Austrian Meat Theory

Europe's Gourmet Market

Continental Europe has a large high-end pork segment, where farmers raise the best they can, often for the cured-meat market.

Excellent cured products from a small European producer.

European Farmers and scientists have discovered what techniques work to produce the best meat, and why these techniques work. Although some farmers have more or less access to the best pig fodder (e.g. Spain with its acorns), they generally agree on what one needs to make the best pork.

In America, almost all producers have focused on producing as much meat as cheaply as possible. The industry is so price-focused that there's very little information available in English about how to go about producing great pork.

Many Americans break the law by bringing home European meat products.

Until Heath Putnam Farms imported the Mangalitsa, America didn't have any breeds like the tastiest European ones.

The importation of the Mangalitsa is only the start: Heath Putnam Farms is proud to bring European methods of hog fattening to America, and also Austrian seam butchery (large PDF) techniques.

Back To Basics

In order to learn how Europeans consistently produce superior results, we visited farms in Austria, and met with many different farmers and experts. We've also studied the literature in English and German to learn how farmers produce meat and fat of the highest quality.

Austria's "Meat-Culture"

German-language book on cured products - Amazon.de

The Austrian food scientist, Dr. Franz S. Wagner, has written a nice book which explains how Austrians go about making their cured products. His book contains all the standard wisdom of Austrian farmers, plus instructions on how to make traditional Austrian specialties.

As he explains (in translation):

Animal

A red and marbled Mangalitsa loin of a mature sow.

Dr. Wagner explains that modern pig breeds are too lean, so there's little flavor. He encourages picking a breed related to the traditional breeds, so that it will have marbling.

Some breeds, like the Mangalitsa, tend to produce fat that is more monounsaturated than the modern breeds. That difference is always important, but especially critical when making cured products.

Dr. Wagner advises raising a pig whose meat will be cured to at least 120kg (260 lbs). A bigger pig has better marbling and flavor. The animal should also be allowed to run around and exercise, developing flavorful red meat.

Master-butcher and farmer Marcel Kropf, in contrast, advises that a hog should be at least 9 months old. He says that meat quality improves until about 24 months, after which it holds steady. Similarly, Mr. Gasser, advises that 2 years is best for his Mangalitsa products.

In addition to tasting better, older animals eat a lot more, are much riskier for the farmer and have fatter, less-economic carcasses - explaining why almost nobody raises such animals anymore.

Diet

Farmers and scientists stress the importance of the animal's diet, as it has a direct impact on the type of fat the animal produces.

Controlling Fat Composition

Mr. Gasser and his Speck, with bright white (not yellow!) fat.

Controlling fat composition is very important. As mentioned previously it is critical that meat not have large amounts of polyunsaturated fat, or it will quickly go rancid.

Although some breeds naturallly tend to produce more monounsaturated fat regardless of the feed, it has been proven that diet is decisive, because pigs don't produce polyunsaturated fat; they get polyunsaturated fats in their diet. Hence the importance of the farmer giving the pig the right feed.

Additionally, farmers can ensure that pigs get antioxidants in their diet, which will lead to their meat containing antioxidants, which help to keep any polyunsaturated fats in the meat from oxidizing, turning yellow and smelling off. Food chemists do something similar, when they add antioxidants to vegetable oil to help it keep.

The consensus of farmers and scientists on feed during the critical finishing period (where the pig gets fattened just before slaughter) is:

• Acorns and similar nuts are some of the best feeds - very high in monounsaturated fat, low in polyunsaturated fat.
• Pasture greatly improves flavor and antioxidant levels - but can lead to increased polyunsaturated fat levels, depending on the forage.
• Avoid corn (the grain), and any feed containing vegetable oils like corn oil, soybean oil, canola oil, etc., as they all have too much polyunsaturated fat.
• Grains lower in polyunsaturated fat, like barley, rye, wheat and triticale, lead to better quality meat. Use them instead of corn.
• Hay and peas give meat good flavors.
• Herbs like oregano and sage help the meat to keep longer, due to antioxidants.

Slaughter

People slaughter pigs by stunning them and bleeding them to death. Stunning the pig before bleeding it ensures that it does not suffer. When done properly, people stun the pig when he least expects, then bleed him to death. His last moments are hopefully stress free.

The fat of Mr. Gasser's pigs is extremely light, juicy and gelatinous. He feeds them mostly barley, and avoids corn in the last two months of their 18-month lives.

Farmers and scientists agree that one should slaughter the animal without alarming it. Stress causes the animal to release chemicals into the blood that will produce PSE (pink, soft, exudative) meat, which isn't suitable for curing. It doesn't cook well either, because it loses too much water. Sometimes the entire carcass is a loss.

Modern breeds are more prone to stress than the Mangalitsa and similar unimproved breeds.

Just sending a pig to the slaughterhouse stresses it, because of the stress of loading it. If something goes wrong at the slaughterhouse, the animals can get even more stressed. Unfortunately for consumers, meat may not be sold unless it is federally inspected, which normally requires taking an animal to a slaughterhouse.

It is possible for a farmer to ruin months of work with a few minutes of rough handling and stress.

Farmers who want the best meat slaughter at home. Often the hogs are moved into the kill area well in advance of being slaughtered, so that they'll be maximally relaxed when their day comes. If the time comes and the hogs are stressed, the farmer puts it off another day or two. If the farmer doesn't slaughter at home, he has to work on the schedule of the slaughterhouse, which may mean compromising meat quality.

Sticking & Bleeding

Our slaughterhouse's personnel kill our pigs in a labor-intensive way designed to produce the best bled-out carcasses. They stick the pigs, attempting to cut the major arteries without sticking the shoulder. The hog should bleed out very quickly.

They let the hog lie on the ground while it bleeds, rather than hoisting it, which would not allow it to bleed as well. An employee pumps a shoulder to attempt to allow all blood to flow out as quickly as possible. Click here for photos.

Ripening

A chemical reaction takes place in the meat after death - glycogen gets converted into lactic acid, which lowers the pH of the meat and helps it to keep. To make this happen, the butcher hangs the carcass in a cool place for a day or two until the pH drops and the meat is ready to use.

Some butchers skip this process and cut up a carcass immediately, which can lead to the meat going bad sooner than it would otherwise.

Master butcher Kropf recommends feeding the pigs sugar just before slaughter. It leads to the muscles having more glycogen in them, which means they'll ripen more completely. The meat keeps longer.

Typical Problems With Pork

A quick review of the points above shows why most pork isn't good enough for making the best cured products.

Breed: all readily available pigs have too little marbling and flavor.

Feed: most pigs eat a lot of foods with polyunsaturated fat (e.g. corn), because they are cheap and plentiful in the major hog-producing areas. That leads to the meat containing a lot of polyunsaturated fat, which goes rancid during the cure.

Confinement: most pigs are raised indoors. Confined pigs are normally killed early, to get a higher return on the investment in facilities. Unfortunately, younger pigs don't have the fat quality and flavor of older pigs.

Handling Stress: In America, most pigs get loaded and trucks and taken to slaughter. Loading the pigs typically stresses them, which is bad for meat quality. Mangalitsa pigs are naturally more stress-resistant than typical pigs.

Bleeding: In America, most hogs aren't bled as carefully as ours. When made into cured products, the final products may have blood spots in them, or spoil unnecessarily.

Ripening: some slaughter houses cut up or even process a carcass before allowing it to ripen. That keeps throughput higher and return on investment higher, but isn't good for quality.

Next: What Heath Putnam Farms Does to Ensure Meat Quality