By doing so we were able to trial a few different styles of cures – one of them wet brine, some others dry, some with fresh herbs (rosemary and juniper) others without anything else except the salt.

The first hams to be ready were the Fruit-fed Mangalitza leg muscles.

The two muscles that were ready were the topside that was cured in juniper and rosemary, and the silverside that was cured and then rolled in black pepper. The topside, being the less fatty muscles of the two had a deep almost purple colour, and had a heady fragrance of the herbs.

The silverside had the added benefit of the fat, and this gave a rich flavour of the meat, which was also helped balance with the pepper.

Now that the rest of the muscles and lardo would have been curing for an additional few weeks over the christmas period, we will have the rest to sample this January. And this means we will be setting up shop in a few markets in London very soon.

Last week I was at One Pig, a aural trace of a pigs life from the comforts of the farm to my fork. The very same day I had just returned from Wales, where we celebrated by slicing up our first samples of our hams. Timely? You could say that.

I have been a fan of Herbert for at least 10 years when a friend of mine invited me to a gig in an upstairs venue in Melbourne. I remember some use of a toaster, and a sample of a kettle. I hadn’t seen him for years, but then I saw that he was to perform his new album One Pig, with a dinner prepared by the guys from Shaklewell Nights and Rosie Sykes. I was nervous that after the dinner my apetite would be suppressed - my dinner partner was fearful I was going to turn her vegetarian – all unfounded – I am sure you are all relieved.

The performance was set-up centrally in the room, and initially reminded me a little of a barn dance. The hay barrels were actually instruments, and the pen was linked to electronic pig samples that were played like a loose harp. The whole thing was added drama by the white lab coats the musicians wore, and specifically the months on Yann Seznec’s coat, who played the pen, which counted down the pigs months to live.

Having spent the last year doing my own research on pigs – involving the visiting of beautiful farms at parts, and then also the abattoirs (far less beautiful), this event seemed more personal. The six month life span of a pig previously had been discussed as a factual farm term that we had used to reference weight, and also the cost impact for the farmer. Suddenly now seen from the perspective of the pig, 6 months which equates to around 5% of it’s potential life span, becames apparent.

The conversation that preempted the performance dallied with some of these pretty big issues revolving commercial food production. This album approaches this topic which so often can be interpreted as sanctimonious at best in a new and refreshing way. It is hard to find an answer to this ever growing issue while you are about to stuff your face full of pork, but I am glad that the conversation was being had. This conversation needs to be had time and time again, and by serving up a pig dinner it managed to make this issue personal to all that ate.

Unlike many of the great albums of the year, I don’t think I will hear the One Pig album again with intent, although I was in a cafe yesterday and the music they played there was very similar. Perhaps it wasn’t so obscure that you can’t listen to it while drinking latte’s. One thing this event did do was lead me to  the purchase of Eating Animals, by Jonathan Saffran Foer. Up to now I had tried to avoid this book in the fear that I too would be changed for life. But going into a world of meat production has made me face the true realities of the food chain and part of eat is surmised brilliantly by Foer. I would recommend anyone who eats meat to read this book, but as I am sure you know already, it isn’t all beautiful.

More reviews of it here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/worldfolkandjazz/8962176/One-Pig-Cafe-Oto-review.html

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/music/review-24022174-matthew-herbert-one-pig-dead-and-alive-cafe-oto—review.do

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15930-matthew-herbert-one-pig/

I can sometimes look towards what is happening in Brooklyn, New York, and feel as though somehow we are missing out on something quite special. They are creating a micro-cosmos of creativity, a lot 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 micro-breweries popping up all over town, it’s just that we haven’t quite nailed the way of spreading the word quite as beautifully as they have..

One group of people are doing a job of spreading the news – by way of short films. Made By Hand is a group of films being made by Keith (Keef) Ehrlich, and friends.

This one is about a Knife Maker. It is a facinating watch – mostly due to the contrast of the of materials and the delicate handwork required to mould it.

www.cutbrooklyn.com

After curing in brine or in a dry cure for nearly 3 weeks, we pulled out the muscles and lardo last week to place in our temperature controlled ‘cupboard’ to proceed on the final stages of the fermentation.

After some disappointment with our Salami’s we were very curious to see what the muscles were doing – They had firmed up nicely, and the colour of them was cheering. We remained hopeful that our meats were going to produce some beautiful product.

The stage of pressing was quite new to me – The process makes a more uniform shape, allowing for a more consistant maturation process throughout the muscle and it also reduces any further water that may remain which speeds up the process of the maturation further. They all were lined up in individual sections of the press in a very orderly fashion. It isn’t surprising that all German cured products go through this process.

So, now they are out of the press and are into the maturation room. We hope that these products will be ready for sampling nearing the festive season.

Chen Chen is a product designer. That is about all there is to know about Chen on the website. But the thing that got my attention is the brilliantly poppy Cold-Cuts coasters.

As soon as I have a drink to coast, I am going to get myself a joint of meat..

You can buy them here, or here..

Carl Warners book Food Landscapes is a delicious look into the world of food, but not in the plated variety – More Willy Wonka on meat acid. I can’t help but feel this one is a little ‘red riding hood’ but it could just be the tones..

Our current project wouldn’t be possible without the kind services and skills of Graham Waddington.

Graham has been at the leading edge of British made charcuterie for over 10 years.

Graham was one half of the fabulous Trealy Farm, and is now operating a smaller, more development lead operation called Native Breeds. We met Ruth at a market stall in the summer when it was bucketing rain from above in Bristol.

Cut to now, Graham’s almost alchemist mind has been a key part of developing a range of unique products – using a pig that is unusually fatty and also with a unique meat texture has lead us to look at the way we do things much more closely than if we had a run-of-the-mill pig. His experience has been an invaluable element to our making.

We are doing it. Finally. And it’s more exciting than I ever thought it would be. Our first animals have been slaughtered and the curing has begun. Having talked about this for so long, that now that we finally are doing it, it feels quite unreal.

This process is a research project. We like both farms, but they couldn’t be more different. We have nicknamed them the biscuit pig and the apple pig. Both are Organically raised, and the husbandry top quality, but the feeds are worlds apart.

The biscuit pig has been raised on fancy crumbs. In the great application of re-using waste as pigs for century’s have been used for (until some dumb asses fed pigs, pigs) our farmer has been feeding the BPigs some delicious oaty goodness. Intrigued as to what this would do to the meat, and to the fat, we were pleased to find an amazing level of marbling, and an almost creaminess to the fat. And fat is something that this breed produces plenty of.

The apple pig has been raised on.. fruit, naturally. And plenty of it. When I first met with these farmers, I was amazed at what commitment they had towards their feed – often travelling up to 100 miles to find fresh fruit and veg waste. They truly believed that feed and the traditional European methods of pig farming was the best way to go, and were doing all they could to do so. They also had sacrificed their Henry IV apple orchard for their animals, which the pigs were taking full advantage of.

Another difference was the amount of time.

The BP has been raised for 10 months. The farmer believes that any longer and the fat to meat ratio is disproportionate. The Mangalitza is a relatively small pig, and yet produces a large volume of fat. Any longer, on the high carb diet of tasty biscuits and all you will get is more fat. Even with the animal at 10 months, he came in as 95 kilo’s and almost 50% of that was lard. No pancetta either, as the belly doesn’t have sufficient meat on it. We are going to have to use another breed for that.

The AP has been raised for 18 months. This, with the addition to a large pen, and a less fatty diet has led to a leaner pig, with darker meat and a different quality lard. The weight, surprisingly is not too different to the younger pig, but the muscles appear more worked. This could have something to do with the pen set-up; having all the animals in one pen ensures that they interact differently, more actively.

Now that they are butchered and are laying in their cures, we have to wait patiently and see. This process is a long one, but one that will produce results. We just have to decide which of the results taste the best.