- Oct 27, 2012
- 24
- 10
Hey everyone! This is the first of what I hope will be many posts as I work my way through 1/2 of a locally-raised (irrelevant except for a personal quest to take my food away from the factories and back to the farmers and producers whenever possible) Berkshire hog.
For those of you who are unaware, this is a breed of pork that has been around for ~400 years. It has amazing flavor than most of the pork that is more widely available. The Japanese have developed special raising characteristics and call it Kurobuta--the "Kobe beef of pork". Many sell this breed at very high prices, but we were lucky enough to find a local purveyor who charged reasonable rates.
Out hog is entirely uncured, which means that I have many options as I work my way through the animal.
I'm not sure if this is the proper location, but I have a few Q's to get me started:
1) Given that this breed is less rare, but generally "meatier" than other breeds, are there special considerations as I apply the advise from other sections of this forum? (I base this Q on my experience dealing with grass fed vs. corn fed beef)
2) When we picked up the hog we also got a cured and smoked jowl. Any suggestions on what to do with this sucker? I excited to experiment, but any guidance would be appreciated.
3) What should we do with the bags-o-bones? Obviously these are going to be incorporated into a stock of some sort, but should we smoke first? Roast first? Any such thing as a pork demi glace?
Cheers! oh...and thanks!
Jeff
For those of you who are unaware, this is a breed of pork that has been around for ~400 years. It has amazing flavor than most of the pork that is more widely available. The Japanese have developed special raising characteristics and call it Kurobuta--the "Kobe beef of pork". Many sell this breed at very high prices, but we were lucky enough to find a local purveyor who charged reasonable rates.
Out hog is entirely uncured, which means that I have many options as I work my way through the animal.
I'm not sure if this is the proper location, but I have a few Q's to get me started:
1) Given that this breed is less rare, but generally "meatier" than other breeds, are there special considerations as I apply the advise from other sections of this forum? (I base this Q on my experience dealing with grass fed vs. corn fed beef)
2) When we picked up the hog we also got a cured and smoked jowl. Any suggestions on what to do with this sucker? I excited to experiment, but any guidance would be appreciated.
3) What should we do with the bags-o-bones? Obviously these are going to be incorporated into a stock of some sort, but should we smoke first? Roast first? Any such thing as a pork demi glace?
Cheers! oh...and thanks!
Jeff
