Jen and I had an enjoyable trip to Orcas Island on Sunday to check out a Mangalitsa boar. While we decided not to buy the boar in the end, we really enjoyed meeting the co-owner of the pig and owner of the Restaurant and Hotel, the Inn at Ship Bay. His name is Geddes, and he shared some amazing pork with us. It was a big reminder that chefs generally love a fatty pig, because fat is flavor and they know how to handle the fat. Home cooks generally like a lean pig, because that's what they're used to, lard has gone out of fashion, health concerns, etc. The nice thing that we've learned is that it's fairly easy to manipulate the finished fat level on our pigs by either letting them eat free choice for the last month of their life, or putting them on a diet. The bonus of the diet is that they will tend to eat more pasture. If we get into charcuterie and selling to restaurants in the future, this kind of information is really important. Thank you Geddes!
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