The pros and cons to demanding lean pork
Pork rules. Really.
Today's pork chops and other cuts are leaner than ever. For this lean guy, you'd think that would be a benefit, but in some ways it's not. That lean pork just isn't as flavorful, or tender or juicy as the pork I remember decades ago.
Over the years, it appears that breeding and feeding farm animals for consumption evolved into big business with efficiency and profit ruling farms and feed lots. Corporate farms bred the fat, and flavor, out of pigs to meet consumer demand for lean meat and along the way consumers lost touch with how animals breed, what kind of food they eat, how they're housed, what kind, if any antibiotics and hormones they're given, and generally what really happens between their birth and our table.
A growing number of small ranchers out there are raising animals with organically grown and natural feed and treating them humanely. No hefty sows impregnated to create super lean offspring; just litters created the old-fashioned way. Now I don't have studies to back this up, by my gut tells me this naturally bred meat tastes better and is healthier for us.
While doing some research, I came across Caw Caw Creek Farm (cawcawcreek.com) in Columbia, S.C. owned by the DeFelice family. About their farm and pigs they write: "Our heirloom pork is pasture-raised - humanely treated pigs are allowed to roam freely and do the things pigs like to do!" That's refreshing.
Their mission: "to provide you the most delicious pork you have ever tasted and to conserve heirloom pigs in an authentic sustainable environment." Essentially, slow natural food in a fast-food world.
It was heartening to learn that these folks are not alone. Hickory Nut Gap Farm (hickorynutgapfarm.com) in Fairview, N.C. (not far from Asheville) echoes the DeFelices' mission. Owners Jamie and Amy Ager write: "At Hickory Nut Gap Farm, you will find animals raised in their natural outdoor environment. Pigs in the woods, cows on pasture eating grass and clover, multiple species grazing together, drinking clean spring water and living the good life."
The prices for what these families produce seems fair. Caw Caw Creek Farms sells chops for $8 per pound; roasts and homemade sausages run $6 per pound. Hickory Nut Gap Farms charges the same for their chops, tenderloins are $10 a pound and roasts run $5 a pound. Check out the beef, lamb and chicken that Hickory Nut Gap Farms produces.
Purchasing from families like these sustain not only the families and their farm, but the livestock and the environment as well.
Try this recipe: Whether you get pork chops from an heirloom breeder or at your local supermarket, you'll want to try this recipe. I created a similar recipe for Cooking Light magazine back in 2001 and this one is even better.
• Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe make-over requests. Write him at don@theleanwizard.com.
Whiskey Pork Chops
Today's pork chops and other cuts are leaner than ever. For this lean guy, you'd think that would be a benefit, but in some ways it's not. That lean pork just isn't as flavorful, or tender or juicy as the pork I remember decades ago.