Pig Butchery Among Other Things
The class was an up close demonstration of how to break down a half pig, done by Bi-Rite butcher and charcutier Morgan Maki.
Morgan started with “primal breaks” on the 14 or 16 month old pig carcass (well, the pig was that old, not the carcass). The whole process was wrought with detail and I was pretty saturated by the end. I’ve tried to recapture important details in the slideshow below. You may have to click on the enlarge feature (arrows in all directions) and then “show info” to see the detailed captions.
Along the way Morgan shared some great information such as- in order to check the health of a pig you can request the heart and kidneys be included. You slice into them and check for signs of illness. Also, you remove lymph nodes and do not eat them. Lymphs are where toxins are sequestered from the body. They don’t taste good and they are not good for you.
I learned that “Boston Butt” comes from the shoulder as does a “Picnic Ham.” Another incredibly cool conversation was around the diet of the animal and its flavor. Morgan explained that different grains get metabolized differently by the animal resulting in changes in the fat structure, flavor and behavior of the meat when cooked. Some resulting fats have a lower melting point requires lower heat to cook. This is something I’ll have to research because I could not hold all the details in my head…he did mention acorns and Iberian wild pigs.
The class included samples of mortadello, and what looked like capicola, that had been made at Bi-Rite- very good. Next week we complete the second part which is will cover curing pork in preparation for smoking and hanging, with an emphasis on tasso, prosciutto, bacon and country ham. Sounds good to me.
wow, congrats on finishing and turning in the thesis! I know well that’s not all there is to it but wanted to give you some big support. That quince paste looks like something to try. As do the pig lessons.
October 7th, 2009 at 9:03 pmSo many wonderful things going on. The quince paste sounds like the only quince thing I’d like — I’ll point a young quince cook this way. The pork class sounds wonderful. You are perhaps thinking of buying a pig?
October 8th, 2009 at 1:12 amThank you so much for posting videos and information like this. I’m hoping to become more self-sufficient and raise some livestock in the next few years, and knowledge passed by word-of-mouth is just invaluable.
October 12th, 2009 at 1:55 am[...] for culinary use. Since I have covered this topic in my posts on the Poetry and Science of Meat and Pig Butchery, Among Other Things. I will say that in comparing cost of class and gained experience, I found the TLC class worth [...]
April 3rd, 2010 at 3:11 pm