The pig issue
No other animal is as versatile to the chef as the pig, yet its use in the professional kitchen still lags behind beef, lamb and chicken.
At a hotel such as the Savoy in London, for instance, only 15% of all meat sales in the River Room restaurant are accounted for by pork, compared with 50% for lamb, 20% for poultry and 15% for beef and game meats.
The "poor image" that pork has had to contend with probably dates back to the days when refrigeration facilities were inadequate and food safety and hygiene standards were not as efficient and advanced as they are today. (With poor refrigeration, pigmeat can become infected with the trichinosis worm. However, the last case of this in the UK was in 1972.)
There are other factors, of course. Some people think that pork lacks flavour (a belief exacerbated by the standardisation of the range of breeds and the introduction of much leaner cuts of pork, in response to consumer demand). And because pork is so much cheaper than other meats - pork fillet sells at about £5 per kg, compared to £15 per kg of beef fillet - it is seen a less of a luxury and isn't such a popular choice in restaurants.
In addition, British customers so often expect pork to be served well-done, which results in a dry piece of meat lacking any real flavour.
However, Edelmann believes attitudes here are changing and is beginning to see a gradual increase in demand for pork dishes. "For instance, a pork dish that has recently sold well in the River Room has just been ordered by the organiser of a private party of 12 people," he says. "Generally it is unusual for pork to be ordered for large parties or banquets."
The dish is a good example of just how versatile pork can be. Three different parts of the animal - the fillet, the cheeks and the trotters - are incorporated into Edelmann's méli-mélo of organic pork, served on minted pea purée with black pudding and apple mash. The roasted fillet is served alongside the cheeks, which have been braised in red wine with caraway seeds, marjoram and thyme, and the trotters, stuffed with a chicken mousse combined with cubes of smoked hock and sage.
Nowhere can one experience the true versatility of the pig as an ingredient more than at London restaurant St John. Here, chef-proprietor Fergus Henderson has taken to heart the old adage that everything but the squeak can be eaten. As well as the commonly used shoulders and loins, which Henderson roasts, and the legs, which he brines and turns into boiled hams, he also makes full use of the heart, liver, lungs and kidneys (made into faggots), the belly (cured and then thinly sliced for serving on toast), and the skin (salted, confited and reheated until crispy like pork scratchings).
The head is used, too. After being immersed in brine for two weeks, it is boiled and the meat is served cold and sliced with pickled shallots. The tongue is put in brine for two days, boiled, peeled and served in its cooking liquor with potatoes, spring onions and a blob of green sauce (made from finely chopped parsley, mint, dill and tarragon combined with anchovies, garlic, capers and extra virgin olive oil). Meanwhile, the chitterlings (the small intestine) is smeared with mustard, grilled and served with mash and cabbage, or chips, or lentils.
At Chapter One in Farnborough, Kent, head chef Andrew McLeish likes to serve the cheeks, snout and ear together in an assiette of pig's head. "It is very popular with cheffy types and real foodies - but it is not something that the general run of public tends to order." After washing the head in running water for 24 hours, McLeish braises it slowly at about 175°C in white wine and chicken stock flavoured with onions, carrots, thyme, bay leaf, garlic and vine tomatoes. Once cooked, the head remains in the cooking liquor until cold. The liquor is passed through muslin and reduced until it becomes a sticky glaze, into which the cheeks, which are the meatiest part of the head, together with sliced strips of the snout are folded through. The meat is served with the ears - deep-fried until crispy - as a garnish.
A dish that sells well among a wider audience is McLeish's slow roast belly of pork, cider fondant, caramelised apple purée and roasted foie gras. While at one time pork served in a one-Michelin-starred restaurant such as Chapter One would have always been in the form of a fillet, chefs such as McLeish have come to realise that the belly - because of its high fat content - can result in a more flavoursome dish.
McLeish removes the belly from the ribs and rolls it, and pan-fries it to caramelise the outside. He then lightly covers it with foil and slow-roasts it on its bones with shallots and thyme until tender. One belly produces eight portions, and an average of 15 covers out of 40-50 covers at dinner will order the dish.
Belly pork is also enormously popular at Jonathan's at the Angel in Burford, Oxfordshire, where chef-proprietor Jonathan Lewis slowly roasts it for seven hours. "There is a lot of pork belly being cooked now, but it can often turn out very blubbery if an inferior piece of pork is used," says Lewis. He buys the rare breed, Gloucester Old Spot, from a local butcher, WJ Castles, who in turn sources the meat from two farms, one in Tetbury and one in Gloucester. "The texture and flavour of the meat is excellent with a good fat content under the rind which renders nicely through the meat."
Lewis stuffs the boned and de-rinded belly with onions, star anise, garlic, bay leaves, sweet chilli sauce, hoisin sauce and brown sugar. It is left wrapped in foil for 24 hours to allow all the stuffing flavours to permeate the meat and then roasted on the bones and rind along with an inch or so of water at 120°C. After about four hours, the foil is opened, some white wine added and the foil is closed again. The foil is finally removed for the last hour, during which the meat is constantly basted. A very moist piece of pork covered in crispy fat is the result.
Lewis's approach - cooking the belly of a rare breed at a low temperature - ensures a dish that is juicy and full of flavour. In the past, too many chefs have over-cooked cuts of meat, at too high a temperature, from a modern breed that has been reared to be leaner. The result is an over-dry piece of pork, lacking flavour.
While Steve Munkley, executive chef at the Royal Garden hotel, serves individual pork fillets on the du jour menu in the hotel's Tenth Floor restaurant, he prefers to cook whole loins for a banquet. "We don't get a great deal of demand for pork at functions - partly because it is not eaten by the Jewish and Muslim communities, but also because function organisers don't want to take the risk that are served over-dry meat," says Munkley. "By cooking a whole loin, which sometimes might be boned and stuffed, it is less likely to be over-cooked. "We can then carve it at the last minute, ensuring it is served to the customer nice and moist."
Cooking methods
Traditional guidelines for cooking pork are now regarded as out-of-date. To ensure maximum flavour and juiciness from pork, a fillet should be cooked medium, with a blush of pink in the centre. British Meat advises that narrow joints of pork should be cooked at 220°C for an initial 10 minutes to brown, with the temperature being reduced to 130°C for about 35-40 minutes per kg or until a core temperature of 70°C is achieved.
Pork breeds
Thirteen breeds of pig are recognised by the British Pig Association - seven traditional rare breeds and six modern.
The modern breeds include the Welsh, Large White, Duroc, British Landrace, Hampshire and Pietrain. These are breeds that have undergone some legitimate genetic improvement to achieve a high meat yield, with a low fat content. They are cheaper to raise than the traditional breeds as they are usually ready for slaughter at about five to six months. There are currently about 500,000 modern breed sows in the country.
The traditional breeds comprise the Berkshire, British Saddleback, British Lop, Large Black, Gloucester Old Spot, Middle White and Tamworth. They are often raised in small herds, sometimes comprising no more than 10 sows and involve a higher human-to-pig ratio than the modern breeds. In almost all cases, the pigs will be raised organically on a diet that will vary from farm to farm but is likely to include home-grown cereals with beans, peas, soya or fish meal for protein. They are allowed to grow at a slower rate, ensuring a good fat content to improve flavour before being slaughtered, which may be any time between six months and one year old. They are only about 2,500 rare-breed sows in the country.
Sourcing the right pork - whether it is a modern or a traditional breed - means you can offer customers a piece of meat with a good flavour. The Rare Breeds Survival Trust (02476 696551) can ensure full traceability of rare-breed pork sold by butchers that are registered with them. The British Pig Association (01923 695295) is currently in the process of putting together a quality assurance scheme.
