Hello Everyone,
On Monday Sept. 21st Michael Clampffer from Mosefund Farm brought us a half of a Mangalitsa hog. On Thursday he joined us for a day of fabrication, dinner and finally a demo for the Gourmet Society. The hog was really something! For those of you who don't know this breed it is known as a very rare and high quality lard pig from Hungary/ Austria. (View my previous posting on the breed.) The fat was thick, soft and very white and the meat was a deeper red than most pork. The feed and genetics make this hog a pork lovers dream.
Before our demo we enjoyed a remarkable dinner at St Andrews and Chef Mullooly cooked off the Mangalitsa tenderloin for our table. It was fabulous! Very deep red color and rich. Thanks to Chef and his crew!
We then conducted a tasting for the students at the Danny Kaye Theater which consisted of a slow roasted loin and fresh ham and also some sweet Italian sausages that were about a fifty fifty fat to lean ratio. Very rich all around. You simply can not eat too much of this because it fills you up so much. Michael did a wonderful job explaining the history, genetics, raising techniques, and customers that are now using his Mangalitsa. The word is spreading about this very high quality hog! Michael is offering a class on how to divide a carcass and make some very unique lard products in the early winter. Check out his site. http://www.mosefundfarm.com/mosefund_mangalitsa.html
My teaching assistant, Steven Bookbinder helped with the fabrication and we are currently in the process of making bacon, lardo and rendered fat among other things. We have photos of it and I'll post a follow up soon.
