Food porn almost

[jmc_bks]

Is it me, or does the caress of the ham at the end of this article seem vaguely pornographic? Or just pork-ographic?

Me, I like proscuitto and Serrano ham and Iberian ham, but $160/lb strikes me as a bit ridiculous.

Comments

From Carrie http://lovelysalome.blogspot.com

[(Anonymous)]

Their herds of black Iberian beauties are kept on a handful of acorn-rich farms in the surrounding meadowlands, walking freely up to 6 miles daily without any swineherds to look after them.

Which means that when the pigs are out of sight, they're eating junk food and ruining their tasty legs. And after taking the hams, what happens to the rest of their bodies?

[dogzzz2002.livejournal.com]

Wow! That's just - Wow. I guess I don't understand how the meat doesn't rot. I'm one of those who will open a package of something and have it thrown out by day two because I have no clue how long things can be kept. So I would just waste ham like that and have no clue what to do with it.

I'm a food heathen!

CindyS

[(Anonymous)]

It doesn't rot because it's salted and kept refrigerated during the cure. After it's cured, all you're doing is aging it. Dear Butcher keeps dry aged steaks in the cooler, with plenty of air circulation and no added curing (salt, etc.) for up to six weeks. After seven weeks they start getting funky, but you trim that part off. Those steaks aren't cured, so they go bad.

After about six to eight months though, I'm not sure you'd get a difference in taste. You've lost all the water from the ham you're going to lose.

As to the rest of the pig, if he's selling the hams for that much, it doesn't matter what happens to the rest. Pork bellies are never expensive as it is, and the rest is just loin. Again, not expensive. He probably just sells the rest of the pig to a local cutter.

[(Anonymous)]

It doesn't rot because it's salted and kept refrigerated during the cure. After it's cured, all you're doing is aging it. Dear Butcher keeps dry aged steaks in the cooler, with plenty of air circulation and no added curing (salt, etc.) for up to six weeks. After seven weeks they start getting funky, but you trim that part off. Those steaks aren't cured, so they go bad.

After about six to eight months though, I'm not sure you'd get a difference in taste. You've lost all the water from the ham you're going to lose.

As to the rest of the pig, if he's selling the hams for that much, it doesn't matter what happens to the rest. Pork bellies are never expensive as it is, and the rest is just loin. Again, not expensive. He probably just sells the rest of the pig to a local cutter.

Suisan