Comments on: Attention Bay Area Chefs and (Current and Future) Pig Farmers

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Does that pig have the etonian flip?

By: Cliff Replogle

Cliff Replogle — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Heath — I emailed you a comment and received no response so I will try to catch your attention from here.

Central Coast California is a perfect location for supplying not only the SF area (only about a 4 hour drive) – but Los Angeles (about 2 hours) and even Las Vegas (about 6 hours)

I am currently trying to gather info on processing and inspection costs so that I can make a viable offer. Before I get into it, I want to know what you think?

you can email me at cliffy771@yahoo.com, or creplog@cosbpw.net. Thanks

By: gary angell

gary angell — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I am the farmer near Spokane, WA. that raised the pigs for Heath Putnam that he is currently selling. It is an all natural pasture based farm. He is not a farmer himself and has many wild ideas about raising pigs. He currently keeps them at the worst kind of confinement farm and uses antibiotics to keep them healthy. He never mentions the current farm. I don’t recommend these pigs from a farmers standpoint!!!!

By: luis

luis — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Just look at the cute piggies in the picture. Real world… bring them to the farm.. name them pet them and you will end up caring for them year after year. This babies would never see the b-u-t-c-h—….word that should never be spoken.

By: Erin

Erin — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Can I adopt one of those little piglets?? Soooo cute!

By: Erin

Erin — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Can I adopt one of those little piglets?? Soooo cute!

By: luis

luis — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Don’t kid yourself Erin. They are cute and they have personalities like all animals. God bless the farmers that can deal with that dilemma. It may be a really silly thing on my part but I know for sure that folks will not go fishing with me because I detest to bait hooks with live bait. And I release everything I catch. Doesn’t mean I am a wooz or nothing like that. I’d do what I have to given the circumstances. It’s other…. Someone chooses to be a farmer, I choose to be other. It takes different brain connections. Who set this shitty scenario up and why? that is the issue. I could be a fish farmer or a veggie farmer. But an animal farmer takes a different kinda guy.

By: luis

luis — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

We are now looking at some acres in central fl. Retirement stuff… but by gosh if I ever have a piece o’land… I will get with Heath and check out the Mangalitzas….
The only way to create wealth is to create. Not just service But actually create something. This is why we are in the fix we are in now.

By: Andres Larin

Andres Larin — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Michael, I came across an article about the pigs back in November in Idaho falls, Idaho, from a Spokane, Washington, paper, I did find it in the airport after all. but it was all about Heath and his pigs and how good they tasted, it made my drool, think of a beautifully marbled piece of prosciutto from those babies. mmmm piggy. I bet you Constantino is going shit brick when he finds out about these things.

By: luis

luis — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

This one is for the experts. I have been trying to find directions around the web on how to butterfly a pig. I can do chickens but the closest I have come in pigs is this:
One: don’t cut the skin.. and
Two: you need to do something to their back bone?

Can anyone help me understand How to go about butterflying an 80lb pig/pork…behemoth…

By: luis

luis — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Unprovoked shark attacks…One diver dead after being stu… Folks don’t mess with sharks. You are not Mike Nelson and you have no skills….

By: Tags

Tags — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Another quote from “good good pig” (page 7)

In his hunting days in Brazil, President Theodore Roosevelt once saw a jaguar dismembered by South American native pigs. Although pigs are generally good-natured, more people are killed each year by pigs than by sharks. (Which should be no surprise-how often do you get to see a shark?)

By: Heath Putnam

Heath Putnam — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

luis – The pigs have a hard time with heat. Maybe they’d lose their coats if you moved them to FL – but it could be tough. If you want a lard-type pig that does well in FL, I’d look for a Chinese or Vietnamese breed from a semi-tropical climate. I looked up the Caja China device, but not the recipe. Mangalitsa pigs are great roasted.

BBQ Fan – In general, Mangalitsa costs 3-5 times what normal pork costs. So take the shoulder price and scale it up.

Tags – The Hungarians used to take the pigs and turn them into sausage. That’s how they’d preserve them. They also work with hot meat (pre rigor mortis). The idea is that the drop in pH in the meat is what kills the germs in the ground pork.

By: luis

luis — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Interesting lake dynamics…. not really. They live amongst us and we just don’t notice it.
Bro’s show up with a combo marshmallos, old bread and stale pretzels….meant for the ducks of course.
Ducks are acting cool…like all the lake deforestation isn’t important?… I immediatelly spread it all out on the barren bank… not a duck in striking range.
Well blackbirds zeroed in first.. then brownies swooped down on the scraps…well we turned and walked away in disgust…what would a marshmallow do to an un invited black bird? just as we were driving off the ducks were all over the stuff. Gosh if you feed them they will come.
Well kicking things around we ended up in Isla Morada which is in the Florida Keys were we tired of looking at the real estate and ended up at Hog Heaven’s.
I had the pork po’boys and the bitter key west lager with the breaded squid rings appetizers. Long story short, it was more fun feeding the fish than eating or drinking anything at Hog’s heaven. If you feed them they will come I guess… barracudas, snappers..more fish I can remember…
Honestly the pork wasn’t anything to write home about and it was topped with a sweet barbeque sauce….No doggy bag for me.
Nobody does pork right in this town. Did you catch the caja china pork recipe?…
It is not about sweet.. it is about pork people. I think Bobby Flay gets it. Oh! and you’d love the sign on the door at Hog Heaven.
It reads “the beer is hot, the food is lousy and the service sucks”. “Have a nice day”.
The staff though was like hooters on steroids which in a sports bar is not entirelly out of place.
Imagine a major market going begging….and not even knowing.
I

By: BBQ Fan

BBQ Fan — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I have a question for Putnam. Exactly where do you see your product prisewise as compared a good quality butcher’s offerings ?

If your jowl bacon is $22 lb, what will shoulder cost ? Other parts of the animal ? Spareribs ?

By: Tags

Tags — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

My guess is you’ll have a better chance to taste them at BBQ events, since contestants are more prone to buy them than proprietors of BBQ joints, especially as prize money ascends while restaurant competition puts pressure on profits.

Ham, though, will likely be served in the finer restaurants and fine foods emporiums.

By: Tags

Tags — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

A quote from page 57 of Sy Montgomery’s “the good good pig;”

From the Austro-Hungarian Empire came the fleecy-coated Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa, bred for meat suited to Hungarian salami.

By: luis

luis — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

That is another thing I hadn’t thought of. I wonder if the Mangalitzas would do well in the southern florida weather. That heavy coat it wears could be trouble in the south. Nothing that an airconditoned barn wouldn’t solve. Makes an argument for buying the frozen carcasses and renting a walk in.

By: luis

luis — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

well I don’t have a farm… but do share a lake. Mangalitzas is a megawinner in this market and I am working on that. For now I will clean up the lake and raise tilapia. It is what I can do at this time.

By: Heath Putnam

Heath Putnam — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

latenac – from poking around, it has become clear that some of the best people to raise these pigs aren’t currently farming pigs. The folks who farm pigs already produce low-quality pork and sell it to customers who don’t demand the best. Although they are raising pigs, they don’t know what to feed them to get the best pork. I don’t see how you can count on those folks to do it right. In any case, when they go to market the pork, the customers have to trust them, which is tough if they know about their normal pigs.

Similarly, the restaurants that already buy a lot of pork aren’t generally the best purchasers of Mangalitsa – the best ones are the ones who buy lamb and Wagyu, and complain that pork is too dry.

I contacted Michael because I figured that he’d get the word out to folks who want the best raw material, or to people who want to produce the best. Assuming you want to produce the best, it is trivial to set up a pig finishing operation, buy the feeder pigs and produce some of the best pork there is.

Mathias – My exclusive control of the genetics drives some into an envious frenzy. And the fact that I’m specifically hoping to get the pigs into the Bay Area in a big way bothers people who think I’m insulting them.

Bob – That pig is from Christoph Wiesner’s farm. I have a bunch that look like her. I don’t care if you have an oak grove. It sounds like the pigs will wind up in NYC, which is good enough – as long as you’ll feed them properly.

vox8 – I think an acre or two of oaks per pig is enough acorns. They like the low-tannin ones.

luis – I think those palm seeds may have too much palmitic acid. If I remember correctly, if the pigs fatten on that, it gives their fat a soapy flavor. You’d want to do some experiments. In any case, if you just feed them barley & wheat, you get a superior pork.