Not a professional chef or do you just love pork?

Details for the home chef and pork enthusiast will be posted soon.  We'll offer classes for the home chef and Mangalitsa dinners.

Check back soon for tickets and registration.

Pig Porter?

Yes
The word is out

Bacon Beer

Right Brain brewery has come up with Mangalitsa Beer !

We hope to be able to arrange a visit during PigstockTC

"This porter has a smokey flavor with a bacon finish and a big, pig mouth feel. 

This brew is a premium pour"

One more reason to come visit us!

Another feather in our cap!  BootsnAll Travel Network named Traverse City one of the eight Best American Small Towns for Foodies.

See full list here

Don't Wait!

Registrations are rolling in.  Don't wait and miss one of the coveted spots to join us this year!

Sign up today.

Sleeping Bear Dunes, Michigan Voted Good Morning America's 'Most Beautiful Place' - ABC News

For consideration before or after attending PigstockTC

News just in

Sleeping Bear Dunes, Michigan Voted Good Morning America's 'Most Beautiful Place' - ABC News

Half hour to 45 min drive from Traverse City.

Registration Open

Registration is now open for Pigstock TC 2011.  Don't miss your chance to snag one of the only 40 spots available for attendees.

If you have questions, please contact Allison Beers, Event Manager.  Allison@EventsNorth.com or 231.883.2708.

Information and the registration form can be found to the right.

Now Taking Reservations

Mmmmmmangalitsa

Culinary world high on this hog - Food & Wine - sacbee.com: "For those craving a world-class version of 'the other white meat,' it might as well be pronounced 'Mmmmmmangalitsa.'

'It reminds me of Kobe beef, or those other pure breeds of Japanese cattle' such as Wagyu, said chef Noah Zonca of the Kitchen, who's offering a course of ravioli stuffed with Mangalitsa pork through June. 'It has flavors that you just don't find in other pigs.'"

If it's good enough for Mark

Should we invite Mark to PigstockTC?

Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook Founder and Animal Butcher - ABC News

"Slaughtering your own food? Mark Zuckerberg "likes" this.

Zuckerberg, the 27-year-old founder and CEO of Facebook, has taken on a new hobby, according to Fortune, which reported that Zuckerberg updated his status on his personal Facebook page: "I just killed a pig and a goat."

Zuckerberg chooses a new challenge each year that helps him get away from all things Facebook.

In an email to Fortune, Zuckerberg said he chooses a "personal challenge -- something to learn about the world, expand my interests and teach myself greater discipline."

In 2009, Zuckerberg wore a tie every day. Last year, he spent an hour each day learning Chinese."

Save the Date

October 17 to 19 for PigstockTC 2011

We plan to make it better than ever

more from Myles on whole animal

Trattoria Stella, a Traverse City Restaurant, Cooks in Whole-Animal Tradition - My North - December 2011

Home on the range

Bakers get some more ink
here

Brian gets some ink

Breaking down the art of charcuterie with Brian Polcyn - Crain's Detroit Business - Detroit News and Information

"It's like a true musician. A truly great musician feels the music instead of just reading notes. The same goes with cooking at this high of a level.

Chefs are craftsmen. Think about a chef like a cabinet-maker. Imagine walking into someone's house and seeing a beautiful cabinet. You begin to notice the intricacies in the wood, the way its fashioned together, the way the grain plays into the design. It can be a work of art.

But in order to get to that point, the cabinet maker has to know a lot about the wood he uses, where it's from and how to work with a specific type of wood.

The same goes with food."

We'd say ... Yes

The point is the breed, as well as the raising.

Is the Mangalitsa the Next ‘It’ Pig? - NYTimes.com

"Well, maybe not yet. Mangalitsa — despite its unctuous, intense flavor — has a very long way to go before it can push aside the better-known porkers. But a small band of farmers and purveyors think this obese breed, only recently returned from near-extinction, can become the next It Hog in the great American pig-out.

The curly bristled Mangalitsa hogs are the most corpulent and unusual in a parade of breeds that has found favor among chefs for their richer taste and fuller fat, including Berkshire, Tamworth, Red Wattle and Gloucestershire Old Spots.

But this year, buttery Mangalitsa pork made it onto the pristine menu at Thomas Keller’s French Laundry in Yountville, Calif. Mangalitsa (MAHN-ga-leet-za) has been a menu item at Le Cirque, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Eleven Madison Park, Insieme and Vandaag. And Locanda Verde, Morandi and Seersucker have used Mangalitsa lard in pastry-making."

PigStockTC 2010 Wrap Up from @caterleelanau

PigStock TC was designed as an educational event for professional chefs and was planned and sponsored by Cherry Capital Foods and Michigan Mangalitza. The event focused on a farm to table, nose to tail culinary extravaganza. Andy and I were lucky enough to be a part of the experience as participants. We went through the entire process of slaughtering the pig to cooking and curing all the parts. The event was focused on the Mangalitza pig-a hearty breed originally from Hungary, the Mangalitza are prized for the quality of their fat (less saturated and higher in Oleic Acid) and are a superior breed for all charcuterie applications.

The first day broke clear and cold and was held on the farm at Bakers Green Acres in Marion, MI. Mark and Jill Baker, who raised the pigs for 18 months, assisted Christoph and Isabela Wiesner of the Austrian Mangalitsa Breeders Association. They walked us though the slaughter, cleaning the pig, obtaining and cleaning the organs and initial breakdown of the pig into halves. We were also treated to two delicious meals from Eric and Jen at The Cooks House and given a tour of the farm.

More here: http://caterleelanau.com/blog/2010/11/pigstock-tc-2010-wrap-up/

Myles on "Whole Hog"

From Stella's email newsletter:

Please note that straight cut/paste didn't work well, so a bit of reformatting

From the American Heritage Dictionary:

whole hog Slang
n. The whole way; the fullest extent: went the whole hog and ordered dessert.

…and Myles is going there, quite literally indeed. We have always respected food to such an extent that since we opened our doors 6½ years ago; we have sourced the best quality ingredients, locally whenever possible, and allowed them to express themselves in simple yet imaginative dishes. Our menu continues to change twice daily and over the years we have built amazing relationships with our farmers, their produce, and the land. These deepening relationships have had us thinking about the animals that we serve.

Last winter, Myles started exploring whole animal preparation and you saw some daring dishes grace our menu including trotters and testa! This fall, Myles along with several other chefs from all around participated in the three-day “Pigstock” event that featured the lovely Mangalitsa (MON-go-leet-sa) pig. Among its many attributes, the “Mangalitsa fat is more unsaturated than normal pig fat, so it tastes much “lighter”, “cleaner”, and melts at a lower temperature. The fat is also healthier.”

We took delivery of our first whole Mangalitsa last week. She was 250 pounds total, out of which we had just over five pounds of total waste. Combine that with the fact that the tenderloins topped out at a combined total of just over three pounds. So, once the most desirable and the least desirable parts were gone, we had roughly 240 pounds of top-quality pork remaining; and, it’s really good. We are very happy to be able to reduce waste and honor the animal, while delivering some of the highest quality pork on the market.

Toast the Pig

Bit of Capt Morgan as we toast the spirit of the pig.

Photos

We're continuing to add material to the online photo archive

Flickr: PigstockTC

All shots are public, subject to respective copyrights and marked as "safe"

Chef David Eger, from Earthy Delights has some good stuff

Exclusive

Cherry Capital Foods and Earthy Delights will be the exclusive distributors of Michigan Mangalitsa

Mark and Jill's Mangalitsa's were declared "the best in North America" by Christoph and Isabell Wiesner after their slaughter and butchery at PigstockTC.

Contact Dave or Lee at Cherry Capital Foods or Chambre at Earthy Delights for your orders.

Coincidence ?

Samhain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Samhain ( /ˈsɑːwɪn/, /ˈsaʊ.ɪn/, or /ˈsaʊn/)^[1] is a Gaelic harvest festival held on October 31–November 1. It was linked to festivals held around the same time in other Celtic cultures, and was popularised as the "Celtic New Year" beginning in the 18th century.^[2][3][4]

Samhain marked the end of the harvest, the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half". It was traditionally celebrated over the course of several days. It has some elements of a festival of the dead. The Gaels believed that the border between this world and the otherworld became thin on Samhain; because so many animals and plants were dying, it thus allowed the dead to reach back through the veil that separated them from the living. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. People and their livestock would often walk between two bonfires as a cleansing ritual, and the bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.^[5]

Flickr: PigstockTC

You should be able to click on this

Flickr: PigstockTC

For the photo-set from PigstockTC

Please respect any and all copyrights