Comments for FATFOODTAXI (LARDO)

Comment on Out of Cure and out to hang by steven

steven — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:12:55 +0000

So how’d the fennel pollen flavored sausages taste?

Comment on Made By Hand – The Knife Maker by Eliza

Eliza — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:40:15 +0000

Thanks Tom. I love that there are people that just get on and do it. I think sometimes with the fear of the ‘expert’, you can be held back. In Australia too there seems to be a much more open – crack on attitude. If and when I do open (argh!) do let me know when you and Jen are around.

Comment on Made By Hand – The Knife Maker by Tom

Tom — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 06:13:28 +0000

One of the privileges of when I started seeing Jen is that we did a London to Brooklyn commute and I got to see a bit of this first hand. I love the people starting learning butchery/ cheese making etc.

The one problem is the quality wasn’t quite there and coming from a European background you had a slight feeling of “that is a good effort”. I would guess in the past couple of years they have moved on a lot.

And I wish I had bought a knife from CB and Joel when I was there… They were much cheaper then.

Looking fwd to reading about Lardo (and eating there when back

Good luck

Comment on Salvatore Brooklyn – Artisanal Ricotta in Brooklyn by Made By Hand – The Knife Maker « LARDO

Made By Hand – The Knife Maker « LARDO — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:32:08 +0000

[...] of it surrounding food and therefore sprouting artisanal small businesses. There is someone making Ricotta – Another a bee-keeper. Ironically enough, it is happening here too – there are [...]

Comment on Out of Cure and out to hang by blackdotcooperative

blackdotcooperative — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:27:05 +0000

this is very exciting lizee + hugh!!! congrats. xx

Comment on Meet Graham by neng99

neng99 — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:38:26 +0000

^ ^

Comment on Fireside Chats – Matt talks meat by Melanie

Melanie — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 02:53:29 +0000

Well, well, well!
You are doing it. And may I say that I love being able to keep in touch of what is going on in your world of charcuterie all the way from Adelaide.
…and I’m learning so much about pigs

Comment on Biscuits or Apples – The flavour of our first pigs by charcutierltd

charcutierltd — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 09:11:32 +0000

Yep, drop me an e-mail. I’m home Tues and Fri of next week, and most evenings are free.

Comment on Biscuits or Apples – The flavour of our first pigs by Eliza

Eliza — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 08:46:12 +0000

All of this is fascinating, and yet of course there are concerns and issues still unanswered until the first pig is sampled. We have tried to cure in many different ways with the first animal to see if we can find any flaws or best practice for the future. The issue of nitrate vs no nitrate is an issue with fattier animals. The Iberico curers uses the nitrates for this exact reason. We have yet to send off the back fat for sampling, but I think that is something we need to do.
I’d love to chat with you at some point and see your animals too. We are heading your way again in the next week, and then again in a month to sample our first salami’s. I have your details, and will get in touch. Would that time suit you?

Comment on Biscuits or Apples – The flavour of our first pigs by charcutierltd

charcutierltd — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 10:18:41 +0000

All the Austrian methods of raising these animals are pretty much the same as what we would have done prior to there being high protein commercial feeds on the market. I follow a feeding regime similar to what my grandfather would have done in the 40′s/50′s (though I suspect it’s the same as my family would have done for the past 500+ years). It’s largely fresh vegetables, fresh grass or hay and a high fibre grain like barley. We’ve never been large scale breeders, we’re essentially following in the tradition of keeping a pig in the cottaging tradition. Traditionally as most pork production was seasonal, owners would have raised barley as a finishing feed once other fresh produce was coming to an end – if they had woodland the pigs would have been allowed to forage for acorns as a finisher, the poorest of families in the 17th and 18th Century would have sent their children out into the forest to collect acorns for finishing – I assume the Iberian methods of raising indoors and then finishing in acorn woodlands derive from an age old seasonal way of feeding animals.

However, modern slaughter year round provides us with a very different product as it doesn’t follow that same natural life cycle. No business can work on the old fashioned model of slaughtering once a year or for one month in a year so essentially modern feed provides us with a consistent product as the diet is regimented. However, I don’t think you’ll get any better meat than a traditionally raised, winter kill.

I visited http://www.tailsandtrotters.com/ recently who finish their pigs on hazelnuts – it gave the fat a really sweet flavour, excellent as fresh meat, but I wonder whether the high fat content of the nut will affect rancidity during long curing. I even saw some Mangalitza produce in the US that had rancidity issues – which I would have put down to their long term diet.

One of the things that attracted me to the Mangalitza was the composition of their fat (high Mono vs Poly) – have you or your breeders sent any of the back fat for chemical testing? It’d be interesting to see how high the biscuit pig is in polyunsaturated fat considering he’s the same weight in half the time as the apple pig.

Out of interest, what type of Mangalitza were these? I have a couple of blondes and a red, the ones I saw in the US were all Swallow Bellied and had a completely different temperament.

I’m in the same boat as you at the moment, I knew all along that I’d need two breeds, but choosing the right one to complement it is quite a job.

I know I’m rambling and I hope I don’t sound preachy but I’ve spent the best part of this year looking at breeds, so I’m a little manic.

If you ever want a chat, get in touch. The UK charcuterie world is tiny, we all need to work together to make it a flourishing industry!