It sounds like the opening of a joke – A Hungarian pig, an Italian recipe and a South Korean Chef meet in a bar – but the pig roast at BIGA in San Diego was nothing to laugh at. There were however plenty of grins as Chef/Owner, Tae Dickey demonstrated his take on an Italian classic Porchetta Roll. Then the afternoon unfolded into a foodies dream. Six acclaimed chefs incorporated pork into eight tasting courses. Delicious ciders from Bivouac and Duck Foot Brewing’s gluten-free beers were on tap. Regal Wines poured Italian vintages. While culinary culture took a turn away from tradition, satisfaction was definitely served.
BIGA Anniversary Chef Collaboration
This was the third BIGA pig roast and there was no doubt the event would be memorable given the chefs in attendance. There was Davin Waite from Wrench and Rodent. Whenever he shows up get ready for inspired bites. Willy Eick of Mission Bar and Grill has mastered the art of blending traditions deliciously. Carlos Rodriguez, chef de cuisine at BIGA, stirs his Texan roots and Puerto Rican influences in uniquely apt ways.
Evan Cruz of Arterra flavors his creations with a Filipino twist. Johnny Dolan of The Lion’s Share was instrumental in bringing it all together. Pastry Innovator, Kristianna Zabala of Split Bake House presented a plateful of tasty textures in a petite dessert flan laced with lard. But the star performance was Tae Dickey’s Porchetta Roll and the demonstration of his signature dish. You’ll find it on the menu every Saturday at BIGA.
Chef Dickey assembling his Porchetta Roll at BIGA
Chef Dickey is no stranger to culinary culture clashes. He was born in South Korea but moved to Italy with his family as a teenager. He attended the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park, New York before opening BIGA three years ago. Those Italian years branded his cooking sensibilities but he’s not reverent about sticking with tradition. Before the anniversary meal progressed he summoned the crowd to a table near the entry windows. A large tray held a side of pork nest to a row of porcine steaks and a bowl of savory greens. Slapping the smooth pork side, Dickey confessed that “Italians tell you to beat the hell out of that skin” but he doesn’t. His secret is sprinkling baking soda over the surface lightly. “As we learned in chemistry class, baking soda is a natural tenderizer,” then he cautioned that after a few hours it’s important to wipe the soda off. Porchetta is traditionally done with pork loin but Chef Dickey favors a Heritage Breed, the Mangalista Pig.
Watch my video about the Mangalista Pigs and Chef Dickey’s Porchetta:
These pigs are nothing to laugh at either. They grow large and wooly and were originally bred in Hungary, becoming one of the fattest pigs in the world. The rush to Communism almost led to their extinction as meatier breeds became popular. Luckily with recent trends towards all things bacon, demand for the pigs has crossed culinary culture borders. Of course, American farmers were curious and a few are raising these porcine wonders. Near Buellton, California at the Winfield Farm big, curly Mangalitsa Pigs have taken over.
Bruce Steel and one of his prized Mangalista Mommas at Winfield Farm
Owners Bruce and Diane Steele were growing organic vegetables when they decided to add a few pigs. The idea was to feed them with their unmarketable castoffs and past date veggies. They scooped up the acorns growing on their acres of ranchland to finish off the pigs’ diet before going to market. It worked too well as the pigs flourished and then drought conditions hampered their farming. Today they create a range of products including Leaf Lard, which is the highest grade and lower in saturated fat than other animals. It’s also higher in heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. If that’s hard to swallow remember that that’s the same kind of fat that gives olive oil its healthy reputation.
Leaf Lard by the quart from Winfield Farm.
Visit the Mangalica Pig Festival
Perhaps you’ll visit Hungary where the pigs have made a healthy comeback. They’ve rebounded from a few hundred to over 50,000 and are featured in everything from family style to haute cuisine dishes. Since 2007, an annual Mangalica Festival promotes products and hog farmers. The Festival in Budapest celebrates with cooking competitions, dozens of Mangalica dishes and over 100 exhibitors. It’s become one of the biggest gastro events of the year. Held in February it’s also one of the coldest but this year Palinka, a strong Hungarian drink will be showcased. The drink is distilled from a selection of local fruits that include apricot, cherry, apples, plums, and pears. If I were there I’d sip the Elderflower and spiced versions but pace myself. With 40 to 50% alcoholic content it’s sure to warm up festival crowds.
Hungarian Parliament in springtime
The Festival is held in a plaza near the riverside Parliament building. The location makes it east to attend by public transportation, train, and even riverboat. For tips about getting around Budapest see this earlier post.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this adventure in culinary cuisine and will share it with your friends or bookmark it for future reference.
Join Winfield Farm and Grimm’s Bluff winery at the “Feast of Apicius” on October 20, 2018 from 2-5 pm in Fleischmann Auditorium at the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum. This delicious wine + food pairing event is the first of its kind in Santa Barbara as it honors the epicure Apicius renown for his hedonistic pursuit of the finest cuisine. Apicius inspired the world’s first cookbook, written in 1st century Rome.
Bruce will be serving Asian Mangalitsa Meatballs with Ginger Honey sauce, infused with Grimm’s Bluff Sauvignon Blanc wine.
The Feast of Apicius
Saturday, October 20, 2-5 pm
Fleischmann Auditorium, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
Price: $50.00 /per person. Proceeds benefit the Museum
Tickets must be purchased in advance: Apicius2018
Fatphobes had better fasten their seatbelts: lardo has landed.
Not to be confused with conventional lard, lardo is indeed fatback, but it’s fatback of a sublime nature. A national treasure in Italy, Lardo di Colonnata is a designated heritage food that’s made from cosseted hogs fed a diet of forest nuts, then cured for months with herbs and spices in special containers made of Carrara marble. After curing, it makes its tissue-thin and toothsome appearance on salumi plates around that country.
It’s not surprising, perhaps, to find it at home, at high-end restaurants here like Rare Steak and Seafood in Washington, D.C., where it’s part of the Pork Tasting appetizer, alongside paté and chicharrón. It’s another thing altogether to see it as a hamburger topper, as has been the case at Farm Burger in Atlanta.
Unctuous in texture and mild in flavor, it plays well with other ingredients. At Cultivar in Boston, the Heritage Headcheese is served with smoked peaches and lemon verbena-whipped lardo. At Seattle’s Staple & Fancy, it made an unexpected appearance in the Baby Beets and Watermelon Salad with lardo and pistachio. It has also made the menu at Le Farfalle in Charleston, S.C., where the special Stringozzi alla Spoletina pasta entrée was finished with lardo and tomato sauce.
It has found a niche in bread baskets, too. Belcampo Meat Co., a restaurant-cum-butchery with seven locations in California, offers bread service with lardo butter, while trendy RPM Italian in Washington, D.C., serves rosemary focaccia with whipped lardo. In a similarly starchy vein, at Speedy Romeo, a next-gen pizza emporium in New York City, whipped lardo tops coal-baked potatoes on the special Triple Crown catering menu.
Lardo has also turned up in some unexpected places, like B.S. Taqueria, which boasts “authentically inauthentic fare” in Los Angeles, of which the Clam and Lardo Tacos is a good example. The sophisticated Lardo-Wrapped Langoustine with white asparagus at Oriole, Chicago’s fine-dining mecca, is another. And somewhere in between is the Little Piggy Muffin from New York’s Dominique Ansel Bakery that’s served with a thin slice of lardo melted over the top.
BS Tacqueria’s clam and lardo tacos
The interest in lardo has an all-American cognate, as lard has come back into vogue in restaurant kitchens as well. For many chefs and bakers, of course, it never went out of fashion. Pastry chefs consider it a pie-crust prerequisite, many Southern cooks add a dollop to make their biscuits extra flaky, and it’s SOP at Mexican restaurants, where manteca, or lard, adds depth of flavor and mouthfeel to standards like refried beans and tortillas.
A new generation of operators has succumbed to its fatty charms, like popular, two-unit Bang Bang Pie & Biscuits in Chicago, which boasts that the “leaf lard for our signature pastry crust is rendered specifically for us by our friends at Smoking Goose.” Leaf lard is the highest grade of lard, taken from inside the loin, and it has an especially mild flavor. At nearby Big Jones, the menu pays homage to the people, places and history of the South with dishes like the award-winning fried chicken that is cooked in a combination of leaf lard, ham drippings and clarified butter.
Speaking of homages, Lardo, an OG of the Portland, Ore., food-cart scene, boasts that “it worships at the altar of swine and proudly celebrates its excesses.” The resulting swine-heavy sandwich list has included a Double Burger with lardo alongside the Pork Meatball Banh Mi and Korean Pork Shoulder Sandwich, all of which can be enjoyed with a side of Crispy Pigs Ears with fennel salt or Lardo Fries fried in rendered fatback.
Considering that animal fats have been well and truly stigmatized for the past 50 years, it’s ironic that lard, along with beef tallow, duck fat and chicken schmaltz, is currently climbing the charts on hipster menus around the country. It happens that it is the beneficiary of a unique confluence of factors, including the dramatic fall from grace of trans fats; the rise of the nose-to-tail movement, which has embraced previously discarded pig parts; and, especially, the rediscovery of animal fats by Millennials, especially Millennial parents, who prize their clean, additive-free labels.
There’s a kind of back-to-the-future vibe that would make their great-grandmothers proud.
If you love a good cause and want to attend one of the country’s most talked about culinary events, then clear your weekend calendar when Cochon555 returns to Los Angeles on March 11, 2018 at the incredible Viceroy Santa Monica. Imagine an elaborate 30-course, stand-up, super sustainable dinner featuring amazing beverages where you get to help pick the best bite from some of the best local chefs.
This year’s all-star cast of chefs – who specialize in whole animal cooking and are paired with farmers responsibly raising delicious heritage breed pigs – include Sammy Monsour of Preux & Proper, Brian Redzikowski of Kettner Exchange, Thomas Bille of Otium, Lord Maynard Llera of Mason and Hugo Bolanos of Wolfgang Puck at Hotel Bel-Air. ButcherMichael Puglisi of Electric City Butcher rounds out a stellar lineup.
We at Winfield Farm are delighted to partner this year with Executive Chef Hugo Bolanos (@hugoalejandrobolanos) of Wolfgang Puck at Hotel Bel Air. On March 1 we will deliver a 200-pound heritage Mangalitsa from which Chef Hugo will make 6 magical dishes.
To win the friendly competition for a cause, a chef’s menu must woo twenty celebrity judges with their “Judge’s Plate” scored on utilization; technique; and overall flavor and be voted “best bite of the day” by guests. The winning “Prince or Princess of Pork” in Los Angeles will advance to the national finale, Grand Cochon, a head-to-tail, winner-takes-all showdown for the crown in Chicago on September 30th.
The ultimate aim of Cochon555 is to provide education to chefs and consumers and create experiences that guests can sink their teeth into: honest food from real farmers. The goal is to raise the bar on building a sustainable and profitable relationship for brands and chefs participating in culinary festivals. For an in-depth look at the distinguished providers behind the Cochon555 movement, to view a video, and to purchase tickets, please visit http://cochon555.com/us-tour/2018-la/
Tickets for general admission start at $130; VIP tickets (early admission + exclusive access to cocktail competition and allocated wines and spirits) are $200.
Where: Viceroy Santa Monica – 1819 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90401
When: Sunday, March 11
Time: 4 p.m. for VIP entry, 5 p.m. for General Admission
Winfield Farm Mangalitsa Wowed the Crowd at the 3rd Annual Santa Barbara Food and Wine Neighborhood Market Tour at the Bacara Resort
Capping our spring fling promoting Winfield Farm Mangalitsa pork, we were honored and delighted to represent the Santa Ynez Valley farm community, among Santa Barbara County’s most talked about culinary neighborhoods, all gathered on a sunny Sunday in April in the beautiful surroundings of the Bacara Resort’s Courtyard, to celebrate and benefit The Julia Child Foundation.
The Food and Wine Neighborhood Market Tour at the Bacara, a world-class resort overlooking the Pacific Ocean near Santa Barbara, featured tastings by dozens of local and nationally-acclaimed chefs, artisans, winemakers and farmers. Our Winfield Farm table served up Mangalitsa meatballs dipped in secret sauce created by Chef extraordinaire Jensen Lorenzen (Bruce’s nephew), which he fired on his yakitori grill. Bruce and I slathered artisan crackers with Mangalitsa Nduja – a new Winfield Farm product created by our salumi partner Alle Pia from cured Mangalitsa salami Barolo, ground and infused with Palmina Nebbiolo wine, with sun dried tomatoes, garlic and seasonings. Nduja’s texture is reminiscent of tomato paste, but the flavor is out-of-this-world piquant!! Alle Pia partner Alex Pellini also joined us and offered their hand-crafted salami Barolo and Tartufo.
The event was patterned after a farmers’ market, hours 11 AM to 2 PM. Throngs of people table hopped, sampling food and drink from diverse communities including Santa Barbara’s eclectic Funk Zone, Old Town Goleta, the Arts District, Los Alamos and Lompoc, as well as SY Valley.
Food and wine presentation tables ringed the courtyard, while dozens of cloth-draped tea tables scattered about offered tasters a place to sit and enjoy the food and drink.
Event presenters all committed to providing 500 servings – and between the meatballs, Nduja and salami we must have at least doubled that quantity. It seemed that as soon as Chef Jensen set out a tray of Manga meatballs, they vaporized — and the same with the Nduja and salami. Then we noticed the same people coming back again and again … a group of people sitting at the tea table nearest our stand had become fast fans of Mangalitsa pork!
The crowd came early and many lingered until the last taste and sip were stowed away. The Bacara’s Neighborhood Market Tour was a great way to spend a sunny Sunday — educating friends and neighbors about the magical flavor of Mangalitsa pork. Many stopped by to thank us for sharing, and to compliment Winfield Mangalitsa as the best bite of the event. The Chefs at the Bacara also took note. Winfield Mangalitsa pork is now featured on the Bacara Bistro’s breakfast menu! And the Chef told us they’re opening a new restaurant soon, and expressed interest in Winfield Mangalitsa chops… We’re excited about that prospect!
Photo gallery:
Chef Jensen, Bruce and Alex lay out Winfield Mangalitsa tasting at the Bacara
Event goers crowd the Winfield Farm table at the Bacara Taste of the Communities Event
Mangalitsa meatballs yakitori
New product: Mangalitsa Nduja infused with Palmina Nebbiolo
Winfield Farm Presents the Magic of Mangalitsa at the American Culinary Federation Chefs de Cuisine of California, Los Angeles Chapter
Cochon 555 was just the start of a whirlwind weekend in LA, promoting Winfield Mangalitsa pork!
Our great adventure began with a chance meeting with Chef Daniel Csotai, who visited Winfield Farm in search of backfat to make Hungarian bacon. A Hungarian who grew up with Mangalitsa pigs and is passionate about their flavor profile, Chef Daniel now also happens to be the secretary of the American Culinary Federation Chefs de Cuisine of California, Los Angeles Chapter. CCAC is a fraternal service organization and member of the national American Culinary Federation, the oldest and largest chef organization in America.
Chef Daniel agreed to help us reach out to the Los Angeles culinary community, introduced us to the CCAC education chair, and that’s how we wound up showcasing Winfield Mangalitsa at a special CCAC event – Bourbon and game tasting, hosted by CCAC member Chef Hugo Miranda at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel LAX. Except in this case, the “game” was Mangalitsa pork. More serendipitous, the event took place the day after Cochon 555, so after securing a reliable pig-sitter, we got to spend a night in LA – a mini-vacation.
Bruce opened his presentation with a history of Mangalitsa pigs, who nearly went extinct until Spanish prosciiutto-makers discovered that Mangalitsa is on par with famed Iberico de Bellota ham. In fact, Mangalitsas are the only other pig besides Iberico approved to be labeled “pata negra”.
Bruce told chefs how Winfield Farm Mangalitsas are raised – on pasture, with a non-GMO diet consisting of barley and organic produce, finished with acorns and walnuts. Barley preserves the quality of the luscious white fat, he said. Corn turns the fat rancid over time — not a good thing when you’re hanging a ham to dry cure for a couple of years.
Bruce’s nephew, chef Jensen Lorenzen, attended the event with us and extolled the attributes of Mangalitsa pork from a chef’s perspective. Mangalitsa’s prime value is for charcuterie, and several chefs asked technical questions about the curing process and sausage-making. Making sausage is another excellent thing to do with Mangalitsa fat, which is very high in oleic acid – the good fat!
Then came the tasting.
Chef Hugo Miranda has served as Executive Chef in some of the most high-end restaurants in the Los Angeles area.Adding to his experience as a high-end culinarian, Chef Miranda spent half a year in Costa Rica enhancing his culinary expertise in fine local Asian fusion cuisine. His creativity preparing Winfield Mangalitsa loin and rib roast was inspirational – a real tribute to the magic of Mangalitsa pork.
After the feast he revealed his secret: he marinated the roast in a brine with orange juice and herbs for two days! Chef Hugo’s Mangalitsa entrée was melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
His dessert – Mangalitsa bacon-infused bread pudding – was yummy also (although by that time we were so full we couldn’t finish it all).
Chef Hugo received an award from the CCAC for his commitment to the association; it was well deserved. He promised before the event, “Yes I’ll make sure we showcase Mangalitsa!!!” He was true to his word: he really did it !!
Thanks again, Chef Hugo! Everyone at the event loved Winfield Mangalitsa pork!
Photo gallery:
Winfield display at CCAC
Charcuterie close-up — Coppa, Lomo and Fiocco
Serving Winfield Mangalitsa loin roast
Chef Hugo reveals his secret to preparing mouth-watering Mangalitsa
Shopping — your cart will add and display your selections on each product page below. You may continue to shop and add items to your order until you wish to checkout. Use the dropdown list under Mangalitsa Market for quick access to our products.
Minimum order $40.
PLEASE CALL 805.686.9312 BEFORE ORDERING ONLINE TO ENSURE PRODUCT IS AVAILABLE.
We supply Mangalitsa pork to local restaurants and some cuts are in high demand. Also not all sausage flavors are available all the time, but can be custom ordered.
We will of course refund any portion of an order placed that we cannot fulfill, or with your approval we may substitute product of comparable value. However, to ensure and simplify your order, please contact us first, before placing your order on PayPal.
Don't forget, you can pre-order particular cuts or sausage flavors and we can have pigs custom processed to your specifications. Just email us your preferences. Processing is seasonal, typically spring and fall. Thank you for your interest in Mangalitsa pork.
BIGA Anniversary Chef Collaboration
Chef Dickey assembling his Porchetta Roll at BIGA
Bruce Steel and one of his prized Mangalista Mommas at Winfield Farm
Leaf Lard by the quart from Winfield Farm.
Hungarian Parliament in springtime
