Length: 4 mins I came across this expression whilst researching background on the Ossabaw and Ibérico pig breeds recently. It’s not actually a euphemism (although I’m told that it’s also been used as a slang term for male masturbation, but then what hasn’t?)…… Read More »“Slopping the hog”
Length: < 1 min Courtesy René Redzepi of Noma fame, is this demonstration of how sharp a knife can (and should be). Mine fail the test. At the moment…
Length: 5 mins “Pigs are omnivores, and the more options you give them to eat, the better the product is,” says Clay Trainum (of Autumn Olive Farms, Washington State). “It’s all about terroir and we have fantastic terroir here.” [Clay is from America. But that’s… Read More »Terroir or tierra? It’s ALL about the land, stupid.
Length: 3 mins A question asked by barbers in the “old days” (i.e. when I was younger). It’s supposed to be a (euphemistic) code used by them, to avoid asking the male customer directly if he wanted to buy some condoms, as in… Read More »“Something for the weekend, Sir?”
Length: < 1 min Bacon & Eggs The chicken contributes, But the pig gives his all. Ain’t that the truth? Take a look at this plateful of Earthly delights from those fine folks at Riverford at The Duke of Cambridge in Islington. Ethical and… Read More »A pig poem, by Howard Nemerov
Length: 3 mins Nola jan jakitea, nahikoa jakitea da; “To know how to eat, is to know enough.”– old Basque saying I’ve covered the rare & endangered breeds of Great Britain and heritage US ones also under similar threat plus one (le… Read More »Osasuna eta On Egin and the Euskal Txerria
Length: < 1 min …but that’s OK. It was fittingly after all, a report from earlier this year that, on July 20, 2016, the Slow Food movement awarded their 100th Ark of Taste product certificate to the breed society of …….<drum roll please> ……. The… Read More »A bit slow in reporting this news…
Length: 3 mins There’s an almost symbiotic relationship between pigs and apple trees and oak forests, that dates back thousands, probably even tens of thousands, of years. These great oak trees below are to be found in Brampton Wood where we walked yesterday.… Read More »Apples, oaks & acorns
Length: 3 mins Somewhere in the decade around 1430 — with King Henry VI on the English throne — one of the earliest, still extant, cook books was being written called “Potage Dyvers“. It included a list of ingredients (or “bills of fare”)… Read More »Pork “meatballs”; to the Lancastrians they were pompys
Length: 2 mins …it’s yet another arriviste immigrant from Spain (along with the Ossabaw & Mulefoot amongst others). But the Choctaw Hog is named after the Choctaw Native American tribe; who, whilst they weren’t the only people in America to take advantage of this… Read More »The Choctaw isn’t a native American…
Length: < 1 min I’m looking at making my own “peameal bacon”. This is an iconic Canadian dish (despite some totally bogus claims to the contrary from their brash, shouty neighbour in the south); it’s a wet-cured pork loin taken from the back of… Read More »Not piecemeal, PEAMEAL.
Length: 6 mins Do I really want to go near religion in this piece? Especially at this time of year when the insanity reaches its annual crescendo and the twin obeisances towards both Mammon and bearded sky pixies seems unending ? Yeah, I… Read More »Pigs may eat crap; we shouldn’t treat them like shit…
Length: 5 mins For those of you of a certain age and British — especially if there are any of you still involved with horse trading or selling rams — that description will immediately sound some melodic chimes. Its significance may be slightly less… Read More »21 shillings…
Length: < 1 min Any guesses what this is? “Fresh blood black pudding mix” I hear someone shout? A round of applause to that lady in the back row. Correct! And something that most people won’t have seen (or even eaten) unless they have… Read More »Now THAT’S fresh!
Length: 2 mins Why not? They’re good with mirrors after all. But a Sarah Palin or David Cameron nightmare to haunt your dreams this isn’t, don’t worry. Scientists see the ability to understand how to use a mirror as a sign of complex… Read More »Lipstick on a pig?
Length: 3 mins “Craftsmanship is never unfashionable“. That statement is precisely on point, on so many levels and it was a comment I heard whilst listening to this recent fascinating BBC piece on Lobb shoes*. * (And at less than £4k a pair, that… Read More »Craftsmanship. Worth paying the price?
Length: 3 mins More plated servings of vom schnörrli, zum schwänzli goodness. And another reminder that meat doesn’t come pre-packed in styrofoam, brightly coloured, packaging; at least not naturally. Which is why I keep talking about offal, in all its mis-shapen and bizarre looking… Read More »Another helping of ‘internals’ from Fergus H (and others)…
Length: < 1 min But some of us (inc. yours truly) are more infatuated than others… Tom Adams — star of Pitt Cue and Coombeshead Farm amongst others — rhapsodises about them and they’re served on the menu at the new Pitt Cue near… Read More »We all love our Mangalitsas
