Comments on: Bellota-Bellota, Paris

By: Lou

Lou — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 04:39:14 +0000

For jamon iberico, what I do is just heat a ceramic plate on the microwave and then just serve the jamon slices on the heated plate. It releases the flavor and aroma, without cooking the ham.

By: mgr

mgr — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 08:00:51 +0000

Coconut oil is approximately 85% saturated fatty acids (lauric, myristic and palmitic acids) and only 7% oleic acid. This is the reason it can harden even at slightly cool temperature of supermarket shelves. Olive oil is 80% oleic and palm oil is 40% oleic. Feeding coconut meat to pigs will most likely result in solid fats.

By: Monty

Monty — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 13:46:50 +0000

Well there might be something to that unusual fat. It shows that copra does have an effect on the fat of the pig, but too much of it may be a bad thing. I talked to some Iberico ham producers before and they mentioned having different grades of ham based on the feed the pig was given, from pure grain, part grain part acorn, then pure acorn. So maybe a proper feeding regimen using copra and other feeds, plus the right breed (or crossbreed) of pig might yield a perfect ham pig for our conditions.

If you google La Quercia, you’ll see that the Americans are also producing acorn fed heritage pigs to make some great hams. We’ve tasted some of their regular (non-acorn) fed Berkshire prociuttos and they were good, though I can’t remember how they compared to Italian ones.

By: Footloose

Footloose — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 09:35:59 +0000

I actually handled pork raised on copra (copraphagous swine?) years ago. I initially suspected it was the result of double death because the fat looked congealed, very much like tallow, unusual and alarming to see in cuts of “healthy” pork.

By: Monty

Monty — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 02:46:22 +0000

If the copra has already been pressed and the oil extracted, doesn’t that take away the oleic acid as well? Maybe fresh or dried coconut meat would work better, but that’s just conjecture on my part.

By: Marketman

Marketman — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 01:55:33 +0000

Monty, I think I have an answer for you. Backyard-raised pigs fed with coconut refuse (either from making coconut cream or milk) or copra remnants yield the most AWFUL pork ever. We occasionally (say 1 in 2,000 pigs) get such pigs from unscrupulous suppliers and once cooked, the smell and the meat is not pleasant at all. We have to pull the lechon from the line and it goes to waste. We trace such suppliers back to the backyard and they are blacklisted from our suppliers list. So perhaps not all oleic acid yields the best pork… I wonder if pili or cashew nuts instead might do the job…

By: Monty

Monty — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 00:14:56 +0000

Acorns are high in unsaturated oleic fatty acids that make the fat of Iberico pigs soft and creamy, with a low melting temperature that creates a melt in the mouth effect. You know that there is another nut that’s high in oleic fatty acids and is found in abundance in the Philippines- the coconut. We also have a small black native pig variety that when bred with certain commercial breeds, can probably approximate the Iberico pigs. Bellota Bellota? Maybe, hopefully Buko Buko. Now where to find someone with a keen interest in pigs who could take this on as an experiment? Hmmm.

By: Lee

Lee — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 16:25:57 +0000

@Footloose It will be cooked and consumed by Pinoys inside the confines of our camp :)

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 13:58:13 +0000

Thank you for sharing your Paris jaunts, might follow your trails one of these days, or soon!

By: Footloose

Footloose — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 09:42:45 +0000

It might have made sense in cold climes before central heating. Same as the conceit of heating snifter of brandy that I have only witnessed actually done in a Portuguese restaurant in Toronto. It made their agüa ardiente even harsher. Left a welt on my throat.

@Lee, you are sure to earn points cooking pork on a Friday in a place, I assume, is predominantly muslim.