Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Black Hoof Pigs

Not the Actual Black hoofed pig from spain, but these two ladies are now owned by the Black Hoof and we are raising them up to be the first two of our future breeders. I have yet to find time to bring the staff up to meet them, so we have yet to finalize their names, but the ones i like the best are "Brunch and Dinner". Crude i know, but we dont plan on cooking these ones so i guess it makes it fine. We are constantly looking for ways to make our restaurant more self sustainable as well as doing as many things as possible in house. Surely these two arn't cooped up in our back patio but we have found a great farmer by the name of Rory O'neil to raise and breed our pigs in the best manner possible. Rory's farm is just outside Cobourg, its a small operation and the animals get the best of treatment.
If you cant tell by the pictures, these two are 100% Berkshire. I chose Berkshire because the meat is just so dark and purple, its got the best marbling, and the fat content is the perfect amount (read ->lots of fat).
By taking this next step in producing our own pork, we get a lot more control on what we serve. These pigs as well as there young will be whey fed on Empire Cheese whey and then finished on apples and walnuts. The fat literally melts on your tongue!!
They are pretty skittish at the moment, but i hope with some time, they will become pretty laid back as some pigs ive been around. We wont be seeing any edible pork from them for atleast 10 months, but i guarantee there will be a party when that time comes. Something along the lines of a big pig roast im sure.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

that is pretty cool! raising your own pigs :D and that's the same as the kurobuta right? damn, i wanna learn how to raise pigs also! lolz! kudos to your new restaurant :) Maybe you can do some charcuterie on a whole hog? :)