EATING IN: If you want your pork the way it should be, look for a free-range producer, writes Hugo Arnold
The instructions were clear: no need for soaking, as minimal salt had been used in the curing. What I unwrapped had a generous dome of off-white fat, but what really caught my eye was the marbling running through the dark meat. Was this going to be bacon like I was used to? Or was it going to be deeply flavoured, complex and long-lasting? The instructions were to roast - bake, really - at gas three or four. So I did, basting a few times along the way. What I ate was a delight: slice after slice of richly complex meat. The roasting tray contained fat, there was no water in sight and the no-soaking instruction was spot on: the meat was perfectly cured.
We ate the collar with parsley sauce, black cabbage, leeks and Ratte potatoes. I have ordered more, and next time I might try a rustic green sauce, with mustard and gherkins, parsley and capers. Roasted carrots, caramelised to a sticky finish, may accompany the meat. Or will it be a mound of seasonal sprouting broccoli, leaves and florets tossed in a mustard-rich vinaigrette?) Leftovers will be sliced thickly and served with a plum chutney made last autumn or, maybe, a whisked-up mayonnaise. Peppery watercress will add spice and crunch.
This bacon came from the award-winning Caherbeg Free Range Pork, in west Co Cork. The pigs, a combination of saddlebacks crossed with large whites crossed with a recently introduced Tamworth, are pretty "Heinz 57", according to Avril Allshire, their owner, but this is how she likes them. Happy animals eating and sleeping, rooting and bathing in an ocean of mud. There is no castration, teeth cracking or tail clipping. Although the pigs grow rather slower than more commercial herds, Allshire is not complaining.
Good pork is a culinary delight, cured or otherwise. Yet our ridiculous and misplaced obsession with fat has encouraged breeders, farmers and the industry generally to produce lean, tasteless pork. We are all missing the point. A pig needs care and attention - and the odd back scratch and kind words, being the social animal it is. All of this takes time, and as time costs money we are required to pay a little more. I'd rather eat really tasty, succulent meat less frequently.
For those readers who have inquired about sourcing good pork and beef - the latter in rather large numbers - the good news is that, alongside these happy pigs, a small number of Irish Angus cattle now reside. The first samples are heading this way. I hope to report on them soon. To find out more about the farm, log on to www.caherbegfreerangepork.ie.