So the other morning I was cooking breakfast for every one and pulled out a new package of our house bacon and was pleasantly surprised with it. Now granted that I really screwed up the ratio of salt to meat in our brine (our smoke house is not built yet) to this stuff is pretty salty but I wanted to show every one what real bacon should look like. Now notice the wide strip of marbled meat in the middle of the bacon, not a dyed red strip (most meat gets sprayed with a food dye during packaging to make it look more appetizing) with the nice thick fatty coating. Real Bacon. One of the misconseptions about pork that has been perpetuated by the industrial meat companies is that pork is "The Other White Meat". Well here is a bombshell for you;
Pork is not a white meat
Let me be more specific; happy pigs who live in the outdoors running around and eating good food and living like pigs have evolved to live do not give white meat. White pork comes from cruelly raised, malnourished, pigs who live a life not too unlike that of a WWII concentration camp prisoner, that kind of pig gives a white meat. When I cut into a pork shoulder from my pigs it has a rich red color most people would mistake for beef, it is also well marbled and has a distinct rich flavor along with a firm texture. Now compare that to a factory pork shoulder that is pale pink or white with a slimy feel and no flavor at all, in fact you have to cover it in spices and sauces to make it palatable at all. What would you rather eat?
Want to raise your own pigs? Pigs are pretty easy once you have the right pen set up (see our posts about the pigs of evil). Pigs will eat nearly anything, they are true omnivores and will eat veggies, meat, and grasses. And pigs don't take up much room, we are raising our three pigs in a pen that measures 48ft X 32ft and that is about 2-3 times bigger than what they really need. We use our pigs as plows and composters, we move their pen onto land we want to plant and allow the pigs to churn up the soil, stamp in the plant matter and mix their manure with everything. After a few months our pig pen is ready to be turned into a garden. If you are a budding homesteader it would be well worth your time to look into raising some pigs, a couple of weaned baby pigs wont run you much and are pretty fun to watch and latter they are delicious to eat. Not to mention that a couple of pigs will cut your garbage in half as they will eat all the trimmings from your kitchen and all the leftovers that you would otherwise throw out. So really, pigs... Think about it.
