Going with the Whole Hog and Heritage Pork
Many chefs are now starting to make their own patés, cure their own
meats, and craft other types of charcuterie. These chefs are part
of a new movement that's aligned against waste and in favor of
using all parts of an animal. Using whole animals sourced from
local farmers takes extra effort, but as with other locally
produced food, many chefs say it’s worth it. There is also a
growing demand to put humanely raised, heritage breeds of pork on
restaurant menus. Here are some particularly savory articles about
going “whole hog’ along with articles that focus on the great
flavor of traditional (pre-industrial) pork breeds.
"Going
Whole Hog" Carol
Ness, San Francisco Chronicle
Includes a glossary of Italian preserved meats, how to serve and
store salumi and then purchase the ultimate slicing machines. The
food section of this newspaper serves a very food savvy population;
look to California for compelling culinary trends.
Going Whole Hog
“Belly
Up” Jan
Greenberg, ACF Online Resources
How chefs from around the country are using uncured whole pork
belly.
Belly Up
“Charcuterie” Clare
Leschin-Hoar, Edible Boston
112 kb PDF, 2
pages
A fine example of the type of writing you can find in one of the
Edible community magazines devoted to local food.
"The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating" reviewed
by Kevin Schoeler, The Food Paper
Fergus Henderson, the man responsible for bringing offal out of the
abattoir and onto white tablecloths everywhere is a London chef
whose proselytizing about the gustatory pleasures of brined pork
belly and roast bone marrow salad has earned him cult status among
chefs on both sides of the Atlantic. Here is a concise, well
written cookbook review of Henderson’s culinary
classic.
The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail
Eating
“Taste of Tradition” Joan
Lang, Flavor & The Menu
This document takes a look at why chefs are seeking heritage pork
breeds for their menus, describes efforts to save heritage
livestock breeds from extinction and cites examples of farmer chef
collaborations that have developed from the heritage-breed
movement.
300kb PDF
“Heritage Pork” Dara
Moskowitz, USA Today
A handy snapshot of the renaissance of older pork breeds along with
a quick taste guide to several flavorful swine
breeds.
Heritage Pork
“Where the Belly Meets the Plate” John
Martin Taylor, Washington Post
Not a description of lawmaker dining, but rather a fine piece of
journalism that focuses on the financial rationale for purchasing
whole animals and the flavor dividends that accrue from heritage
hogs.
Where the Belly Meets the Plate