I’ve cooked the hams and backstrap of my hog and was amazed. My preparations were intentionally simple as I wanted to really taste the pork and not a rub or a sauce. The backstraps were cut into medallions, seasoned with salt and pepper, then sautéed in butter. The hams were seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic before being baked until tender. I know, not very creative but again that was the point.
What I discovered was that my little piggy tasted pretty much like any other piece of pork I have ever bought at grocery stores. Makes me scratch my head a little. This guy was not raised in a CAFO and ate precious little corn in his life. The truth be told I am having a hard time trying to guess what this little guy ate as there wasn’t much that looked edible down in south Texas. But the point is….all the foodies out there who pontificate on the flavor of meat as a direct function of the diet of an animal would have been hard pressed to know the difference in my animal.
Go figure. A side effect of this experience is for some reason I really am not concerned with the origin of my pork anymore. All of the ethical arguments from Pollan, etc. still exist but for some reason they just don’t resonate with me right now. I guess what it boils down to is that in the end, it’s just a pig.
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