tekobo Posted May 24, 2018 Report Share Posted May 24, 2018 My friends know I love pork and regularly buy me piggy cards and ornaments. However, even The Husband thought I had gone a bit over the top when I told him I had bought a half pig in order to get pork shoulder for a Chicago Southside Thin. Here are the two boxes I picked up last Friday. Lots of chops and steaks for a summer BBQ, cheek to try to turn into guanciale and fat to turn into lardo. Bonus! We are now on a driving holiday in Italy and I succumbed to my bulk buying gene when I came upon this hoard. Tee hee. No, I did not buy the lot. Just one and they boned it out neatly so that we will have lovely proscuitto for pizza for months to come. And finally, a gratuitous Mangalitza photo for @tony b. I had wanted to try meat from one of these wooly pigs for a long time and pestered a Welsh farmer for a couple of years to get one sent to me in the post. It took us a whole day to process it and turn it into sausages, fat and joints for cooking. We liked it but not as much as the 55 day hung Middle White pig that we buy from another farmer so the only repeat is the blood sausage that they make with bits of fat and bacon. Pig with extra pig. Yum. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted May 24, 2018 Report Share Posted May 24, 2018 Nice stash. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted May 24, 2018 Report Share Posted May 24, 2018 Serious score!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Pearson Posted May 24, 2018 Report Share Posted May 24, 2018 Wow that’s a lotta pig! You must have a huge freezer lol. I like your kitchen. That should last a long time. Happy grilling 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangles Posted May 24, 2018 Report Share Posted May 24, 2018 Love itSent from my iPad using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted May 24, 2018 Report Share Posted May 24, 2018 SCORE!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted May 25, 2018 Report Share Posted May 25, 2018 Just look at all those treats. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekobo Posted May 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2018 Thanks all. The Mangalitza picture is a bit of a cheat because it comes from 2016. We had cut up lambs and even half a small cow before but a whole day on that pig almost killed us. And it was a squeeze, keeping it all cool in our various fridges while we worked. Since then we have left the butchering to the experts but still always buy a half or whole beast from the farmer. There is a lot of righteousness around nose to tail eating but my main motivation is the tastiness of a lot of the forgotten bits and just how damn cheap it is to buy meat in bulk. In my language we have an expression called "gba won loju gba". In your language/my other language it means "make like a bandit". I often feel that way when a farmer tells me the price of their wonderful products. For instance, the two boxes of pork at the start of my post cost just £155 in total. Here in Italy ALL of the wonderful pig parts below, bought direct from the maker, cost under 150 Euros. Really? I wanted to run out of the shop dancing. Instead I thanked them profusely and will return. I hope Brexit doesn't mean we end up with duties and constraints on my kind of shopping. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted May 25, 2018 Report Share Posted May 25, 2018 I think I'll just send you the money and you can do my buying. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekobo Posted May 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2018 3 hours ago, MacKenzie said: I think I'll just send you the money and you can do my buying. Happy to. You just need to join the EU before we exit so I can send you the good stuff. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted May 25, 2018 Report Share Posted May 25, 2018 With NAFTA falling apart, maybe Canada should consider joining the EU! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted May 25, 2018 Report Share Posted May 25, 2018 Now there's a plan, Tony.:) Anything to get good food. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...