The Pig Sty - Porcine Pleasure

Schmidt Meister · September 4, 2021

Everything Pork

Schmidt Meister · September 4, 2021

Bacon. Etymologically, bacon means meat from the 'back of an animal'. Germanic bakkon passed into Frankish bako, which French borrowed as bacon (or bacoun as it was spelt then). English acquired the word in the twelfth century, and seems at first to have used it as a synonym for the native term flitch, 'side of cured pig meat'. By the fourteenth century, however, we find it being applied to the cured meat itself.

Americans consume about 51 lbs of pork per person per year. Approximately 18 of those are in the form of bacon.

Bacon is addictive; it contains six types of umami which produces an addictive neurochemical response.

While heavy on salt and kind of high in calories, bacon has no trans fat at all.

Bacon is healthier than hot dogs, hamburgers and glazed donuts in terms of salt, calories, fat and cholesterol.

Bacon, just like salmon and walnuts, contains a lot of omega-3 fatty acids, which actually reduce your risk of heart disease.

A 200-pound pig will produce approximately 20 lbs. of bacon.

Bacon contains vitamin B1, B12, and Zinc.

Pancetta is cured or Italian bacon that is not smoked.

Bacon contains choline, a micronutrient that is linked to better fetal brain development. Choline is also found in eggs, liver, milk and nuts.

Guanciale is specialty bacon made only from pork cheeks.

11% of a standard pigs weight is bacon.

Bacon (salted pork bellies) was made by the Chinese as early as 1500 B.C.

“Bring home the bacon"

A church in the historic English town of Dunmow promised a flitch (side) of bacon to any married man who could swear before the congregation and God that he had not quarreled with his wife for a year and a day. A husband who could bring home the bacon was held in high esteem by the community for his forbearance, self-control and patience.

In the 1770’s, an Englishman, John Harris opened the worlds first commercial bacon processing plant in Wiltshire, a place considered by many to be the bacon capital of the world and went on to help develop a method of curing pork by curing 1/2 pork sides in a brine curing solution, a method which became known as the "Wiltshire Cure".

The "Wiltshire Cure" method produces a low salt sweet bacon that is sought after all over the world.

In 1924 Oscar Mayer introduces pre-packaged, pre-sliced bacon to America.

Bacon Day is on the Saturday before Labor Day.

April is National BLT Month.

October is National Pork Month.

Schmidt Meister · September 4, 2021

THE HISTORY OF PORK

By 4900 B.C. pigs were domesticated in China, and were being raised in Europe by 1500 B.C. On the insistence of Queen Isabella, Christopher Columbus took eight pigs on his voyage to Cuba in 1493. But it is Hernando de Soto who could be dubbed “the father of the American pork industry.” He landed with America’s first 13 pigs at Tampa Bay, Florida in 1539.

Native Americans reportedly became very fond of the taste of pork, resulting in some of the worst attacks on the de Soto expedition. By the time of de Soto’s death three years later, his pig herd had grown to 700 head, not including the ones his troops had consumed, those that ran away and became wild pigs (and the ancestors of today’s feral pigs or razorbacks), and those given to the Native Americans to keep the peace. The pork industry in America had begun.

Pig production spread throughout the new colonies. Hernando Cortez introduced hogs to New Mexico in 1600, and Sir Walter Raleigh brought sows to Jamestown Colony in 1607. Semi-wild pigs conducted such rampages in New York colonists’ grain fields that every owned pig 14 inches high had to have a ring in its nose. On Manhattan Island, a long solid wall was constructed on the northern edge of the colony to control roaming herds of pigs. This area is now known as Wall Street.

The pig population of Pennsylvania colony numbered in the thousands by 1660. As the seventeenth century closed, the typical farmer owned four or five pigs, supplying salt pork and bacon for his table with surpluses sold as barreled pork. Finishing pigs on Native Americans’ corn became a common practice in Pennsylvania. After the Revolutionary war, pioneers began heading west and they took their indispensable pigs with them. A wooden crate filled with young pigs was often hung from the axles of prairie schooners. As western herds grew, the need for pork processing facilities became apparent. packing plants began to spring up in major cities. Pigs were first commercially slaughtered in Cincinnati. More pork was packed there than any other place in the Midwest.

Schmidt Meister · September 4, 2021

Schmidt Meister · September 4, 2021

British Aviator Claude Moore-Brabazon consults with his co-pilot, the first pig to fly. Kent, Great Britain. 11.4.1909

Schmidt Meister · September 4, 2021

Making bacon a tad too close to the electric fence.

Schmidt Meister · September 4, 2021

This little piggy went to market, This little piggy stayed at home, This little piggy had roast beef, This little piggy had none, And this little piggy went "Wee wee wee" all the way home.

..

Schmidt Meister · September 4, 2021

Pig in Australia Steals 18 Beers from Campers, Gets Drunk, Fights Cow

Campers told to lock up food and drink after feral pig goes on bender in Western Australia and ends up in altercation with cow

A rampage by a feral pig that consumed 18 beers has prompted warnings for people at campsites to properly secure their food and alcohol.

The pig struck at the DeGrey River rest area, east of the remote Western Australian town of Port Hedland in the Pilbara, according to the ABC.

The animal was seen stealing three six-packs of beer from campers before ransacking rubbish bags for food.

One camper reported seeing the pig guzzling the beer before getting involved in an altercation with a cow.

A visitor estimated that the pig had consumed 18 beers.

"Then he went and raided all the rubbish bags. There were some other people camped right on the river and they saw him being chased around their vehicle by a cow."

The pig was reportedly last seen resting under a tree, possibly nursing a hangover.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/09/swigging-pig-hogs-18-beers

Schmidt Meister · September 4, 2021

Schmidt Meister · September 4, 2021

Schmidt Meister · September 4, 2021

Kielbasa Pig Shots

Ingredients:

2 pkg.’s - kielbasa

2 16 oz packages – bacon

8 oz. - cream cheese

1/2 cup - Mexican 4-cheese blend

3 oz. - green chiles, diced

1/2 cup - brown sugar

1/2 tsp - chili powder

1/2 tsp - cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp - BBQ rub + enough for a light dusting

Instructions:

Cut sausage down to discs about 3/8” thick.

Wrap ½ slice of bacon around the disc and fix in place with a toothpick or skewer several “shots” (10” skewer can hold 4-5 shots).

Soften cream cheese and mix in cheese blend and chiles

Pipe or spoon the cream cheese blend into the shot

Mix the brown sugar, chili powder, and cayenne pepper together and sprinkle on top of cream cheese filling

Lightly sprinkle with BBQ rub

Cook indirect around 280-320 degrees until bacon has crisped up (approx. 70-90 minutes). Wood for smoke is optional, I personally DO NOT like to use wood for flavoring.

(I had 2 packs of bacon and one pack was thicker bacon and the other was thin and falling apart. Make sure and get thicker bacon as its easier to wrap and makes them look a whole lot better.

Also my wife had some homemade bbq sauce that we put on about half of them, and I thought they were better with BBQ glazed on the last 15 min of cook time. Also be generous with the cream cheese mix on top. The bites that had lots of that mix on there were the best!)