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May 24, 2012: Local/Sustainable Meets the Rubber Chicken Circuit

The Downtown Chicago Marriott on Michigan Avenue feeds a ton of people for all kinds of events, and they work really hard at offering local sustainable food.  They have a rooftop garden, apiaries, make beer, and do a field trip every year.  Last year 9 of them visited La Quercia and very graciously cooked a meal for our team--including sous vide short ribs--that was greatly appreciated.  I got this email from Chef Nathan there looking for ideas about where to source some special pork.  These guys deserve an award! 

"We are doing a farm to table dinner for a group of 600 people and we convinced them to do a pork pot pie as their entrée instead of beef filet mignon. We wanted them to do this because it is more sustainable to utilize a whole hog instead of using 1 cut of meat from 50 cows. We are really excited about this and we hope that we can change peoples ideas of what large volume banquet food is all about. So often people only want a steak or a chicken breast but if we can break that mold one group at a time it could be a huge impact for our sustainable cause."

AMEN

February 9, 2011 La Quercia Acorn Edition V - Berkshire Pigs

December was a wild month, a fitting end to a pretty crazy year. There were the Christmas and New Year's celebrations - people ordering gifts for friends, retail stores and restaurants organizing parties, all the attendant festivities that so often include delicious dry cured meats! And then we have our La Quercia Woodland Tamworth pigs and our Berkshire Acorn Edition V pigs to work with. That meat is a joy and since the acorns and other woodland nuts are seasonal, the meat must also be seasonal, so it all makes for a very busy time!

And now it's February. What happened?

I wrote earlier about our La Quercia Woodland Tamworth pigs raised by Russ Kremer in the Missouri Ozarks. The next group of pigs is from B & B Farms just south of Grinnell, Iowa. B & B is a highly diversified farming operation. Barney and Suzanne try to raise all their own feed for their pigs and cattle. When Barney goes to the mill, for example, he waits so he can get his own soybeans extruded (milled flat, like oatmeal, so the pigs can eat them - and they're pretty tasty to most palates!) and loaded back into his truck. Here are some of their pigs - purebred, pasture raised Berkshire:

 

 

 

You can see why I call them "Prairie Porpoises."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gabe and a marmalade kitten!

 

 

 

And here are some of their cows in a woodland lot:

 

 

 

 

 

Suzanne and Barney (and their adorable son Gabe) have raised acorn fed purebred Berkshire pigs for us for several years. The meat is amazing both fresh and cured, reflective of the breed and the excellent animal husbandry. This year, we brought in only front and hind legs from their pigs;Eden Farms took the rest of the meat to sell fresh and frozen. You can find out about it on their website.

 

I love working with the Acorn Edition and Woodland meat. It is so clean and fresh - great color and aroma even in the combos and on the rack before trimming and salting. I am very partial to Berkshire pigs in particular - they are delightful to look at, delicious to eat - and this year's meat from B & B was terrific.

 

Here are a few of the hams on a rack, waiting to be salted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These were beautiful, big, fat hams and will be with us for up to three years. Aging right along with Herb and me - so exciting!

January 4, 2012: Il Re del Prosciutto - The King of Prosciutto!

For anyone who understands Italian, this is just too much fun! A very nice piece by Daniela Roveda of Il Sole-24 Ore, Italy's equivalent of The Wall Street Journal. She came for a visit yesterday, on a break from covering the caucuses. 

Il Sole-24 Ore - 2012-01-04 - Pag. 20

Vedi ritaglio giornale »

Tecnica importata. Herb Eckhouse ha appreso l'arte a Parma e fondato il salumificio La Quercia a Norwalk 

Ma il re del prosciutto è pro-Obama 

LA CHIAVE DEL SUCCESSO 
Partito dal garage di casa come i profeti dell'high tech ha ora un'azienda famosa in tutto il Paese per la qualità e per le produzioni biologiche 

Daniela Roveda

NORWALK (IOWA)
Non c'è assolutamente nulla in Iowa che ricordi seppur lontanamente l'Italia: non il paesaggio, piatto e uniforme, né la gente di ceppo britannico e germanico, né il fervore religioso dell'elettorato repubblicano. Ma c'è una notevole eccezione: un prosciutto che fa invidia al miglior San Daniele, prodotto da un nativo dell'Iowa, che voterà di nuovo per Obama e ieri sera non è andato ai caucus repubblicani. Herb Eckhouse è l'imprenditore italofilo che ha appreso l'arte del prosciutto a Parma (dove ha vissuto per tre anni per vendere agli agricoltori emiliani le sementi prodotte dalla americana Pioneer) e l'ha poi importata nel cuore del Midwest. «Quando ho deciso di produrre prosciutto in Iowa, tutti mi hanno preso per pazzo in America, mentre gli italiani non hanno nemmeno dato peso all'idea» racconta Eckhouse, 62 anni, fondatore insieme alla moglie Kathy del salumificio La Quercia a Norwalk, 20 minuti dal centro di Des Moines. Come Steve Jobs e Bill Gates, i profeti dell'high tech che iniziarono a fabbricare i loro computer nei loro garage nella Silicon Valley, anche Herb iniziò a fare il prosciutto nel garage di casa sua a Norwalk, stagionandolo inizialmente nel frigo e spostandolo poi in cantina. I primi dieci prosciutti sperimentali risultarono così buoni da convincerlo nel 2003 a ipotecare la casa e investire tutti i risparmi nel primo prosciuttificio interamente biologico d'America, dove la carne proviene da animali allevati con foraggio biologico, senza antibiotici e in spazi sufficientemente ampi da potersi muovere liberamente. «Per produrre un buon prosciutto ci vuole l'aria di Parma, mi avevano detto, oltre che un'esperienza millenaria, animali di un certo peso e una certa età, strutture particolari per la stagionatura, manodopera specializzata. Posso dire che non è vero. Il mio prosciutto non respira l'aria di Parma ma è altrettanto buono».

Non solo è altrettanto buono, ma è prodotto nel rispetto di tecniche artigianali e di tradizioni ormai cadute in disuso in Italia. Un tipo di prosciutto La Quercia proviene per esempio da una razza particolare di suini, la razza Berkshire, nutrita esclusivamente con ghiande nella storica tradizione parmense, una regione che originalmente era un immenso querceto. Un'altra varietà di prosciutto proviene da un'altra razza pura di suini, la Tamworth; il prosciutto proveniente da razze ibride, invece, viene sommariamente bollato "prosciutto americano".
Grazie all'enfasi sulla qualità, nel giro degli ultimi cinque o sei anni il prosciutto La Quercia è diventato un nome tra gli appassionati di buona cucina negli Stati Uniti, e la fabbrica La Quercia è diventata un'oasi d'Italia nelle steppe dell'Iowa: l'impianto di refrigerazione per esempio viene dalla Frigomeccanica di Mosciano Sant'Angelo in provincia di Teramo, gli scaffali per la stagionatura dalla CFI di San Michele di Tiorre in provincia di Parma, le insaccatrici e le massaggiatrici dalla Saimec, anch'essa di San Michele.

Per emulare la qualità del prosciutto italiano non bastano però macchinari e impianti, ci vuole il know how, ci vuole qualcuno che conosca l'arte della lavorazione artigianale. Per Eckhouse quel qualcuno si chiama Giorgio Giuffredi, consulente e titolare insieme al fratello Pietro del salumificio San Luigi di Langhirano in provincia di Parma. Giuffredi ha iniziato qualche anno fa a fare la spola tra Parma e l'Iowa per aiutare Eckhouse nella sua impresa: ha insegnato al personale dei mattatoi come macellare l'animale, ha insegnato ai 28 dipendenti de La Quercia a quale temperatura stagionare la carne, come usare gli impianti di areazione e refrigfrazione, come disossare un prosciutto.

La fama dei prodotti La Quercia nel frattempo è cresciuta in modo esponenziale. L'anno scorso il prosciutto Berkshire ha vinto il premio Good Food d'America nella categoria dei prodotti di salumeria, i prodotti La Quercia sono stati recensiti con entusiasmo dalla rivista Bon Appetit, dal New York Times e dal Los Angeles Times; i grandi ristoranti d'America vantano nei loro menu la provenienza del prosciutto usato in cucina, non dall'Italia ma dall'Iowa.
Il successo del salumificio La Quercia è tale che la produzione ha raggiunto 50mila prosciutti all'anno. Il valore del fatturato è top secret, ma nei supermercati americani e canadesi il prosciutto di Eckhouse (più speck, coppa, pancetta, lardo e fra poco anche salsicce) si vende a 40-45 euro al chilo. Il sogno di Eckhouse è esportare in Italia, ma i regolamenti europei sono così onerosi da rendere proibitivi i costi. «Forse un giorno ci riuscirò».

 

December 14, 2011 Woodland Tamworth Acorn Edition

The sacrifice of the second group of Woodland Tamworth Acorn Edition pigs was December 8th and they arrived at La Quercia early today. Once again, the meat is simply beautiful - lovely deep rose color, sweet smell, excellent fat layer. Russ Kremer is the man behind the pigs, the extraordinary pig farmer who has been working with us for 6 years and was thrilled to finally have a partner is raising true woodland raised animals. The following is a synopsis of his "Woodland Tamworth Notes."

 

 

 

Russ really loves his pigs. Here he is with a Tamworth piglet.

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

And here's the woodland.

 

 

 

 

At the end of August, Russ put 94 Tamworth pigs (average weight 100 lbs) into the first of a series of 5 acre paddocks. Pigs were moved to a new paddock weekly. The perimeter of the individual paddocks was secured by an electric fence. The woodlot was 90 percent tree covered; tree species included white oak, black oak, pin oak, bur oak, hickory, walnut, persimmon, and ash. 

Acorns and forest mast comprised about 50 percent of the pigs' diet. There was a supplemental feed ration of barley, grain sorghum, and flax with vitamin/trace mineral supplement. Acorn drop started in the first half of September. The white oak acorn crop was particularly abundant, so the fencing was adjusted to focus on areas with lots of white oaks. In mid-October the first frost occured, resulting in significant leaf and nut drop.

Russ noted that the pigs exhibited great stewardship habits and caused very little scarring or other damage to trees and vegetation. They did not engage in extensive rooting (NB: these pigs did not have nose rings!). About 90 percent of the pigs thrived on a diet consisting mostly of acorns and other nuts. There was a sad group of 10 percent which did not like the acorns, did not grow well, and were not part of either of the two sacrifices in December. By the end of the grazing and foraging cycle (early December) the pigs' average weight was 300 pounds. These are rates of gain comparable to those of pigs on the Spanish dehesa.

These are the pigs we have been working with last week and this week. 

Here's some of the meat at La Quercia. 

 

 

 

 

 

Gladis and I are salting the hind legs (so are Herb and Juan - that's Herb's hat in the foreground and Juan's hand across from me!). The Woodland Tamworth Acorn Edition Prosciutto will be ready in two years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Herb is moving a rack of hind legs into the cooler. Love their feet!

December 6, 2011 - Woodland Tamworth Acorn Edition

Three generations of nurturing endangered heirloom Tamworth pigs by the Kremer family in Missouri, 6 years of work by Russ Kremer and La Quercia to get a Tamworth program going, La Quercia Tamworth Prosciutto and La Quercia Tamworth Country Cured Bacon (it IS the bacon pig!) launched, and then this summer into winter - Acorn Edition Woodland Tamworth . These pigs have been rotationally grazed on a large oak and hickory woodlot, moved every few days, much as the swine herds of medieval Europe moved their pigs through the forests every fall. They were in the woods until last week, when the first half were sent to "sacrifice." They arrived here at La Quercia yesterday afternoon and we are spending this week cutting, trimming, and salting. 

 

 

This is the forest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's a Tamworth pig in the forest.

 

 

 

 

 

The meat from these pigs is just beautiful - deep rosy color, great layer of white fat, clean sweet smell. You can tell that these animals have lived well and fully. This is a significant step in our work with pork varietals - animal breed and animal husbandry combining to make wonderful meat.

It's a big and complicated project that really does involve generations and communities. It's exciting and challenging and a tremendous amount of work for everyone involved. None of this just happens. These animals were raised in a sustainable system that honors their natures and the integrity of the land. Now the pigs are embarking on the next stage of their journey to your plates. We will do our best to honor the pigs and the farmers who raised them by treating the meat with great care and respect. I will be posting some more pictures of the meat here at La Quercia as we cut, trim, and salt. Next week the next batch of woodland pigs arrives. And soon after that, a group of pasture raised, acorn fed Berkshire pigs. The journey continues!

September 10, 2011: What They're Saying 2

We've never met Ruth Reichl, so we were really thrilled to read that she said

“...you don’t have to go to Italy to get amazing prosciutto, ... La Quercia is doing it in Iowa “  

in the Inside Scoop , a San Francisco Chronicle online publication.  

 

August 31, 2011: Why We Don't Buy Confinement Pork

Another day, another fish kill in Iowa.   Here's a link to a report of a fish kill in Central Iowa in mid-August.  There was another report of a hog confinement related manure spill/river fish kill buried on page 3B of our Sunday Des Moines Register, but I couldn't find it available on line.  These facilities have risks associated with them, and we don't want to be associated with those risks, so we don't buy confinement pork.

August 11, 2011--Raising Pigs Right

We recently took a road trip to Chicago, then up to Wisconsin, and home through northern Iowa to Des Moines. In Black Earth, Wisconsin, we visited Black Earth Meats, a small slaughterhouse and processing plant that handles beef, pork, and lamb and has a small retail store. We are talking to them about getting some Berkshire pigs, which brings us to our stop in Decorah, Iowa, at one of the farms run by Ken Kehrli, a very knowledgeable pig farmer and breeder, who raises thousands of pigs a year, some in conventional confinement facilities and some in places like the one we visited, the Holthaus Farm in Decorah, which is "Certified Humane" by Humane Farm Animal Care. This excellent operation has lots of clean bedding and indoor/outdoor space - happy pigs. The Decorah Bike Trail runs through the property, providing some entertainment for the resident horses, Holstein heifers, and pigs.

 

This is near the Holthaus Farm.

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the pigs are purebred Berkshires, while others are a mix of Berkshire, Landrace, Chester White, and Duroc. I took some wonderful pictures, but my camera died on me, so I have only a few to share.

It was a hot day and the pigs were hanging out inside, but wandering in and out the door in the back to a paddock that overlooks the bike trail. 

Over lunch, we talked to Ken about some of the challenges of raising his Berkshire pigs. To start, Berkshires have small litters compared to commercial cross-breds, although they compare favorably to other purebred lines. The best Berkshire sows under optimal conditions produce average litters of 7.5 pigs 2.0 times/year, for a total of 15 pigs/sow/year, while the best commercial crossbred sows will have 13.5 pigs/litter 2.2 times/year, for a total of 29-30 pigs/sow/year.  That’s less than half the production right at the start. And then the Berkshire pigs take 20 to 40 percent longer to get to slaughter weight, another significant cost to the farmer.

Another important issue is feed conversion rate, directly related to the greenhouse gas emissions results referred to in my previous post (the less efficient the feed conversion rate, the more greenhouse gas emissions per unit of meat produced). Most heritage breeds have less efficient feed conversion rates, so in confinement, for example, the best commercial crossbreds have a feed conversion rate of 2.4 to 2.6 (2.4 to 2.6 pounds of feed to get 1 pound of gain), while the best rate for purebred Berkshires in confinement is 3.2 to 3.5. Feed conversion rates are lower in outdoor conditions: 3.8 for crossbreds; 4.4 to 4.6 for Berkshires. This does not mean that confinement is better – feed conversion is only one element in the total production cycle which comprises eating quality, waste generation and air and water quality, as well as animal welfare. These feed conversion rates do not account for “external costs” such as air and water pollution and the health of the animals and the humans who share their world, all of which are burdened by CAFOs ("concentrated animal feeding operations"). The "better" rates for confinement production probably derive in part from the routine use of antibiotics in the feed as growth promotants, which contributes to the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria. This does mean, however, that outdoor production is more costly to the farmer, and to us, and therefore to the lucky person who gets to eat the delicious meats. Less meat, better meat.

 

August 2, 2011--Protein Sources and the Environment

Check out this article showing the effect on climate for twenty different types of protein, from lentils to lamb: A Climate Hazard, Medium Rare, Please 

The calculations include the energy costs of production, processing,transportation, cooking, and disposal. For lentils, a kilogram consumed generated less than a kilogram of emissions, while the animal proteins analyzed range from 4.8 kg emissions/kg consumed for eggs to 39.2 kg emissions/kg consumed for lamb. I was sorry to learn that lamb has the highest level of emissions of any food assessed for both production and post farm-gate emissions, since sheep are generally raised in better conditions than conventional cattle, pork, and poultry. Sheep, however, are extremely inefficient in their feed conversion and as ruminants generate methane as a natural part of their digestive process. Pork is a relatively efficient animal protein, definitely the best of the mammals, generating 12.1 kg emissions/kg consumed, in part because pigs are monogastric and do not generate methane the way ruminants do. 

Stay tuned for my next post - a discussion of the feed conversion rates for pigs raised in confinement (CAFOs) and nonconfinement (with bedding, space, access to the out-of-doors).

July 15 2011--Fear of Frying

Have Fear of Frying?  Don't.  The Today Show Bites blog writes that our Tamworth Bacon "hogs the spotlight" at the recent North American Fancy Food Show.  Then they ask, "Would you eat raw bacon?"  Get out there and VOTE FOR RAW!

 

Nitrates

-On our facebook page we've posted links to articles about nitrates and nitrites in cured meats from Cook's Illustrated and bloggers.  It's a situation with complexity and nuance.  Here's an article from the NY Times that discusses the misleading nature of labels that say no nitrates when they in fact contain vegetable sourced nitrates.  Industry is leading the effort to change labelling rules.  Hmmmmmm.....