Around here there is nothing quite like a new order of pork returning from the processor. It means a restocking of some of our favorite Red Wattle pork products, namely The Bacon… Yes, we do indeed capitalize the name as we think so highly of the bacon produced by our hogs. Because we sell our meat by the individual piece, we often don’t get to indulge ourselves as much as we’d like with some of the more popular cuts. Bacon is the perienal best seller as far as Red Wattle pork goes. I have to admit, Red Wattles make the very best bacon I have ever had the pleasure of eating. Both clover/grass finished Red Wattles as well as Hazelnut finished Red Wattles make eating breakfast a pleasure.
Anyway, back to the recently processed Red Wattle that we got back from the processor. Its been “home” for a few weeks now, and we have had a package of belly bacon (awesome!) but we had yet to sample the cottage bacon (from the shoulder) or the jowl bacon. Last pig we had the jowls smoked and returned to us whole. This pig we asked for them smoked and sliced; as bacon. We were eager to see and taste how the various bacons turned out this time around.
The weekend of July 17th we had the pleasure of hosting Brian and Dot Jordan from Indiana. (That is a whole other post). Brian and Dot are also Red Wattle breeders, in fact Brian is the president of the Red Wattle Hog Association. While they have plenty of RW pork in their freezer, they have never had cottage bacon or jowl bacon, so we figure this was the opportunity to compare the three types of bacon. All three bacons are from the same hog. This was a Red Wattle hog that was a year of age and had a live weight of 320 lbs.
The Jowl Bacon has much more fat then the other two types of bacon. It really has a lot of flavor as flavor is packed away in the fat. Its texture is fairly delicate and its easy to chew. Did I mention delicious? The Cottage Bacon comes from the shoulder of the hog. It is a much shorter, meatier cut of bacon and as such has a bit different texture. This hog was grass/clover finished and as such isn’t as fat as the hazelnut pigs that we offer later in the year. The Cottage Bacon from this hog is almost all meat. Delicous meat. The Belly Bacon is the familiar bacon that most of us have grown up with. Not overly fatty with a good amount of “lean” to it.
I love all of the different types of bacon. We tend to choose different types depending on how we plan on using it. As far as the jowl goes, I think I prefer the jowl left whole. Jim can then chop it into chunks and fry it that way. We use it to flavor pasta dishes or just snack on directly from the pan.
What, exactly, makes bacon bacon?
Good question. By my understanding what makes bacon bacon is the curing and smoking process. I would take that bit of info an apply it to the rest of the pig and I’d assume that you could make “bacon” out of any part of the pig. While you could make any part into bacon, I guess it might not taste quite like we are used to because of the different eating qualities of each cut of meat. I do know that Canadian bacon is actually made from pork loin. Cottage bacon is make from the shoulder. The cottage bacon that I posted in the picture is pretty lean. Our hazelnut hogs have more fat in the shoulder which makes for even better bacon (well, we think its better anyway). I just read that you can make bacon from the back of the hog, but that it is mostly all fat, which makes sense as hogs tend to put alot of fat on their backs.
Hello. I’m very interested in ordering but I don’t see any way to contact you directly. We have previously purchased from another farmer and unfortunatly have a need to find a new place to get pork from. I would love to know more about what you might offer. Thank you .
Stacey
Hi Stacey,
You can contact us at info@hertiagefarmsnw.com or by calling the farm number at 503-606-9883. We currently only have the Red Wattle breed which are on the critically endangered list with about 1200 of them registered in the U.S. They do not do well in confinement operations and prefer to have room to graze. In the fall we have a select number that we pasture on a chemical free hazelnut orchard where unlike other operations that feed in confinement and give the animals a “ration” of nuts, our animals are given a “ration” of commercial food and can eat as many hazelnuts that hit the ground.
Please let us know if we can be of any service!
Best regards,
Jim & Wendy
Hi there Stacey,
You can reach us directly at info@heritagefarmsnw.com
We do have a couple of sides of hazelnut finished Red Wattle pork available. We are also taking reservations for our pasture finished spring Red Wattles.
Wendy Parker http://www.heritagefarmsnw.com
I think I have some of you products in my Freezer. They were a gift from my cousin in Atlanta GA. The bacon is very good but the labelgave no indication that it was Red Wattel. Are all your pork products Red Wattle?
Hi there.
Unless your cousin is Mike Foles (who is my husbands cousin and does live in GA), you probably do not have our products. There are a few larger retail stores (Krogers for one) that have rebranded one of their store varieties as “Heritage Farms”, where as we are Heritage Farms Northwest, located in Oregon. We do not generally ship meat out of state and we do not sell to any retail establishments.
But to answer your question. Yes.. All of our products are from purebred Red Wattle Hogs.
Cheers!
Wendy