farm for years, but running the business has prevented it. I think I view their farm the way Tolkein portrayed Lothlorien: a place of preservation that is "out of time". Right now, it is my idea of a perfect refuge.

After I come back, before I start my next thing, I'm thinking of doing a quick tour around the USA to visit customers (many of whom I've never met in person). Hopefully I'll be able to show them something.

New Mangalitsa Breeder Tyke Antonopolous

2011-12-30T13:55:00.001-08:00

Tyke Antonopolous of Missouri (near Springfield) just bought some breeding stock (4 gilts and 3 boars). His phone number is 417-276-3039.

He said his main intention is to sell breeding stock. He said he'll do a little meat, but given that he's isolated, he doesn't expect to sell much to restaurants.

If you've bought breeding stock from Heath Putnam Farms, don't be surprised if he contacts you. He wants to form an association of Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa breeders.

Tyke has been breeding livestock for years. He used to be very active in Boer goats.

It fascinates me to see this happening. Most of the breeding stock customers to date have been operations like Mosefund, Pasture Prime Wagyu or Revival Meats: breed specific meat companies.

Kerns, of International Boar Semen and Ken Kehrli (a Berkshire guy) are some of the established Iowa farmers that are adopting, if only experimentally, Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa pigs. It was a big deal to get them involved.

Tyke has two obvious markets: farms that bought Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa genetics and need fresh blood and farms wanting to acquire Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa genetics for the first time.

Favorite Bites 2011

2011-12-28T11:25:00.000-08:00

EDIT: added a new one from chowfather

A bunch of people have written up "favorite bites of 2011" articles. It is great to see that Mangalitsa made an impact on so many peoples' gustatory lives in 2011. I figure it is just the tip of the iceberg; a few people write such articles. Many more people had the same experience, and perhaps even noticed it, but didn't bother to tell others about the best things they ate in 2011.

Jeff #1's list includes a chop in Houston's Max's Wine Dive. I'm guessing Morgan Weber's Revival Meats sold the loin to them.

Ian Froeb liked one of my pigs, cured and served at Taste, in St. Louis.

Food writer Leslie Kelly liked our winning hog.

Jeff #2's list included our winning hog.

Chowfather - Mangalitsa Belly his dish of the year.

Just due to how long it takes to get a Mangalitsa pig to market and who was breeding them when, I'm fairly sure (but not certain) that at one point, the pigs used to produce the pork belonged to Heath Putnam Farms, and hence, to me.

One thing that's neat about the rapid expansion in Mangalitsa breeders (which is accelerating) is that come 2013 or 2014, most of it will have been produced by someone other than me.

Mangalitsa Hams in the News

2011-12-28T11:06:00.000-08:00

There's a nice story here about Johnston County Hams and their Mangalitsa hams.

I'm incredibly grateful that Johnston County Hams chose to produce Mangalitsa hams (and shoulders). Nobody else was willing to sink a fortune into producing a novel ultra-premium luxury food.

The story reminds me a bit of Germain-Robin; they made great brandies, equal to those of Europe. Unfortunately, Americans didn't really want that stuff. Unsurprisingly, I love Germain-Robin. Here's a section from an article about it:

Germain-Robin spends no money on advertising. Unlike Hennessy or Courvoisier, hip-hop artists don't give it "shout outs" in their songs. Moreover, being in Ukiah leaves Germain-Robin far off the trail of Wine Country tasting.
But in the glass, Germain-Robin brandies sing and dance. I tasted a range of the company's products along with some Hennessy XO Cognac, a well-regarded French product that costs $120. (See story page F6). The Hennessy XO smelled simple and uninteresting, and tasted rough and unbalanced in comparison.
It's not surprising that Germain-Robin tastes better than similarly priced French Cognacs when you learn how the two products are made. Both reflect the culture of their homelands.

Thanks Herb!

2011-12-22T11:13:00.000-08:00

I finished the cured Mangalitsa shoulder that Herb Eckhouse sent me yesterday. There might be a few grams more of cured meat and fat on that thing, but I didn't want to risk cutting myself to get it.

It was delicious. The fat was like lardo. The cured meat was an umami-bomb.

My favorite part of the shoulder was the shank. I used a very sharp knife to remove the meat off the bone near the hoof. After cutting out the sinew I was able to enjoy some very delicate meat. I cut that into paper thin slices and ate it piece by piece. The texture is great - they are stiff and a bit chewy but still yielding.

This stuff isn't for everyone. One acquaintance that I shared a piece with remarked that it tasted plain. Apparently the jerky-like texture fooled her; she was expecting it to taste peppery. She didn't appreciate it at all.

This experience reminded me of the first time I ate cured pork products in Spain, while switching planes. I had never eaten cured pork products that weren't spiced or smoked. At first they tasted odd. The more I ate them, the more I liked them. Later I ate products made with spices and felt they were over-spiced.

Ferran Adria and other Molecular Cuisine Experts Eat one of my Pigs

2011-12-05T13:50:00.000-08:00

Jason Bond's Mangalitsa fatback.

As described here, Ferran Adria (google him if you don't recognize him) visited the USA. He attended a special event at Harvard, along with Harold McGee and Nathan Myrvold.

At their special dinner, they got to eat some Mangalitsa from a that I sold to Jason Bond. I think you can see the pig (Tan) here.

That's neat. When you sell stuff, you never know what will happen to it.

Mangalitsa Lardo Fan Takes Second in Tower Race

2011-12-04T23:34:00.001-08:00

Kevin Crossman took second in a recent important tower race, despite being injured.

We like to do aerial acrobatics (tricks on rope) at his gym. When I visit, I bring him things like Mangalitsa lardo.

He's living proof that one can eat lots of animal fat and be super healthy.

Culinary Pen's Mangalitsa Tenderloin

2011-12-04T19:57:00.001-08:00

Mangalitsa tenderloin. Photo by Culinary Pen.

The blog Culinary Pen has a few Mangalitsa-related posts.

A recent one shows one way to prepare a Mangalitsa tenderloin. I think Mangalitsa tenderloin is a wonderful treat. I rarely eat it.

I sell that cut to chefs like John Cox of Casanova Restaurant or Philip of Nell's in Greenlake. Tenderloin is great cut for them because their guests are a bit conservative.

Mangalitsa Cocktail and Ground Control

2011-12-04T06:54:00.000-08:00

I bumped into Matthew Segal (r) twice yesterday - once at Ba Bar (owned by Monsoon's Eric Banh) and later that evening at a Capitol Hill bar.

He is opening Ground Control. It will serve alcoholic drinks and sandwiches. Matthew has worked as a chef. He has a good palate. I bump into him at Monsoon regularly.

Months ago I gave him some Mangalitsa lardo. Last night he proudly showed me his cocktail menu. As the photo below shows, Mangalitsa cocktails are on his menu.

For his opening, I'll be providing some meat. He'll roast it up. He'll special the Mangalitsa cocktail that night. It should be a lot of fun.

He says that Mangalitsa fat dissolves into the drink. It adds flavor and mouthfeel.

Herb Eckhouse Sent me a Cured Mangalitsa Shoulder

2011-11-14T14:23:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-14T01:16:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-09T09:41:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-09T01:04:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-07T00:22:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-04T19:36:00.000-07:00

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

2011-11-03T10:27:00.000-07:00

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

2011-11-03T10:08:00.001-07:00

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.

Bauchspeck

2011-10-29T10:47:00.000-07:00

I saw an article about a butcher making Mangalitsa products. The article's photo (above) shows him holding up an imposing slab of Bauchspeck (recipe).

It reminds me of "Decision Before Dawn", a film from 60 years ago (the two Germans look like they could be related) - and the fact that fatty bacon is a niche product now, not a staple.

Next week I'll be delivering a bunch of Mangalitsa bacon to Rainier CrossFit.

Today's typical fans of Mangalitsa bacon

CrossFitters like fatty bacon. E.g. Kurtis, owner of Rainier CrossFit, told me that he ate an entire pound of Mangalitsa bacon ends in one sitting, except a small bit that he gave his wife.

When he told me that, I couldn't help but think of bears. Although it is the same with wild boar - the man eats first.

Mangalitsa Pizza

2011-10-27T22:33:00.000-07:00

Domino's Pizza is doing Mangalitsa pizza on their special line of über fancy pizzas. That's great news! As their website explains:

Prestige Quattro
This Quattro features delicious ingredients such as Mangalitsa pork, known as Hungary's "edible national treasure", and tasty snow crab in white sauce seasoned with truffles. An extra special pizza especially for this winter. Limited offer/until the beginning of January 2012...

Unfortunately, you'll have to get it in Japan.

That reminds me - currently, the only restaurant in the USA (that I know of) serving Mangalitsa pizza is Domenica, in New Orleans. That's a John Besh restaurant.

Just a month ago, Serious Pie in Seattle had Mangalitsa pizza. They were buying the raw material and curing it into products. They've since switched to different raw material and stopped serving Mangalitsa on their pizzas, despite what this recent blog post might imply.*

I find it fascinating to see what decisions companies make. They are all acting in what they perceive to be their self-interest. You might think that Domino's would never buy "luxury pork" to put on their pizzas - yet they are. And given how big Domino's is, even if just .1% of their pizzas have Mangalitsa on it, they'll probably buy tons of Mangalitsa.

* When the chef changes, you should expect menu and purchasing changes. Currently, almost nobody in the American market (unlike say, the Spanish or Hungarian market) really needs luxury pork on their menu. It is an obvious thing to drop.

Restaurant Week

2011-10-27T18:59:00.001-07:00

Seattle has "Restaurant Week" now. During restaurant week, more than 100 restaurants offer a 3-course meal for $28.

Restaurants offer a special "value" menu in this period. Basically, they serve cheaper stuff. Servers brace themselves for a lot of work and low tips. Volume goes up, margins go down.

A lot of people are excited about restaurant week. Yet even if they eat at a nice restaurant, they aren't eating the food that makes that restaurant's reputation.

A lot of people who like to eat good food stay home during restaurant week, if only because their favorite haunts fill up with dilettantes.

My experience of restaurant week: Mangalitsa (aka luxury pork) sales crash during this period.

It reminds me of one person's comment on twitter, "Who wants some Mangalitsa Pork? The most rare/expensive pork money can buy. People hate ballers these days."

When I see Mangalitsa pork popping up in spoofs about pretentious restaurants, I cringe:

How does it work? Exactly 19 lucky souls (chosen at random from the membership rolls of Match.com and the New York City Municipal Credit Union) gather on the corner of Keelhaul Terrace and St. Flocellus Street in the Rottenwood section of Brooklyn exactly 19 minutes after sundown every evening (a security force of pensioned-off Guardian Angels enforces the temporal parameters), mill around aimlessly until the unmistakable rat-a-tat-tat of a driveby gang shooting is heard from two streets over, and then line up in ascending order of height along the curb while Blutwurst and his team race by on their vintage Schwinn Couriers and toss exquisitely crafted morsels (Mangalitsa pork-fat shooters, rattlesnake-and-cannabis hand rolls, rabbit tartare with catfish-liver crostini, and the like) — though never quite enough of them to go around —into the air above their heads. Hilarity ensues.

Ba Bar

2011-10-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: Chef Chris Michael says it will be on the menu next week.

Ba Bar in Seattle should have a Mangalitsa special on the menu any minute now.

On Monday I dropped by late and talked with server Mike (left) and bartender Fairness (right).

Mike used to serve at Monsoon. He's a big fan of Mangalitsa neck. In fact, he was working at Monsoon when I last ate Mangalitsa neck there.

Servers are very important. If they like the food and think their guests will like it, they'll market it to them.

At Monsoon, Mike discovered that telling customers with a sense of humor that Mangalitsa was "luxury pork" was the easiest way to sell it. We laughed about that.

Mangalitsa Processing Class

2011-10-23T21:55:00.000-07:00

There's some classes in New Jersey soon. Participants will slaughter, cut up, cook and cure Mangalitsa pigs.

The instructor is Christoph Wiesner.

Mosefund Farm is hosting the classes on October 28, 29 and 30.
There's another set of classes on November 4, 5 and 6.

You can read about Dr. Mike Eades's experience at a previous class at Mosefund here.

I talked with Michael Clampffer at Mosefund about their classes recently. They've still got openings. If you'd like to attend, you can reach him at 201-289-0210.

Monsoon's Mangalitsa Neck, Dr Mike and Mary Dan Eades & Kevin Crossman

2011-10-22T11:24:00.001-07:00

I had a neat dinner Wednesday night with Dr. Mike Eades, Dr. Mary Dan Eades and Kevin Crossman at Monsoon on Seattle's Capitol Hill.

We all chose the Mangalitsa neck, of course. That's a favorite cut of the Eadeses. Both Mike and Mary Dan know Mangalitsa inside and out.

Kevin and I were planning to do some aerial acrobatics Wednesday night, but then Mike emailed me that he'd be in town, and wanted to know if we could get Mangalitsa neck at Monsoon.*

Kevin was happy to join us. He's a paleo athlete, world-class stairclimber and big fan of the Eadeses.

It was great fun. The Mangalitsa neck was awesome!

* I was tasked with making sure that indeed, the Mangalitsa would be on the menu, because had it not been on the menu, we would have eaten somewhere else.

Tomostyle on Robert Cortez

2011-10-22T10:23:00.000-07:00

The blog Tomostyle has a post on Robert Cortez. It says:

I am still consumed with emotion during the Mangalitsa pork dish, moist short ribs glazed in a rich bone sauce with ginger lacquered grilled peaches that shine bright with end-of-summer sweetness. There is a silky ecru corn cob velouté that tastes just like corn cob, a perplexing delight of sweetness and earthiness that blossoms in the company of puffed black quinoa and hearty farro.

"Consumed with emotion" - sounds right.

Mangalitsa for Entertaining

2011-10-17T14:10:00.000-07:00

5 dishes with Mangalitsa

I've been cooking Mangalitsa for others lately.

I've been astounded at how forgiving this stuff is. Even overcooked, it still tastes really good.

If you cook things like crab or clams, you can overcook them and blow the meal. It is pretty much impossible to do that with Mangalitsa belly or even hunks of meat.

When I serve others Mangalitsa the first few times, it usually blows them away. It isn't like I'm particularly good at cooking this stuff. Although I've had a lot of practice, I normally keep it very simple.

Sweet potatoes fried in lard

I didn't prepare the meal above, but it is simple enough that I might have. Dinner was dehydrated bacon, portobello mushrooms fried in lard, sweet potato fries fried in lard, salad with Mangalitsa bacon, seaweed salad, pickled vegetables of various sorts and some sirloin cutlets. Delicious.

I'm reminded of Rebekah Denn's article (which won her a James Beard award), on Mangalitsa belly:

...This fat-laden cut — belly with some small ribs — is sinfully rich and salty-sweet. By the time it left its slow braise and joined some glazed turnips and Brussels sprouts on the plate it was practically pork candy, or the pig equivalent of foie gras. It was so tender and moist it fell apart at the touch of a fork.

Dining on any more than a small square of the meat would overwhelm any rational appetite — the serving shown in the picture, I realized after taking a few bites, would feed two or three. The foie comparison carries over to the serving size...

I am not usually one to eat the fat off any form of meat. It tastes foul, the texture is rubbery, and it’s terrible for your health. With the melting mouthfuls on this young pig, though, I get how people can nibble at it until their lips glisten.

I’ll be buying that cut and making this dish the next time I want to make dinner guests swoon.

When I have a make-or-break dinner, I do it with Mangalitsa, like the one shown above.

I don't bother wasting my time trying to find and then prepare beef or seafood. That's just way outside my comfort zone. I'm almost certainly going to screw that up and then feel like an idiot for not using Mangalitsa the first time around.

Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa Pigs in the News

2011-10-17T13:51:00.001-07:00

Bradley S. Pines/Special to the Kalamazoo Gazette

I found this Mangalitsa-related article today - a chef is buying pigs for a special dinner from my customer Dan Hiday. I'm happy to see Mangalitsas getting the respect they deserve.

It is too bad the journalist misspelled Mangalitsa.

I really wonder what these pigs would think if they knew how incredible they taste, and in what high regard quality-sensitive Americans hold them. To think that they get written up in the paper - yet they are only pigs. There's plenty of humans who won't ever make the paper.

My own understanding of pigs tells me that if they knew there was some really great food out there, they'd want to eat it. Even if it meant consuming other pigs.* Such is the Way of the Pig.

* pigs are eager cannibals. They'll eat their babies if they feel like it. They'll eat each other alive.

Garden and Gun on Fatback Collective

2011-10-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

Wright Thompson, participant-observer

Garden and Gun has an article by Wright Thopmson on the Fatback Collective competing with Mangalitsa pigs at Memphis in May.

Wright was embedded with the barbecue team. He stayed up all night with Sean Brock while the pigs were grilling.

I can remember him scribbling a lot on his notepad. I remember thinking to myself, "there's no way he's going to be able to read those notes later," because what he was writing looked absolutely unintelligible, and he seemed quite drunk.

Fatback Collective wins 3rd.

But reading the article, Wright has incredible recall. Reading his article, I recall it. That's how it happened.

It is great to think that someone can have a great time, be on a winning barbecue team, write about it, get paid and be incredibly likable.

Donald Link's Piglet

2011-10-10T13:58:00.000-07:00

James Beard Ward-Winning Chef Donald Link is a Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa breeder. Above is a photo of forager Ashley Locklear holding one of his piglets.

Chef Donald Link

The first crawfish I ever at at a crawfish boil were cooked by Donald. They were produced by his cousin Billy, a rice farmer and crawfish producer, who drove them to Memphis from south Louisiana. It was a wonderful experience.

Here's a video showing Donald talking about the Mangalitsa we competed with in Memphis In May.

Suisun Valley Farm's Pigs and Products

2011-10-06T18:30:00.000-07:00

Illtud has a post about Shane's pigs and products. I copied his photos here. You can find them and more on his blog.

I find it amazing that a bunch of ugly-looking, manure-covered pigs can produce such wonderful products.

It strikes me that the Mangalitsa pigs have no idea that they taste so much better than all the other pigs in the USA. They really produce some of the tastiest food made in the USA. If they only knew, it might go to their heads.

Another Wedge Oak Farm Photo

2011-10-04T10:20:00.001-07:00

Wedge Oak Farm's photos keep trickling in.

If you live near Tennessee and want Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa pigs, call Karen at at 615-766-3773 for more info.

Mangalitsa Pig Porter WINS!

2011-10-02T00:15:00.000-07:00

The Mangalitsa Pig Porter from Right Brain Brewery took home a GOLD MEDAL:

Likewise, Right Brain’s Mangalitsa Pig Porter took home the gold in the experimental beer category. The concoction, introduced this summer, is brewed using cold smoked Mangalitsa Pigs, and is just one of the several experimental brews offered by the Traverse City brewery.

Wedge Oak Farm

2011-09-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

We sold some Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa pigs to Tennessee's Wedge Oak Farm.

Some of her pigs will turn up at the Memphis in May. The Fatback Collective took a trophy in Memphis a few months ago.

Call Karen at 615-766-3773 for more info.

Girls Love Mangalitsa Soap

2011-09-26T03:07:00.000-07:00

If you are the sort of guy who gives girls presents, you might want to give them Mangalitsa soap.

I like Mangalitsa soap. It is slick and moisturizes the skin better than any other soap I've used. The slickness makes it great for shaving. However, my appreciation for the stuff is utilitarian; if the soap didn't work particularly well, I wouldn't use it.

My own little experience suggests that in general, girls like soap, the frillier the better.

The two young women pictured accosted me and asked if I had any soap for them, as if it was Halloween and I have to give them free stuff.* I hadn't given them any previously- a neighbor had. I'd given him the soap because he'd done me a favor.

This tells me that the soap from Lather Unusual is what girls crave.

Buy the soap.

* They are adults (old enough to smoke!), but somehow the soap gets them acting like little girls, expecting handouts. I gave it to them because I figured I'd get an easy blog post out of it.

Johnston County Hams - Cooking LIght

2011-09-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

Johnston County Hams just won an award from Cooking Light Magazine -- best in meat for their Mangalitsa hams (made from our raw material).

As they explain, "We tasted products from around the country to find the best of the best from small-production food artisans."

ORDER THE HAMS HERE

It is no surprise that Johnston County Hams won; they are using Mangalitsa pigs.

People Don't Know their Pig Parts

2011-09-22T09:07:00.000-07:00

CrossFitter enjoying some Mangalitsa lardo

There's an article that talks up lard and lardo. Wonderful!

But then rather than using a photo of lardo or lard, they illustrate it with a picture of a cured pig jowl (guanciale). That looks a bit gross to me - there's a lot of glands in it, and they look a bit gross.

I'm guessing 99.99% of the Telegraph readers didn't spot the incongruity between the photo and the article. Why would they? At the same time, It took me about 1/10th of a second to notice it and have a cascade of emotions about it.

Paleo Diet Update

2011-09-20T09:56:00.000-07:00

Me after starting a Mangalitsa/paleo diet

We took some photos of Spider Club. You can see me and others doing aerial tricks.

What I eat

I mention it here because I'm eating a lot of Mangalitsa (meat and especially fat), and am in the best shape I've ever been. You can see plenty of people who've radically improved their body composition similarly at robbwolf.com.

After Mangalitsa/paleo diet

Robb Wolf helped me construct a Mangalitsa-based paleo diet/exercise program. I eat a ridiculous amount of Mangalitsa (meat and especially fat). I'm fairly low-carb (150g/day or so on workout days, less on off days), so that means I need to eat lots of Mangalitsa fat - a bit like these guys.

At Robb's advice, I'm doing heavy lifting to get bigger and stronger. I'm around 12% body fat. I'm stronger and leaner than I've ever been.

Before Mangalitsa/paleo diet.

Here's a photo of me from 2007. I'm wearing a few layers, but you can see I was fat like a Mangalitsa back then.

It blows my mind that eating fat pigs can turn a two-legged fat pig into fairly lean and strong monkey.

Nancy Leson on Her Mangalitsa Pancetta

2011-09-15T06:44:00.000-07:00

Some people told me they couldn't download and play the KPLU file, so I reencoded it and put it here.

KPLU, our local radio station, has an episode online of "Food for Thought" where Nancy Leson talks about how wonderful her Mangalitsa pancetta (made from our raw bellies) turned out.

She made it at the class put on by Heath Putnam Farms, Serious Pie (a Tom Douglas restaurant) and Slow Food Seattle.

Basically, she made what she thought was the best bacon ever. Not a surprise for those who know Mangalitsa.

If you want to buy our Mangalitsa bacon, I recommend Chef Shop: 1425 Elliot Ave W, Seattle. 206-286-9988

If you want to eat Mangalitsa pancetta, you might try some of the Serious Pie locations in Seattle. Ask your server if anything on the menu is made from our Mangalitsa pork; the Serious Pie menu changes regularly.

If you want to buy some Mangalitsa pancetta, I recommend Salumeria Biellese (make sure you ask for the Mangalitsa pancetta). They've bought tons (literally) of our bellies, turing them into pancetta. I haven't tried any, but the lardo they made from our fatback was fantastic.

Erno Hollo's First Litter

2011-09-13T04:04:00.000-07:00

Dr. Erno Hollo (here's his veterinary clinic in Basking Ridge, NJ) just got his first litter of Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa pigs out of his sow.

I'm relived he finally got some pigs from her. Although we think we shipped her to him bred, it seems she aborted.

I've written about him on this blog before. Here you can see some of his beautiful pigs.

The fear was that she'd gotten fat and barren. But then, after being rebred at Mosefund, she had 7 piglets.
Here's an article that mentions Dr. Hollo and Mosefund Farm, another much bigger farm, that also bought pigs from Heath Putnam Farms.

Paleo Comfort Foods

2011-09-06T02:06:00.000-07:00

There's a book, "Paleo Comfort Foods". There's a website, paleocomfortfoods.com. I got sent an advance copy.

There's many recipes in it. If you like cooking, this will give you ideas on how to make paleo versions of non-paleo recipes.

My own cooking is very simple. I am curious to try a few of the easy recipes.

Pictures of Paleo Dieters

2011-08-21T21:43:00.000-07:00

Paleo dieters

Heath Putnam Farms donated a bunch of food to WOD Fest. We fed the volunteers and some competitors.

The food was paleo. Mike Porter, the guy behind WOD Fest and WOD Club, prepared some fresh ham and cheeks. We also served slices of cured Mangalitsa loin (aka "loin bacon"), roasted sweet potatoes and watermelon slices.[1]

People particularly liked the Mangalitsa. They hadn't eaten it before; the first time is usually amazing. Now we've got photos showing people eating the stuff for the first time.

Child eating Mangalitsa for the first time.

I asked people if they were paleo. Many said yes.[2] I took photos, shown below, of the self-reported paleo dieters.

Many of the self-reported paleo dieters, particularly the guys, said they eat high-fat and low-carb.[3]

Athletes need a lot of calories, so when they eat low-carb, they necessarily eat high-fat. CrossFitters who eat paleo and low-carb show that it is possible to eat a lot of fat - an amount of fat that most Americans consider excessive - and be fit.[4]

So below are some photos of paleo dieters, many of them who consume what typical Americans would consider ridiculous amounts of fat.

Besides the free roasted Mangalitsa ham and lard-poached cheeks which they ate on the spot, I gave out some free lard and lardo to take home. Many of them are pictured eating the Mangalitsa or holding Mangalitsa products like lard and lardo:

Eating fatty roasted Mangalitsa ham

Eating sweet potatoes

[1] Mike put a rub on the ham and slow-roasted it. Then he sliced it up. The day of the event we reheated it in an electric skillet. He confited the cheeks in Mangalitsa lard. We served that out of crock pots. People loved Mike's cooking. He emailed me later:

I wanted to thank you for coming out to the WOD event yesterday and your meat was a hit. Everyone who ate it loved it. Thanks a lot and look forward to doing it again next year.

[2] All the paleo dieters I asked said they knew of Robb Wolf. Many said they listened to his podcast.

[3] One person, pictured above, explained that since switching from a standard American diet to a paleo diet, she went from 230 pounds to 155 pounds. Another woman is 40 pounds lighter.

[4] One of the athletes explained that since going paleo and low-carb (and high-fat), his triglyceride levels and blood pressure improved.

Local Food, Local Business Leaders

2011-08-19T19:16:00.001-07:00

President Obama in Guttenberg. Photo from Telegraph Herald.

I've written on this blog about the dishonesty of the food business. People who sell food lie to consumers. Consumers want the lies; it helps them to feel better about themselves.

The lies get particularly egregious when it concerns things that people can't detect with their senses. E.g. was this pig fed antibiotics during its life? Did the meat in my ham or bacon get produced indoors or outdoors? Did the farmer that sold me the meat even raise the pig?

My knowledge of how Mangalitsa pork is produced in the USA, and how it gets sold, and what people say about it has given me special insight: people lie a lot. They pretty much lie whenever it will benefit them and they think they can get away with it.

I find this phenomenon fascinating.

I was reminded of this because a guy who raises pigs for me got to see the Presidential motorcade.* The President visited his town and the press wrote about it. They wrote things that he considered misleading, and he told me about it.

I should be clear: this blog is apolitical. It is mostly about Mangalitsa pork. I'm mentioning this single incident because it provides a great opportunity to see how "local" is often a fiction, and how the press goes along with it. You can see how people desperately want to believe in "local".

So the President goes to the restaurant in Guttenberg, Iowa and met with some businessmen. The press took photos and the stories went out. The photo is from the above meeting. Here's two articles about the event - but you can find hundreds like them across the web:

Please note the word "local". You could easily read that and figure he met with Guttenberg feed and fertilizer dealers, or the guy from a nearby dairy. He must have gone to Guttenberg to meet with Guttenberg businessmen, right? Why else would you go all the way out to Guttenberg, Iowa? Guttenberg isn't the middle of nowhere, but it might as well be, if you live in Washington, DC.

"Local" businessman drives 253 miles to eat at "local" restaurant.

Well, as it turns out, the closest "local business leader" was 59 minutes away. A bunch of them were from halfway across Iowa. You can see that if you look at the map, and see where Guttenberg is in relation to the towns listed. I've put, after the towns, the travel time to Guttenberg in parentheses:

Mid-morning, the president was joined at Rausch's Cafe in Guttenberg by five Iowa business owners representing the IT and agriculture industries. At the breakfast was Michael Sexton of ManureWorks LLC in Rockwell City (3 hours 34 minutes), Joel Althoff of Infrastructure Technology Solutions in Monticello (1 hour), Kenneth Hach of Anemometry Specialists in Alta (4 hours, 22 minutes), Eric Unruh and Fern Unruh of Rolling Hills Greenhouse in West Union (59 minutes).

The closest people came from about an hour outside of Guttenberg. It wouldn't surprise me if the Guttenbergers feel slighted. If only they'd invited one token local, from 5-10 minutes away, you could use the word local without qualification.

In reality, business leaders drive halfway across the state of Iowa to meet with the president in a "local" restaurant. The press takes the photos of the meeting and the story goes out. Most readers just look at the photo and quickly forget the whole thing. Everyone is happy.

This phenomenon happens over and over again. The more you know a topic, the more you spot this phenomenon.

In my own case, I know that "local food" is a lot different than what people imagine, and that it is because want to be deceived. That's why things are this way.

My recommendation about what to eat, given the dishonesty of the food business hasn't changed: eat what tastes good. Don't pay more for food just because someone tells you they were produced in a "better" way. Only pay more for stuff that actually performs better, in some way that you can measure.

* It started with him standing by the side of the road when the President's motorcade came through. As usual, the President was protected by the Secret Service. When they drove through town in the motorcade, they had some of their guns pointed at the crowd, ready to shoot. He didn't like having guns pointed at him; he got nervous.

He's wondering if Bush's or Clinton's motorcades typically rolled with rifles pointed at spectators. He saw Bush Jr, Clinton, Bush Sr and Reagan's motorcades in Iowa, and those of Al Gore, but he never saw them pointing guns at spectators.

WOD Fest Planning

2011-08-17T22:40:00.001-07:00

WOD Fest's Mike Porter with our Mangalitsa products.

I met with Mike Porter and supplied him with the products for this Saturday's WOD Fest.

He's got belly, ham, cheeks and bacon*. He'll use some of the excess fat to prepare tubers and other vegetables. WOD Fest Volunteers and judges will eat excellently.

Before I met with Mike, I met with Aaron Matson of Bellingham's Copper Hog. Aaron uses our Mangalitsa, both at the Copper Hog and events like the recent Burning Beast.

I asked Aaron how Mike should go about things. He quickly laid out a cooking plan, which will hopefully allow Mike to do well while keeping stress low.

Eating Mangalitsa lardo while planning global domination.

I like meeting people who make things happen; not many people are able to put their stamp on the world. The neatest thing about being in the Mangalitsa business is meeting innovators.

* cured loin. Typical bacon would be cured pork belly.

Lard Customer

2011-08-17T22:09:00.001-07:00

Athlete B holding five pounds of lard.

Here's a photo of an amateur endurance athlete* who lives on Mangalitsa lard and other animal fats, including butter.

Let's call him B.

His diet, exercise and physical stats have been constant for at least several months: he weighs 145# and is 5'10". He eats protein - typically eggs, fatty fish or meat - with every meal. He eats no grains at all: no wheat, rice, rye, barley, etc. His carbs are sweet potatoes and potatoes, which he eats pretty much every day.** He runs aproximately 50 miles a week.

He's a big fan of Robb Wolf and Kurt Harris.

Unlike the typical paleo eaters I know, he's not doing CrossFit or resistance training. Nevertheless, he's fit, eating lots and lots of Mangalitsa fat, healthy and happy.

* Here's another one - a real beast.

** Eating his carbs that way allows him to get carbs without eating gluten. He says self-experimentation has taught him that he does best without grains.

WOD Fest - Seattle August 20

2011-08-15T20:52:00.000-07:00

Jake Platt, owner of 3 Seattle-area CrossFit gyms,
enjoying Mangalitsa lardo.

Besides foodies, paleo/primal eaters (like Jake Platt, pictured above) love Mangalitsa. As I've explained before in this blog, to save the Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa breed, we need extra-healthy and attractive people eating lots of Mangalitsa fat.

Hence, CrossFitters may ultimately help to save Mangalitsa pigs in the USA: many of look great and eat paleo/primal. In general, even if they don't eat paleo, they will eat fatty meat.*

Therefore, Heath Putnam Farms will be providing Mangalitsa to WOD Fest Seattle.

As the WODFest site explains:

WODFest is a CrossFit competition for all levels; test your metal against the best of the best in the Firebreather division, or if you do Prescribed weights compete in the RXed division, and if your a Master (35+ every 5 years) compete against athletes your own age in the Masters division(s).

Besides jowl bacon (for cooking up some starch, likely sweet potatoes), there'll be Mangalitsa belly and some meatier cuts.

Meal planning was interesting: we've got to feed a lot of people. I figure sweet potatoes or yams are the obvious way to leverage fatty stuff like jowl bacon, because Mangalitsa fat plus carbs is a winner. People on a paleo diet typically vacuum that stuff up.

Mike Porter (WOD Fest organizer) is a bit dubious about the belly, but my experience (see the video below) says it will get eaten. Of course, any lean Mangalitsa is going to get eaten; with Mangalitsa pigs, there's never enough lean meat, because its quality is off the chart.

Here's some paleo eaters enjoying a Mangalitsa belly:

Melissa McEwen's video.

*Vegetarian girls who do yoga, even if they look good in yoga pants, aren't going to save the Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa breed. We need thriving people who love high-quality animal fat.

George House & Mangalitsa Pizza

2011-08-15T13:32:00.000-07:00

I met with George House of Csarda Haz. He was in Seattle.

I said we could go to Monsoon and get Mangalitsa neck, or to Serious Pie, where some of the pizzas might have cured Mangalitsa products on them.*

He chose Serious Pie, so we met there and got the soft egg and guanciale pizza. It was great. We had a lot of fun.

Csarda Haz was my first customer for breeding stock. They've grown their pigs out and had their first litters.

The put some videos up on YouTube, which I've embedded:

The pigs sure are fun to watch.

I'm looking forward to visiting Csarda Haz when they've got products and tasting them.

*When I go to Serious Pie, I ask the chef which pizzas have Mangalitsa products. In the past I've asked the servers, but sometimes they don't know, or they say different things than what the chefs say. That's just how things are.

Project Mangalitsa - Paleo Diet

2011-07-22T17:20:00.000-07:00

Heath Putnam sending Robb Wolf a Mangalitsa care package.

Robb Wolf is the author of the Paleo Solution. I just sent Robb Wolf a variety of Mangalitsa products: ham, lardo, lard, jowl speck and soap.

I'm tired of hearing people talk about how Mangalitsa fat will raise their cholesterol, make them get fat, etc. I can't tell you how frustrating this is; some of the healthiest people I know literally live on animal fat. You try keeping pace with them during a workout and you'll be on the floor gasping for breath.

So sometime in the near future I'll be starting a Mangalitsa-based paleo diet.* My goal will be to show that it is possible to literally live on Mangalitsa fat and be quite healthy.

I figured I might as well send Robb Wolf the food I'll be using to construct the diet.

* pigs are neolithic. So maybe this diet should be called "paleo-inspired".

Rufus Brown - American Ham Hero

2011-07-22T14:20:00.001-07:00

Rufus Brown (l) learning from Christoph Wiesner how to eviscerate a Mangalitsa at Mosefund Farm. photo: Rey Knight.

The Mangalitsa hams from Johnston County Hams recently beat out Italian proscutti and Iberico and Mangalica hams from Spain in head-to-head competition. If you live in the USA and want to eat the best-tasting hams, the choice is clear.

I found this out yesterday from Rufus Brown, curemaster at Johnston County Hams.

I had heard (and remarked on) Rufus winning a Sofi award for his hams. I had assumed this was a domestic-only competition. I figured Rufus's only competition would be American. Because he's the only one with Mangalitsa hams, and given how much better Mangalitsa is than other pork, I figured he'd win, in a Bambi Meets Godzilla sort of way.*

It turns out that the Sofi awards includes foreign producers. E.g. Italian prosciutti and Spanish products, including Iberico and Mangalica hams.

Rufus's Mangalitsa hams beat all the Italian prosciutti, the Iberico and Mangalica hams. His hams are the ones that won the award. Theirs didn't win.

Additionally, various guests informed Rufus that they'd tried all the hams in the place and that Rufus's was the best.

More telling: some Spanish guys said they were happy he wouldn't be selling those hams in Spain.

If you are an American who has, in the past, been embarrassed at how American food stacks up relative to the competition, you can feel a little more proud now, thanks to Rufus's efforts.

Rufus is America's ham hero.

* this explains why we were confident about taking more than 3rd place at the world championship of barbecue at Memphis in May.

Mangalitsa Pork in Hong Kong

2011-07-21T03:35:00.000-07:00

Mangalitsa pork makes this review of a Hong Kong restaurant. It reads like the reviewer loved the stuff. Emphasis (and currency conversion) is by me:

The ‘pig in sheep’s clothing’ ($270 HKD -- $35 USD) is another fun offering. A fatty slab of Mangalitsa pork belly is slow-cooked to show off its wagyu-like qualities. The meat is then garnished with curls of crispy pork crackling and an insanely satisfying lasagne laced with plenty of cheese and tender pork cheeks. This is definitely a keeper.

Waves Pacific has done a great job selling Mangalitsa in Hong Kong, especially considering that it is a terrible time to be selling a super-premium luxury product like Mangalitsa pork.

Various Pork News Items

2011-07-16T03:05:00.001-07:00

Want some raw bacon?

Raw Bacon

Raw bacon from Herb Eckhouse (La Quercia). Herb is making pancetta (aka Bauchspeck). He's marketing it as "raw bacon". Herb is a very smart guy. I think he's doing this to try to take the product mainstream.

I should mention: Herb buys Mangalitsa from time to time.

Although Herb isn't using Mangalitsa pigs to make this product (yet!), I respect him for trying to sell ready-to-eat bacon to Americans. It has been a long time since shelf-stable bacon was a staple in America. From what I've read, even back then, Americans liked to cook the stuff[1]. So wish Herb luck!

This issue demonstrates how difficult it is to sell new food to people. E.g. jerky is raw meat. Americans buy that. But a bunch will probably never even try "raw bacon". Maybe if he called it "bacon jerky" the people would buy it[2].

I suspect Herb is using pork from Tamworth breed pigs[3] because he wants a breed-specific product that tastes pretty good, without it being too fatty[4]. You can see a wonderful blog post comparing "raw bacon" from Mangalitsa pork and Tamworth pork on this food blog by onevanillabean.

As recently as 1951, a lot of Americans (and Germans) knew what this "raw bacon" was, and considered it a staple. Many chefs and butchers will eat raw bacon; they aren't afraid of getting sick. I've eaten raw bacon - the Mangalitsa bacon from Chef Shop was so good that once I started, I couldn't stop.

So three cheers for raw bacon!

I would suggest that Herb tell people to cut it thin and melt it on flatbread (pizza) or toast. Restaurants that make lardo, pancetta and guanciale from Mangalitsa pigs (e.g. Serious Pie in Seattle and Domenica in New Orleans) do well that way.

I've written a lot about Bauchspeck on this blog. The fact that Herb is trying to sell it is a great thing.

GMO pigs

Researchers have used genetic technology to develop some improved pigs. That's big news. Even if we ban that technology, you can bet the Chinese will adopt it.

China's Porkflation Problem

The Atlantic Monthly has a neat article on China's pig situation. There's record high pork prices causing trouble. Record high corn prices have farmers refusing to jump into pig production. The reasons given in the article make a lot of sense. E.g. "It's not like we can just instantly raise pigs when prices are high, it takes time."

Notes

[1] probably because it was filthy and/or adulterated, making it shelf-stable but not ready-to-eat.

[2] This phenomenon shows you how difficult it is to convince people to try new foods. Just as with pigs, you want them to do something that's good for them. Often they respond by wanting no part of it.

[3] The article mentions that the Tamworth is a "bacon-type" breed. To some extent, it still is (despite the breed changing to stay popular), because the modern version of the breed has small hams.

Tamworths efficiently product bacon, just as modern chickens efficiently produce chicken breasts. That doesn't mean that Tamworth pigs produce the best-tasting bacon, just as modern chickens don't produce the best-tasting chicken breasts.

Mangalitsa pigs are most efficient at producing lard, but they do also produce the best meat (and their fat is the best too - the catch is that Mangalitsa costs more than all aternatives).

[4] the fact that Herb won't use Berkshire pork tells me he probably doesn't want Mangalitsa bellies, as they'd only be less lean.

Kid Eating Mangalitsa Tenderloin on 4th of July

2011-07-13T15:32:00.000-07:00

This kid got to eat some Mangalitsa tenderloin on the 4th of July.

The picture shows her eating her first bite.

It is neat to think that bringing Mangalitsa pigs to the Western Hemisphere means that some lucky kids will get to have childhood memories of Mangalitsa.

Wooly Pigs is for the children.

Do Mangalitsa Pigs Work for Roasting?

2011-07-13T15:25:00.000-07:00

A customer who recently got some breeding stock wrote to ask:

The boss wants to have a pig roast at his house and was wondering if these pigs would work for roasting. We have some 200 to 250 pound barrows and thought I would consult you on this. If you could let me know what you think that would be greatly appreciated.

My reply:

Please tell your boss Mangalitsa pigs definitely work well for roasting.

As this video shows, a rookie barbecue team took 3rd place at Memphis in May in whole hog barbecue with unsauced Mangalitsa pigs:

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/memphis-bbq-championships/2zw6yei7

Pork Chops with Salsa Verde Topped with Unseasoned Lardo

2011-07-07T17:45:00.000-07:00

Melissa, the new chef at Monsoon sent me this photo of her pork chops with the message:

Pork chops with salsa verde topped with unseasoned lardo (to be baked in the oven).

Good Luck Eric!

2011-07-07T15:59:00.001-07:00

Eric Banh (guy in the middle) just opened Ba Bar in Seattle. His Monsoon regularly serves our coppa. Here's Ba Bar on Twitter, and here's an article about the new restaurant.

We are trying to figure out how we can get him using Mangalitsa pork in Ba Bar.

Orcas Island Pigs

2011-07-07T14:58:00.000-07:00

Inn at Ship Bay has some new Mangalitsa-cross pigs. As mentioned before, owner Geddes Martin is really into them.

Geddes is one of the few restauranteurs in the Pacific Northwest that's currently running a farm-to-table restaurant that serves Mangalitsa.*

To get to his place, you have to take a 90-minute ferry from the mainland. That implies an overnight stay - but it is worth it.

* Willows Inn should have stuff from a Mangalitsa they killed a few months ago.

New York Times on Nitrates in "No-Nitrate" Products

2011-07-02T17:51:00.000-07:00

Approximately 3.5 years ago, I wrote on this blog about the fundamental fraud of no-nitrate cured products (post #1, post #2). This was the more substantial post on the topic.

By far the best essay I've seen on the topic it is, "Nitrite-free Where Does the Truth End."

The New York Times has just written about the issue; that's great. Now US foodies will get savvy about it.

Little Water Cantina's Wild Boar Sandwich

2011-06-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

Laura Wilkinson eating Little Water Cantina's
wild boar/Mangalitsa sandwich.

Little Water Cantina in Eastlake has a neat sandwich: wild boar (from an Oregon game farm) smoked and sauted in Mangalitsa lard. The bread is from Macrina.

Wild boar fried in Mangalitsa lard taco

They served me some.* It was great - I devoured it. I got some tortillas and a little dipping sauce and cabbage. It was nice to get cabbage instead of lettuce. It reminded me of being in Germany and getting döner kebab.

Wild boar sandwich

As mentioned on a Seattle food blog, they've got other stuff fried in Mangalitsa lard, which I've tried before. It really makes stuff tastes great.

I just delivered them a bunch of raw fat. By rendering their own lard, they'll save money, get their lard exactly how they want it and get the greaves. I advised them on how the most quality-sensitive people I know render lard.

In general, Little Water Cantina and Monsoon, both Mangalitsa customers, have the same problem: because they serve ethnic food (Mexican and Vietnamese respectively), people expect their stuff to be cheap and filling. Foodies tend to stay away from such places, even though they'd like the food if they tried it. At the same time, the customers who demand lots of rice (and rock-bottom prices) will leave feeling they didn't get enough food.

* I thought I was going to go to the opening of Eric Banh's new restaurant, so I just asked for a sample. Eric's place didn't open that night. My new rule: if someone offers me free Mangalitsa-based, eat all of it.

St. Louis Slow Food Event

2011-06-28T01:26:00.000-07:00

If I'd been in St. Louis, I would have been happy to attend this Slow Food event. The third course featured our pork belly.

It looks like a small piece of Mangalitsa belly. But like foie gras, a little bit is plenty.

Cured Mangalitsa Products Class at Serious Pie

2011-06-27T21:54:00.000-07:00

Me talking about Mangalitsa.
Photo by Sonja Groset

Serious Pie (a Tom Douglas restaurant) and Heath Putnam Farms did a class with Slow Food Seattle yesterday. Students started the process of making their lardo pancetta from Mangalitsa pigs. It takes time to make cured products, so they couldn't finish yesterday.

Students got to salt and herb their fatback and bellies. They took the lardo home, because all they have to do is stick it in their fridge to finish it. Serious Pie offered to dry out their bellies in their temperature and humidity-controlled tent, so people will pick that up later when it is done.

I provided a small neck so people could taste Mangalitsa. After I showed the students the raw neck, Kenan Fox, Serious Pie's curemaster cooked it up with a little salt and pepper so that people could eat some.

After making the products, Serious Pie fed people a multi-course lunch. Most courses had some Mangalitsa products. I recall cured neck, lardo and sausage. Most students thought the lardo pizza tasted the best. Hopefully they'll know what to do with their own lardo.

One nice thing the Serious Pie staff did was measure out the salt in advance. People got a few different containers of curing salt and regular salt for the belly and the fatback. That made things easy and stress-free.

Hopefully the word will get out that Serious Pie is serving really great fast food featuring cured Mangalitsa products.

Chef Donald Link - Memphis In May - Fatback Collective

2011-06-27T18:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a video about the Fatback Collective competing in Memphis in May.

Zsa Zsa vs Kinga

2011-06-25T16:18:00.000-07:00

News from Csarda Haz: Kinga is a better mother than Zsa Zsa.

Zsa Zsa is more nervous. Also, she only had 3 pigs, versus Kinga's 9.

Zsa Zsa better watch it or her name will get changed to kolbasz.

John Besh's First Mangalitsa Piglets

2011-06-25T12:48:00.000-07:00

Chef Erick Loos holds one of John Besh's Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa piglets. Thankfully the piglet has no idea what Erick Loos does with Mangalitsa pigs.

This is a big deal - John Besh has been into Mangalitsa pigs for a while. Now he's breeding them. These are the first farrowed in Louisiana.

There's 9 piglets. You can see how fat that gilt is. There's no visible muscle to her; she looks like a tick.

The gilt looks ugly. She'll probably bite you too, if a pig squeals.
You can see how small thepigs are, and how they are striped like wild boar.

I've never seen this guy before. He's wearing muck boots, so I'll guess he's their herdsman.

When I see his clothes, I think, it must be very hot there. There's no way I want to wear shorts and a T-shirt in a pig pen. Google says right now it is 89F (32C) with 58% humidity.

Little Water Cantina

2011-06-25T01:43:00.000-07:00

I visited Little Water Cantina tonight and talked with Shannon the owner.

The Mangalitsa lard is working out well. They've got a new item - a wild boar sandwich. Before they put the wild boar in the bread, they fry it in Mangalitsa lard.

That little Mangalitsa fat dramatically improves the taste of the final product. Any side-by-side comparison makes that clear.

I explained that Mangalitsa pigs are a lot like wild boar, except ridiculously fat-prone and tame. You can see some of the similarities if you look at videos.

Chef Shop

2011-06-25T01:38:00.000-07:00

Chef Shop is still selling our Mangalitsa, particularly the bacon.

I visited there today, dropping off a lot more bacon.

Chef Shop Store Location & Hours

1425 Elliott Avenue West
Seattle, WA 98119

Store Hours:
Monday through Friday: 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Saturday: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Watch This Video!

2011-06-23T13:38:00.000-07:00

This is from the Today show. You can see Sam Hazen of Veritas showing how he cooks up our Mangalitsa pork.

He gets it from DeBragga.

Berkshire Pork Producers

2011-06-22T00:41:00.000-07:00

It looks some of Iowa's mainstream Berkshire pork producers might acquire Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa genetics and start producing Mangalitsa pigs.

When it happens, things will get interesting.

Berkshire pork producers are really good at what they do.

Weston A Price Meetup

2011-06-17T02:43:00.000-07:00

I went to a Weston A Price meetup and heard ND Tim Gerstmar talk about gluten. It was neat to ask questions of a guy who knows a lot about that stuff. I now understand why some people - e.g. Robb Wolf - advise people to eat tubers, skipping grains entirely.

That recommendation (along with dire warnings of leaky gut syndrome due to glutins, lectins, zein and other chemicals found in grains) always seemed a little extreme. It doesn't seem so extreme to me now.

I brought some Mangalitsa lardo to the event People ate it right up.

What's interesting is that CrossFitters, many of whom try to eat a paleo diet, don't vacuum up the lardo. In contrast, Weston A Price members, are pretty quick to try and eat the stuff.

There were a lot of Europeans there. Italy, Moldova and Czech Republic were represented. They were all very lardo-friendly.

The Italian said that the lardo in Italy was more greasy. I explained that yes, thanks to me, the USA sometimes produces better lardo than found in Italy.

My Other Blog & Twitter Feed

2011-06-14T12:15:00.000-07:00

I've got a new blog for things unrelated to Heath Putnam Farms. It is over here.

I've got an additional twitter feed too, for non-HPF things.

First Mangalitsa Experience

2011-06-14T08:14:00.000-07:00

This time in Albuquerque:

Wooly Pig was a special menu item (May 13-14) that we lucked into when we arrived at JJ101 for Chesapeake Bay soft shell crabs. This piece of pig had the most intense flavor of anything I have ever had from other pigs, including some of those peanut-fed porkers from Virginia. Ordered medium rare, it arrived with a slightly charred outside, very tender inside, and some of the most delicious meat fat that I have ever encountered. Superb.

...

Each of these dishes could easily win best-of-show in any competition, Simple ingredients expertly combined into unbelievably good tastebud treats.

Typical response to our Mangalitsa pork: better than anything I've ever had.

One interesting thing about people is that they can read that something is going to be incredible, but until they experience it first hand, they still doubt that it can be so great.

It doesn't matter how much press they read, from however many sources. There's nothing like first-hand experience.

Csarda Haz's First Litter of Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa Pigs

2011-06-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

Csarda Haz of Davis, CA has videos showing their first litter of Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa pigs.

I sold them some breeding stock a while ago.

If you want to buy some pigs, call Gar House at 530-757-2294 or 760-522-7777.

It is funny that just when I was thinking about Imre, the Hungarians call about their Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa pigs.

I suggested to them that they get licensed by the state to kill and process the pigs. It would be great if Hungarians (and non-Hungarians) could order half or whole Mangalitsa pigs, turned into traditional Hungarian products - by pigs bred, fattened, slaughtered and processed all on the same farm - by them. There's two reasons:

Killing the pigs on the farm means one can arrange a zero-stress kill.

When the producer manages things from start to finish, he's got the incentives and ability to optimize everything to meet the needs of his customers. This is why I don't like small slaughter plants. Custom butchers typically suck too; what sort of guy spends his life killing animals, cutting them up, and making products out of them, for ungrateful farmers and other cheapskates? The sort of guy who can't hold a decent job.

Chef Shop Selling our Stuff - Seattle Retail Location - JOWL BACON!

2011-06-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

You can buy our meat retail in Seattle at Chef Shop!

Chef Shop has been selling our lard mail order for a long time now. Now you can get bacon, meat, lardo, etc.

I took in a bunch of jowl bacon. If you've been missing the jowl bacon, you can go get it at Chef Shop. If you've never had it, you are in for a treat - because Mangalitsa jowl bacon is the best.

Chef Shop Store Location & Hours

1425 Elliott Avenue West
Seattle, WA 98119

Store Hours:
Monday through Friday: 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Saturday: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Heath Putnam Farms (better known in Seattle as "Wooly Pigs") isn't selling at the U-District Farmers' Market anymore.

If you go in to buy stuff, please tell the Chef Shop staff how happy you are that they are carrying our stuff.

The Chef Shop owners, Tim and Eliza, are very hospitable. If they are in the store when you go, I suggest you visit with them and ask them about your favorite food topics.

I first became acquainted with Chef Shop when one my loyal jowl bacon customers gave me an incredible Christmas present from Chef Shop - a Sorrento Lemon Panettone.

Imre Mandoki R.I.P.

2011-06-11T05:34:00.000-07:00

A friend sent me the above photo of Imre Mandoki, deceased 2003.

He was a good friend. His restaurant, the Hungarian Sausage Factory in San Francisco's Bernal Heights, felt like Central Europe. Whenever I visited the USA from Munich, I'd go to Imre's to reduce the culture shock of returning to the USA. Unsurprisingly, you'd find Hungarians, Slovaks, Czechs, Austrians, Germans and others there eating Central European favorites. Visiting Hungarians were often moved to tears by his attempt at creating Hungarian culture in exile.

Imre unfortunately missed the USA's Mangalitsa revolution. Had he lived to see it, he probably would have played a role in it, given his love of Hungarian culture and strategic Bay Area location.

Little Water Cantina

2011-06-11T04:35:00.000-07:00

I went to Seattle's Little Water Cantina tonight with a customer and gourmand, Chris.

We got some gorditas - basically, pulled pork, fried in Mangalitsa lard, served on refried black beans (cooked partially in Mangalitsa lard).

The stuff tasted fantastic. Chris, a long-time Mangalitsa customer (nicknamed "The Natural") who cooks at home along the lines of Grant Achatz (molecular gastronomy FTW) said the stuff was so good he'd go back for it. That's a major compliment, considering that he's got a freezer at home filled with various Mangalitsa products, and the skill to make whatever he wants to make.

Neat Food Blog With Great Mangalitsa Photos

2011-06-08T16:41:00.000-07:00

There are some neat photos over here of some Mangalitsa pigs and food made from Mangalitsa pigs.

They ate my Mangalitsa pork at a dinner in St. Louis, put on by one of my customers, loujack, and oddly enough, the customer is a brother of a Washington state customer:

... tasted the Mangalitza pig when we were in St Louis at the Clandestino dinner last year. The boys there were so passionate about the meat and the special qualities that I was intrigued. The more I have begun to read up on it the more interested I also have become, especially for the charcuterie properties (fat, in a word) that it has.

I'm not going to copy them here becuase I don't have the permission to duplicate them - but really, you should click here and check them out.

Mmmmmmangalitsa

2011-06-08T01:07:00.000-07:00

There's an article in the Sacramento Bee, called "Culinary World High on This Hog". It talks a lot about Suisun Valley Farms (my customer) and their selling Mangalitsa pork to restaurants and retailers in and around Sacramento.

It is nice to see them get some press. They've been selling Mangalitsa pigs to Michelin-starred restaurants in California for two years.

Here's my favorite excerpts from the article:

For those craving a world-class version of "the other white meat," it might as well be pronounced "Mmmmmmangalitsa."...

"We purchase Mangalitsa pigs primarily due to their very high fat content," said Devin Knell, chef de cuisine for the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group. "The careful and selective diet these pigs are fed produces a highly unsaturated fat that has the texture and mouth feel of Wagyu. We use these pigs primarily for dry curing and aging. I feel that this form of utilization best showcases the attributes of both the pig and the efforts that Suisun Valley Farm puts into raising them."

Copper Hog Mangalitsa Menu

2011-06-04T10:06:00.000-07:00

Copper Hog in Bellingham has our stuff on the menu!

International Boar Semen - Mangalitsa Genetics - Mangalitsa Breeding

2011-06-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to announce that Steve Kerns of International Boar Semen just picked up a bunch of Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa breeding stock. We sold Steve a bunch of purebreds and crossbreds.

Call 641-939-3411 to order some semen!

Mangalitsa pigs have the best meat quality, and that's partly due to having the best marbling. Their fat also tastes much better than other pigs.

If you've got meat-type pigs and pork, and want it to look more like that loin above, you'll be able to improve things - easily and cheaply.

Selling IBS Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa genetics means that people who want to improve their meat and fat quality by producing Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa hybrid litters will be able to do so; they'll buy some semen and inseminate their meat-type sows.

It is a good thing they'll be selling crossbred semen; most people won't want a lot of Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa genetics in their pigs, because they don't want to be in the business of producing a lot of fat and very little meat.

Hans doing his best to improve America's pork quality.

It is a big deal to sell Steve Kerns these pigs. He's an established dealer of pig genetics. He's buying our pigs because they produce the highest quality of meat and fat.*

Now that Steve Kerns has the pigs, and will soon be collecting and selling semen from them, pretty much anyone that wants to buy Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa semen will be able to get what they want at a reasonable price.

This does even more to establish the Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa breed as America's super-premium pig breed.**

Mangalitsa Boars - Necessary?

A lot of people imagine that they can produce purebred Swallow-bellied Mangalitsa pigs by buying some gilts or sows and inseminating them.

It isn't clear to us if this will work or not. Mangalitsa sows don't show heat like regular sows. They don't stand like regular sows. Our breeders don't think they could artificially inseminate Mangalitsa sows with any reliability.

If people buy gilts or sows from me and try to AI them, and fail, they may get too fat to breed, become infertile (due to the pig equivalent of PCOS, which Managalitsa pigs seem to be prone to).

* Of course, they do that by consuming the most feed, and taking the longest time to reach maturity. There has to be a catch, right?

** My epitaph is definitely going to mention that I established the Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa as America's super-premium pig, in addition to creating the Mangalitsa phenomenon. The whole thing sounds so odd.

Sous Vide Tip from Michael Clampffer

2011-06-02T12:54:00.001-07:00

I was talking with Michael Clampffer, a CIA-trained chef and VP of Mosefund about sous vide.

He said that he has a friend who just got back from Italy from a sous vide class. He said that they cooked pretty much everything at 72C for 8 hours. That worked great for belly, jowl and a bunch of other tough cuts.

My only thought about doing Mangalitsa at 72C is that a bunch of fat would melt off. That's why I've done mine around 63C 19 hours.

Cochon 555 New Orleans

2011-06-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

Stephanie Hua has a nice post on her blog about Cochon 555 New Orleans. You can see the food, people, etc.

Here's her description of Erick and what he served:

Representing the Besh Restaurant Group, Erick Loos blew us away with his creativity. He presented a mini four-course meal, showcasing a spectrum of techniques and thorough use of the animal. First up was the Pork Liver Parfait (a cool and savory concoction of liver and blood mousse, whipped lard, house-preserved peaches, and muscadine wine gelée). Admittedly, it was a little disorientating for my taste. Next came the Head to Toe Salad, composed of a terrine of the pig's head, tongue, skin, heart, tail, shanks, and trotters, topped with heirloom tomatoes and sugar cane vinaigrette. For our main, we had Slow Cooked Leg, Shoulder, and Loin served with porcini mushrooms over panisse, a chickpea fritter traditionally from the South of France. The real stunner, however, was dessert. The Porked Alaska, bacon pecan crunch ice cream and amaretto cream melting softly inside a crispy meringue, was my favorite bite of the entire evening.

Apparently he's been serving Mangalitsa bacon ice cream for the last few years at La Provence. People love it.

I'm thinking next year if he wants to compete, he might want to work it out with his slaughterhouse so that he could be the guy that stuns, sticks and guts the pig too. Then he'd really do it start-to-finish.

I talked with Erick. He said that they used the one pig and only the one pig (despite them having lots of other Mangalitsa around, they didn't cheat). So, for instance, the bacon ice cream was made with a quick-cured bacon. Also, he said they did a great job utilizing the one pig; when they were all done, they had a few pounds of lard (of course), but that was it.

Lincoln County Cookers Competes in Harrah’s High Steaks BBQ Bash with Our Stuff, Eric Loos wins, Sous Vide

2011-06-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

Fatback Collective - victorious!

Lincoln County Cookers, a barbecue team, will be competing in the Harrah’s High Steaks BBQ Bash with some of our Mangalitsa.

A team member heard about the success of the Fatback Collective and contacted me to get some product.

It is very exciting that people who want to win choose our Mangalitsa.

This is coming on the heels of the Fatback Collective taking 3rd in Memphis.

Also, Erick Loos of La Provence just won Cochon 555 in New Orleans. He used a pig that we bred (and he fattened on his farm). To my knowledge, that's the first time a chef competed (and won!) with a pig he fattened. I was very happy that he won.

One neat thing about his victory: he cooked all the food in advance, using sous vide technology. At the event, they just had to heat the stuff and serve it - a bit like airport food. Sous vide cooking takes the stress and inconsistency out of the cooking process. Doing things using sous vide technology allowed them to relax and focus on getting the details right.

I am a big fan of sous vide technology - particularly the Sous Vide Supreme.

Sam Jones, Pitmaster, Fatback Collective Member

2011-06-01T03:00:00.000-07:00

There's a nice article here about Sam Jones, Fatback Collective team member. I've chose to put some of the text in bold:

“It was the first time that breed of pig had been served in competition in America,” Jones said. “It's an heirloom pig originally from Austria that's only been in the United States for four or five years.”

Mangalitsa pigs, direct descendants of wild boars, have a hairy fleece and marbled, fatty flesh. It's a superior, fatty pork that is rarely served in restaurants, Jones said.

Once the team chose the pig, they needed to make a decision about sauce — and each team member had their own special sauce recipe, from South Carolina mustard and Memphis sweet to eastern North Carolina vinegar and hot pepper.

“Everyone on the team put together a sauce” Jones said, but in the end, the team decided to forgo the sauce altogether — a first for this cooking competition.

“My granddad said sauce covers up poor cooking,” Jones said. “After hours of cooking pigs with wood, you don't want to hide the taste of the pig with sauce. We decided to serve this pig without sauce, the way the Good Lord intended it to be.”

Jones said he stayed up all night during the competition, helping baste the pig with vinegar.

The judges awarded The Fatback Collective third place in the competition.

“I was a bit disappointed in third place,” Jones said, “but then some of the other teams said they had been participating in the contest for 20 years and had never scratched the top 10.

“I was honored to be a spoke in the wheel,” he added. “We had such a blast doing it as authentically as possible, with no gimmicks.”

Mangalitsa Class Alumnus

2011-05-20T15:20:00.001-07:00

Here's an article about David Pearlstein, student of the Wiesners and Mangalitsa fan.

Jason Bond's Ham from 2009 Pigs

2011-05-19T22:19:00.000-07:00

Jason Bond of Boston's Bondir sent me this photo of his ham. He's been a Mangalitsa fan for years.

Winning

2011-05-19T08:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of us taking 3rd in Memphis, from Mike Causey.

There's an article about us taking 3rd in the Seattle Weekly. It makes us sound like ingrates, so I should explain - we knew around 4PM or so that we were in the finals, meaning that we'd take either 3rd, 2nd or 1rst place. When we found out we got 3rd, that was the worst possible outcome -- of 3 fantastic outcomes.

We knew that what we'd done (roast a pig and serve it, sans sauce) was so risky, we'd probably not even place. So when we found out we'd made it to the finals, we figured the judges had embraced our approach, and that we'd win - if only because Mangalitsa tastes much better than alternatives, and the other competing teams had all used meat-type pigs, which are relatively dry and flavorless.

After the fact, we sound ridiculously arrogant. E.g. being bothered about getting 3rd. But when you are in the moment, and know that the worst you can do is get 3rd -- and "all" you get is 3rd, you are irritated. And if you've been drinking all day - as we all had - you are even more irritated.

In retrospect, it is amazing that we got 3rd, as Leslie Kelly explains here.

Memphis in May Summary

2011-05-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

Photo by Jim n' Nicks Barbecue.

I just got back from Memphis in May. Our team, the Fatback Collective, competed with two Mangalitsa pigs in the whole hog competition. We did very well, taking 3rd.

Team preps pig for smoker

The team all worked together, with chefs and barbecue experts turning the pigs into barbecue. My job was easy as I wasn't responsible for the cooking. I did set myself the challenge (see below) of eating a big plate of Mangalitsa barbecue.

The lucky pigs.

Nick Pihackis of Jim n' Nicks Barbecue organized a historic team of pitmasters and chefs. The team chose to use our Mangalitsa pigs, which is what got my pigs and me there.

Chef Donald Link

We ate a bunch of awesome food. Donald and Sean Brock brought crawfish, oysters, stone crab claws and softshell crabs. Many of us brought our best moonshine to share with the others.

One of the Mangalitsas

Our chefs took a very culinary approach. The team chose to put a rub on some Mangalitsa pigs and smoke them. Very simple. We didn't serve a sauce with the pig - that might have cost us 1rst or 2nd. People said Memphis judges like molasses on their barbecue.

Drew Robinson on the rig

The pigs tasted fantastic. Other chefs, competitors and guests were wowed by the flavor and succulent meat and fat.

Nathan enjoys some Mangalitsa ribs

Almost nobody had ever tasted a pig this good. It was fun to share stuff with people.

Nathan, pictured, is a personal trainer with 9% body fat. He talked to me about insulin, carbs and fat storage - and wolfed down a bunch of very tasty and fatty Mangalitsa ribs. It was great to watch people enjoy the succulent meat and fat.

To celebrate, I purposefully didn't eat much the day we'd present, so I was able to enjoy a big plate of barbecued Mangalitsa.

My thought was, how many times in your life do you get to eat your winning Mangalitsa, turned into barbecue by some of the USA's best pitmasters and chefs, and win at Memphis in May? Might as well really enjoy it.

Which I did.

Quail

2011-05-15T18:01:00.001-07:00

A longtime customer of mine loves Manglaitsa. I've eaten at his house before. He does a great Mangalitsa belly.

At top there's a picture of grilled quail, wrapped in Mangalitsa lardo.

These photos show how he wrapped some quail in Mangalitsa lardo and grilled them.

Obviously, the Mangalitsa fat makes the relatively lean quail more tasty.

Veritas Again

2011-05-11T23:35:00.000-07:00

Our loin. Photo apparently by Steve Barnes.

I wrote about Veritas on this blog a while ago. I just saw some nice photos of their food in a review by Steve Barnes of the Times Union. They are still using our stuff, which they get via DeBragga.

Our fatback in action. Photo apparently by Steve Barnes.

That above is some fish with some lardo on top of it. That's a great way to make fish taste extra special.

If you want to read exactly what the food is, I suggest you read the original review by Steve Barnes.

Inn at Ship Bay's Mangalitsa Video

2011-05-10T22:25:00.000-07:00

Geddes Martin, innkeeper, farmer and chef has a video of one of his Mangalitsa pigs.

It is neat to see what affection they have for each other. You can also see how fun pigs are to watch; they are so curious.

I called him today and chatted. I explained to him: if he'll personally drive out to Iowa to pick up a Swallow-bellied Mangalitsa boar (and drive it back to Orcas Island), I'll give him one for free.

Somehow I like the idea of guys in the remote corners of the USA breeding, fattening, slaughtering and processing Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsas into great food. He's really into the whole process. One expected benefit: if I can make it up there, he'll give me a place to eat and some great Mangalitsa products.

Fatback Collective on Twitter

2011-05-10T19:06:00.000-07:00

I recommend you follow the Fatback Collective on twitter.

This is the barbecue team competing in the Memphis in May World Championship Barbeque Cooking Contest with our Mangalitsa pigs.

The Inn At Ship Bay

2011-05-10T15:58:00.000-07:00

La Provence's pigs - photo by Besh Restaurant Group

Geddes Martin, owner of the Inn at Ship Bay on Orcas Island, WA sent me the photo below of two of his pigs. Don't look down if you can't stand the sight of blood.

Geddes runs an inn, raises pigs, processes them into food and serves the food at his restaurant. This is a lot like an Austrian "Heuriger". Basically, a farm that sells its produce to the public on site.

We don't have many of them in the USA - they are very difficult to run and make profitable. As a result, when you do find them, they'll either be really low end (underground) or high end, like Inn at Ship Bay, La Provence (a Besh Restaurant Group restaurant), Csarda Haz or Willows Inn (another culinary destination on the San Juan Islands).

If you are running a high end place, and raising and processing your own animals, it makes sense to use the very best pigs available. Hence, these guys favor Mangalitsa pigs.

photo by Geddes Martin

One neat thing is that in Austria, the farmer can kill the pig himself on the farm and take it to the state to get it inspected (something I mentioned in November 2007).

In the USA, unfortunately, we have to bring the slaughterhouse and inspector to the pig in a mobile slaughter unit, which is a lot more complicated! That's one reason why people either kill the pigs themselves (break the rules) or just buy meat from a meat distributor instead of raising their own pigs.

Geddes Martin actually goes through the trouble of keeping pigs and having the USDA mobile slaughter unit come out to his place. Unfortunately for him, that means they skin the pigs (instead of scalding), so he loses a bit.

The photo above shows two of Inn at Ship Bay's Mangalitsa pigs in a mobile slaughter unit. They've just been stunned and stuck. After the photo, they were skinned, gutted, etc.

The photo, gory as it is, reminds me that we get meat by killing animals. There's no way to avoid it.* It is too bad we have to kill them to eat them; they are quite entertaining, even if they aren't sweet; they spend pretty much all day teaching each other who's boss.

So please, don't waste any meat - particularly not Mangalitsa.

* As soon as we've got vat-grown meat that is as good or better than Mangalitsa, I'll switch to it.

Neck Sauce

2011-05-10T09:27:00.000-07:00

Mangalitsa neck, with sauce. Photo by Mike Eades.

Monsoon (Capitol Hill in Seattle) does a mean Mangalitsa neck. Above is a photo by Dr Mike Eades, half of the polymath duo "The Eadses". We ate there on Easter.

I recently ate the neck at Monsoon with Lee Anne Wong and my multi-talented friend Chris.*

Chris took a sample of Monsoon's sauce home and came up with the following recipe.

Chris's Sauce

300g Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce
90g lime juice
20g white soy sauce
20g fresh ginger - small dice
10g fish sauce
10g scallion greens - thin slice

There's no reason to think that Monsoon's recipe is exactly the same as Chris's, of course. It does taste very good though.

Besides putting it on meat, he says putting it on crunchy vegetables like cucumbers makes a great salad.

* Among other things, he's got a sous vide rig, rotovap and enough kitchen ridiculous equipment at home that he can cook along the lines of Alinea in his own kitchen. These are the sorts of people who love Mangalitsa.

Barbecue

2011-05-09T11:50:00.000-07:00

Found on the web: All-Star BBQ Team Heads to Memphis in May With Pat Martin and a Canoe:

This year the folks at Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q and friends have formed a team of people with a common belief in the celebration and brotherhood of barbecue. The team is comprised of James Beard award winners, celebrated pitmasters, chefs and Southern culturists to create the team Fatback Collective.
This all-star team includes Jim ‘N Nick’s founder Nick Pihakis (Birmingham, AL), Jim ‘N Nick’s Chef Drew Robinson (Birmingham, Ala.), Chef Donald Link of Link Restaurant Group (New Orleans), Chef Stephen Stryjewski of Cochon (New Orleans), Chef Ryan Prewitt of Herbsaint (New Orleans), Chef John Currence of City Grocery (Oxford, Miss.), Chef Sean Brock of Husk (Charleston, S.C.), Sam Jones of Skylight Inn Barbecue (Aden, N.C.), Pat Martin of Martin’s Barbeque Joint (Nolensville, Tenn.) and Rodney Scott of Scott’s BBQ (Hemingway, S.C.). Fatback Collective will compete in the whole hog category against top pitmasters around the country.

Food Recalls

2011-05-09T01:08:00.000-07:00

I just saw a notice about a massive food recall: 216,238 pounds.

This is a fairly big recall. Approximately 6 tractor-trailers worth of product. That food is likely all going to get thrown away.

One sees these cringe-inducing recall notices so often. If the recall happened to anyone but a giant producer, it would probably wipe them out.

The reason for the recall is typical: the label on the product doesn't correspond to what's in the product. E.g. there's some whey or soy or milk or peanuts in the product, when the label does doesn't list soy (a known allergen) milk (a known allergen) or peanuts (a known allergen) in the list of ingredients.

Typically there's a statement in the recall notice that nobody got sick from the misbranded product.

It really is horrific how much product gets recalled, due to one stupid reason or another. Most consumers don't benefit from this. If anything, the regulatory system just costs them money, in the form of unnecessary and expensive recalls that don't improve things.

It all makes me wonder, why don't the labels on meat products just state, as a matter of course: "may contain whey, milk, soy and or peanuts"? The product most likely won't contain those things - but at least the packers would be able to avoid recalls if any of those 4 major allergens accidentally found their way into the products.

The Fatback Collective's Memphis in May Mangalitsas

2011-05-07T20:01:00.000-07:00

These pigs (now slaughtered, gutted and cooling out) will hopefully bring victory to the Fatback Collective at the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Competition.

To my knowledge (which tends to be accurate on this topic), this is the first time anyone has entered Mangalitsa pigs in a barbecue competition in the Western Hemisphere. I asked the herdsman to take a picture of them for posterity's sake.

These pigs were bred in Iowa, fattened in Iowa and Missouri and they'll get eaten in Tennessee.

They look quite exotic to me. If I was entering the competition with a regular pink pig and I saw these - and then read this sort of stuff - I'd be concerned.

I'm hoping the pigs do so well that competitive barbecue enthusiasts all decide that they need to "Mangalitsa up" in order to win.

Serious Pie

2011-05-07T07:44:00.000-07:00

Photo by Lee Anne Wong

Lee Anne Wong and I visited Serious Pie and Monsoon Capitol Hill. She took the photo of the cured Mangalitsa products they make at Serious Pie.

It was neat to hang out with her. I was surprised to find out that she's a big Mangalitsa fan.

Among other things, she's eaten Mangalitsa products from our pig & pork customers across the USA, including Mosefund in NJ and the stuff made in New Orleans by the Besh Restaurant Group.

She agreed that the products at Serious Pie, made by Curemaster Kenan Fox, are excellent.

Estrella Family Creamery

2011-05-04T20:36:00.000-07:00

I recently talked with Anthony Estrella of the Estrella Family Creamery.

If you look at their website, you might think they are still making their international award-winning cheese. In truth, they aren't. I'm aware of what happened to them because for the last few months, I've been worried for them. I've been calling them and getting updates.

Anthony explained to me that they aren't making food anymore.* Basically, if you make food, you have to deal with the FDA, USDA or WSDA. In the case of the Estrellas, they ran into trouble with the FDA over food safety, and those problems destroyed them financially and drove them out of the food business.

It is very unfortunate. In a very short period of time, the Estrellas acquired cattle with optimal genetics for cheese making, established their cheese operation, made a bunch of international award-winning cheeses and then got shut down by the government due to food safety issues.

The fact that they won awards in London really impressed me; it means their cheese wasn't just better than American cheeses (which generally aren't the best in the world), but foreign cheese too.

The whole incident is very complicated. From talking to people and doing research, I know that I don't know what the perfect outcome would have been. Basically, if you look for listeria hard enough at any creamery, you'll probably find it. As a result of the government's actions, the Estrella's are ruined, and it isn't clear that our food system is any safer as a result.

The FDA makes their general attitude clear in this press release:

The first rule strengthens FDA’s ability to prevent potentially unsafe food from entering commerce. It allows the FDA to administratively detain food the agency believes has been produced under insanitary or unsafe conditions. Previously, the FDA’s ability to detain food products applied only when the agency had credible evidence that a food product presented was contaminated or mislabeled in a way that presented a threat of serious adverse health consequences or death to humans or animals.
Beginning July, the FDA will be able to detain food products that it has reason to believe are adulterated or misbranded for up to 30 days, if needed, to ensure they are kept out of the marketplace. The products will be kept out of the marketplace while the agency determines whether an enforcement action such as seizure or federal injunction against distribution of the product in commerce, is necessary.

Basically, they prioritize safety over everything.

When you consider that food is perishable, and that time is of the essence, it is clear that the FDA's bureaucrats can easily ruin food producers.

In general, what happened to the Estrellas reminds me of the tradeoffs inherent in our food regulation system. We have a very safe and cheap food supply. But most of our food doesn't taste very good. If you think America's "artisanal" food does taste great, you probably haven't traveled and sought out really great food.**

I'd rather live in a world where adults can choose to take their life in their hands and eat really good raw milk cheese from people like the Estrellas. But I'm also the sort of guy to drink moonshine and eat uninspected meat. It drives me nuts that you can get better tasting food in poor countries like Slovakia or Serbia than you can in the USA, the richest country on earth.

One of the reasons I founded Heath Putnam Farms is that it seemed like I couldn't be the only one bothered that the USA's pork products didn't measure up to what Hungary could produce and export to Asia.

Don't get me wrong - Hungarians are amazing, and punch way above their weight, especially in food. But shouldn't America be able to beat them on quality, if only because we have so much more money to throw at the problem, and a huge domestic market to support the consumption of good food?

I know a lot more now. Basically, Americans want cheap food. A lot of "foodies" like to eat something slightly better than mediocre and pat themselves on the back for it. There's a ridiculously small segment of the population that wants to eat really great stuff, and will do what it takes to get it.

* Anthony said they'll sell live animals to people. Those people will be responsible for turning the animals into food.

** I'm not trying to sound like a jerk. That's just my experience. I've had better tomatoes from Bosnia than I've ever had from California. Spain produces better almonds than California. Hungarian salami, made from "mangalica" pigs tastes better than all "artisanal" American salami I've had. "Factory farmed" Iberico pork tastes better than all non-Mangalitsa American pork, etc.

Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest - Fatback Collective

2011-05-03T20:13:00.000-07:00

I'm going to the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest.

I've been invited by Fatback Collective, one of the many teams competing.

I was originally contacted by Drew Robinson, team member and executive chef of Jim N Nicks Barbecue, a 28-location barbecue chain. He wanted to get some whole Mangalitsa pigs to barbecue. They were in the testing phase.

They held a cmpetition/experiment in Charleston. Besides the Mangalitsa, the tried barbecuing meat from Red Wattles, Ossabaw crosses, Berkshires, etc.

Unsurprisingly, everyone thought Mangalitsa tasted much better than the alternatives. That's not a surprise; it is in keeping with other meat science experiments.

I later found out that the team also includes James Beard Award-winning chefs John Currence, Stephen Stryjewski, Sean Brock and Donald Link . They've used Mangalitsa pigs before; Donald was the one who told the Jim 'n Nick's guys to consider Mangalitsa.

In the end, they decided they'd invite me out. Hopefully they'll win and I'll get to join them on stage. They actually flying me out. I'm humbled they are willing to do this - and I get to eat their Mangalitsa barbecue for free!

I think it is great that they picked Mangalitsa pigs in their bold attempt to win. I'm not surprised they settled on our pigs, but when a bunch of smart, talented, accomplished people, doing their best to win decide that you've got what they want, that means a lot. It is a major vote of confidence for Mangalitsa pigs.

These people work so hard to win. I can't reveal the details, but basically, they take a very rigorous approach to the problem. From the outside, competition barbecue doesn't look nearly so serious.

What's neat about the barbecue contest is that the judges taste blind and each team needs to produce pretty much the same food. Meat quality really ought to matter, so I think we've got a decent chance of winning.

I really hope the Fatback Collective wins, if only because they've really put their heart into it.

This is a major milestone for the Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa breed. E.g. in 2007, we sold the first Mangalitsa to The French Laundry (3 Michelin stars). In 2011, we've got a team of barbecue innovators and Mangalitsa fans using Mangalitsa to try to win the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Competition.

Eating Lardo like a PowerBar

2011-05-01T21:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of a guy eating a piece of Mangalitsa lardo like it is a PowerBar.

He was famished, so I shared some Mangalitsa lardo with him. He's had it before, so he knows how good it is.