Praise from notable chefs

January 15, 2015 / Bruce Steele / What Chefs Say

April Bloomfield of the Spotted Pig: “When I tasted this pig,” Ms. Bloomfield said of the Mangalitsa, “it took me back to my grandmother’s kitchen on a Sunday afternoon, windows steaming from the roasting pork in the oven. Back then pork tasted as it should: like a pig. This pork has that same authentic taste.”

Devin Knell, executive sous-chef at the French Laundry: “Unlike workaday pork,” Mr. Knell said, “Mangalitsa is marbled, and the fat dissolves on your tongue — it’s softer and creamier, akin to Wagyu beef.”

Keith Luce, the executive chef at the Herbfarm Restaurant outside Seattle.
“Because it’s so great for curing,” Mr. Luce said, “we’re laying it down and curing the legs predominantly, making lardo, all the traditional things. It’s a true nose-to-tail experience with the Mangalitsa, and there’s not any part we’re not using.” The restaurant has also featured the meat on its tasting menu in a different form almost every night recently. “We were laughing when we tasted it,” Mr. Luce continued. “We couldn’t control ourselves. The taste, the texture was so unbelievable.”
Source: (Quotes from “ An Old Breed of Hungarian Pig is Back in Favor”, by Michael S. Sanders, published March 26, 2009 in the New York Times – Dining and Wine)

Pastry chefs also clamor for the leaf lard derived from Mangalitsas – the silky magic ingredient for the flakiest, tastiest pie crusts. Rendered lard can be whipped until so fluffy and white it looks like vanilla ice cream. Former New York Times food critic Ruth Reichl called it “the single best pastry fat I’ve ever found.” “Mangalitza’s are the prettiest pigs. And their lard is perfect in pastry. Easy to roll out, very flaky, lovely, fresh flavor.”
Source for quote: https://twitter.com/ruthreichl/status/9025609827

Sam Hazen, executive chef at Veritas in New York, says the pork is the best he has tasted. “For me, it’s the best pork in the world,” says Sam Hazen who uses only Mangalitsa for his pork dishes. “It’s got incredible texture and it’s consistent; it’s never dry. It’s very, very special.”
Source: Bringing Home The Woolly Bacon From Hungary — by Adee Braun
Posted on the Winfield Mangalitsa Page https://winfieldfarm.us/store/?page_id=770

Adee Braun, April Bloomfield, Devin Knell, French Laundry, Herbfarm Restaurant, Keith Luce, Michael S. Sanders, New York Times, Ruth Reichl, Sam Hazen, Spotted Pig, Veritas

Mangalitsa pigs inspire Operetta

January 14, 2015 / Bruce Steele / History

The Mangalitsa even inspired its own Operetta. In 1885 Johann Strauss II wrote “The Gypsy Baron,” wherein a wealthy pig farmer (Kálmán Zsupán) declares:

Ja, das Schreiben und das Lesen
Ist nie mein Fach gewesen,
Denn schon von Kindesbeinen
Befasst ich mich mit Schweinen,
Auch war ich nie ein Dichter
Potz Donnerwetter Parapluie!
Nur immer Scheinezüchter
Poetisch war ich nie!
Translated:
I’ve no time for learning writing,
breeding pigs is too exciting
and I’ve got no time for reading,
for the pigs will keep on breeding
So I’ve never been a reader,
for reading I don’t care two figs,
I’m just a humble breeder,
who keeps on breeding pigs

“When a man chooses pigs over literacy you know you’ve got some powerful lard!” — Wilhelm Kohl

Excerpt from The Cookbook “The Mangalitsa Pig – Royalty is coming to America” — By Mate Dobesch, Wilhelm W. Kohl, Peter Toth, Beata Bencsics, Eszter Szalai

Johann Strauss II, Kálmán Zsupán, Pig Farmer, The Gypsy Baron

Mangalitsa pork has retaken the foodie world by storm

January 13, 2015 / Bruce Steele / History

In recent years Mangalitsa (pronounced MAHN-ga-leet-za) pork has retaken the foodie world by storm.

With their abundant fat, the curly-haired Mangalitsa pigs of Hungary were all the rage a century ago – favored by nobility in the Austro-Hungarian empire. Mangalitsas were bred for their silky white-as-snow lard on the Hungarian farms of Archduke Joseph in the 1830s. Herds shrank with the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I and declined further with the introduction of fast-growing white pigs and cheaper vegetable oils after World War II.

With the fashion trend to lean meat, Hungarian wooly pigs, a heritage breed lard hog, nearly went extinct.

Mangalitsas were saved from extinction on a farm at the edge of Hungary’s Great Plain, in efforts to preserve Hungarian heritage. Now that succulent, flavorful pork is back in style, along with increasingly popular charcuterie, Mangalitsa pigs are making a comeback.

Mangalitsas are reknown for charcuterie, cured meats such as prosciutto and sausage. Mangalitsa is the only other heritage “black footed” hog besides Spanish Iberican that can be marketed as “pata negra”, premium prosciutto.

The Mangalitsa pig is genetically very similar to the Iberian pigs of Western Spain that produce the famous Jamon Iberico. And like their cousins, the Mangalitsa pig is renowned for the quality of the fat that it produces, which is low in saturates and high in oleic acid. This comes from the feed given to the animals, which primarily consists of wheat and acorns.

Charcuterie, History, Hungarian wooly pig, Iberian pig, Mangalitsa, Mangalitsa pigs

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