Winfield Farm Mangalitsa Wowed the Crowd at the 3rd Annual Santa Barbara Food and Wine Neighborhood Market Tour at the Bacara Resort
Capping our spring fling promoting Winfield Farm Mangalitsa pork, we were honored and delighted to represent the Santa Ynez Valley farm community, among Santa Barbara County’s most talked about culinary neighborhoods, all gathered on a sunny Sunday in April in the beautiful surroundings of the Bacara Resort’s Courtyard, to celebrate and benefit The Julia Child Foundation.
The Food and Wine Neighborhood Market Tour at the Bacara, a world-class resort overlooking the Pacific Ocean near Santa Barbara, featured tastings by dozens of local and nationally-acclaimed chefs, artisans, winemakers and farmers. Our Winfield Farm table served up Mangalitsa meatballs dipped in secret sauce created by Chef extraordinaire Jensen Lorenzen (Bruce’s nephew), which he fired on his yakitori grill. Bruce and I slathered artisan crackers with Mangalitsa Nduja – a new Winfield Farm product created by our salumi partner Alle Pia from cured Mangalitsa salami Barolo, ground and infused with Palmina Nebbiolo wine, with sun dried tomatoes, garlic and seasonings. Nduja’s texture is reminiscent of tomato paste, but the flavor is out-of-this-world piquant!! Alle Pia partner Alex Pellini also joined us and offered their hand-crafted salami Barolo and Tartufo.
The event was patterned after a farmers’ market, hours 11 AM to 2 PM. Throngs of people table hopped, sampling food and drink from diverse communities including Santa Barbara’s eclectic Funk Zone, Old Town Goleta, the Arts District, Los Alamos and Lompoc, as well as SY Valley.
Food and wine presentation tables ringed the courtyard, while dozens of cloth-draped tea tables scattered about offered tasters a place to sit and enjoy the food and drink.
Event presenters all committed to providing 500 servings – and between the meatballs, Nduja and salami we must have at least doubled that quantity. It seemed that as soon as Chef Jensen set out a tray of Manga meatballs, they vaporized — and the same with the Nduja and salami. Then we noticed the same people coming back again and again … a group of people sitting at the tea table nearest our stand had become fast fans of Mangalitsa pork!
The crowd came early and many lingered until the last taste and sip were stowed away. The Bacara’s Neighborhood Market Tour was a great way to spend a sunny Sunday — educating friends and neighbors about the magical flavor of Mangalitsa pork. Many stopped by to thank us for sharing, and to compliment Winfield Mangalitsa as the best bite of the event. The Chefs at the Bacara also took note. Winfield Mangalitsa pork is now featured on the Bacara Bistro’s breakfast menu! And the Chef told us they’re opening a new restaurant soon, and expressed interest in Winfield Mangalitsa chops… We’re excited about that prospect!
Photo gallery:
Chef Jensen, Bruce and Alex lay out Winfield Mangalitsa tasting at the Bacara
Event goers crowd the Winfield Farm table at the Bacara Taste of the Communities Event
Mangalitsa meatballs yakitori
New product: Mangalitsa Nduja infused with Palmina Nebbiolo