Bill Morris and his Monster Berkshire

Slices of hog jowls from one of our pigs.

Bill Morris has some nice photos (like the one above) on his blog of a pig he processed from us. He says he used every scrap.

We've had people coming up to our booth at the farmers markets, saying what a great multi-course pig dinner he did. It sounds like pretty much every dish had pork in it. What's great about those people don't go to farmers markets, and only came out to buy our pork.

Other Uses For Mangalitsa Pigs

Some prize-winning Germans have a bunch of exotic animals, including some trained Mangalitsa pigs. They've got a ridiculous collection of animals.

Pigs will do just about anything for a snack. I get the feeling the pig is patiently waiting for her to get off him so he can get his pig treat.

Feeding Pigs

I continue to be fascinated by The Herb and Pig Farm's pigs. The Mangalitsa-Berkshire piglets are visibly bigger. They are starting to look less like cute piglets and more like pigs.

As shown in the video, Zuzi tried to favor the small pigs and give them a treat, but both of them get shoved aside very quickly by a much older Mangalitsa barrow who barged in to get the treat.

The older pig reminded me a lot of an alligator or some other voracious prehistoric creature. It is simply amazing to see how it works its nose.

Old pastry recipe book

There's a nice book from 1907 with old recipes using lard. Here is chapter 2 - "pastry and pie making, pastes and fillings ..."

With the changeover to margarine, it is difficult to find recipes that use lard. Also, given that the lard sold in stores now is partially hydrogenated, it is probably safer to use old recipes with the kind of old-style lard that you produce at home.

Iberian Ham Cocktail

I read about an interesting Iberian ham cocktail here.

Here is the original recipe.

It is astounding what people come up with.

I talked today with a chef who got one of our pigs. He said they took the fat and used a pacojet on it to make a spread, which was very popular with people. I understand that Keith Luce (of the Herb and Pig Farm) likewise served our pigs' fat as a spread.

I think it is great that our fat quality is so high that people utilize it that way. It has taken about a century, but finally, lard is making a comeback in fancy restaurants.

Foodies Sing about Mangalitsa (and the Price)

We never expected Americans would be singing about Mangalitsa so soon, but it has already happened. Journalists are literally singing about Mangalitsa.

The Mangalitsa they tried was at Monsoon - the Seattle-area restaurant that has served the most Mangalitsa to date.

One interesting point - we haven't heard people complain about the price of the fatty Mangalitsa cuts. People who buy and eat the Mangalitsa belly or jowls at $25/lb have yet to complain.
Nancy Leson ate the belly, so it didn't surprise us that she liked it.

This month there's a page about Mangalitsa belly in "Seattle Metropolitan" (June issue, p. 131) by Jess Thompson. There's a description of the pig and a recipe. Jess and her friends absolutely loved the fatty cuts.