Pig, addenda to part one
Tamworths are actually a bacon breed, raised for a long side with good streaking in the meat, rather than a specifically lard breed. The spectacular amount of fat in these pigs… Jonathan, their owner, had this to say:
“The four inches of subcutaneous fat, I’m afraid, is due to my lack of experience with feeding pigs.
We gave these guys about four gallons of whey per pig per day, along with copious stale bread and tablescraps. The two that Torsten worked on last week were born in mid-May, and weighed in at about 300# each.
What I took away from this experience is that next year, we ought to have twice the number of pigs!
The second pair of pigs, who have their appointment with destiny today, are a month younger and probalby 50-75# lighter. I am hoping that they are a bit leaner under the skin, too.”
And virtually everything you could possibly want to know about the different breeds of pig can be found at this fascinating website, guaranteed to arouse curiosity and alarm when you read it in the middle of a long tech.
December 1st, 2005 at 1603
My experience with Tamworth pigs is that the fat has incredible
flavor. A friend described the pork chops as tasting like “pork
chops wrapped in bacon.” I’ve also found that the fat from the
pastured pig was very digestible, didn’t leave you feeling heavy.
Great stuff.
December 5th, 2005 at 1807
This is the same thing we’ve found. The fat on our pigs which are pasture raised tastes great. It is totally different than what we buy in the store. Store fat I trim off. Pastured pig fat _I_ eat. Our dogs are very disappointed.