Pork tenderloin served French-style

Slow-roasting pig on a rotisserie

A pork steak "à la Prague", with fresh asparagus and melted cheese

Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig (Sus domesticus), which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide,^[1] with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC.

Pork is eaten in several forms, mostly cooked. Pork can also be processed into different forms, which may also extend the shelf life of the product, with the resultant products being cured (some hams, including the Italian prosciutto) or smoked or a combination of these methods (other hams, gammon, bacon or pancetta). It is also a common ingredient in sausages. Charcuterie is the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products, many from pork. However, by some definitions, "pork" denotes only fresh pig meat.^{[citation needed]}

History[link]

Two pigs hanging after being butchered

The pig is one of the oldest forms of livestock, having been domesticated as early as 5000 BC.^[2] It is believed to have been domesticated either in the Near East or in China from the wild boar. The adaptable nature and omnivorous diet of this creature allowed early humans to domesticate it much earlier than many other forms of livestock, such as cattle. Pigs were mostly used for food, but people also used their hides for shields and shoes, their bones for tools and weapons, and their bristles for brushes. Pigs have other roles within the human economy: their feeding behaviour in searching for roots churns up the ground and makes it easier to plough; their sensitive noses lead them to truffles, an underground fungus highly valued by humans; and their omnivorous nature enables them to eat human rubbish, keeping settlements cleaner.

Charcuterie is the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products such as bacon, ham, sausage, terrines, galantines, pâtés, and confit, primarily from pork.^[3] Originally intended as a way to preserve meats before the advent of refrigeration, these preparations are prepared today for their flavours that are derived from the preservation processes.^[4] In 15th century France, local guilds regulated tradesman in the food production industry in each city. The guilds that produced charcuterie were those of the charcutiers. The members of this guild produced a traditional range of cooked or salted and dried meats, which varied, sometimes distinctively, from region to region. The only "raw" meat the charcutiers were allowed to sell was unrendered lard. The charcutier prepared numerous items, including pâtés, rillettes, sausages, bacon, trotters, and head cheese.

Before the mass production and re-engineering of pork in the 20th century, pork in Europe and North America was traditionally an autumn dish — pigs and other livestock coming to the slaughter in the autumn after growing in the spring and fattening during the summer. Due to the seasonal nature of the meat in Western culinary history, apples (harvested in late summer and autumn) have been a staple pairing to fresh pork. The year-round availability of meat and fruits has not diminished the popularity of this combination on Western plates.^[5]

Consumption patterns[link]

A traditional Austrian pork dish, served with potato croquettes, vegetables, mushrooms and gravy

Pork is one of the most widely eaten meats in the world, accounting for about 38% of meat production worldwide, although consumption varies widely from place to place.^[1]

According to the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service, nearly 100 million metric tons of pork were consumed worldwide in 2006 (preliminary data). Increasing urbanization and disposable income has led to a rapid rise in pork consumption in China, where 2006 consumption was 20% higher than in 2002, and a further 5% increase projected in 2007.^[6]

2006 worldwide pork consumption[link]

Asian pork consumption[link]

Pork is popular throughout eastern Asia and the Pacific, where whole roast pig is a popular item in Pacific Island cuisine. It is consumed in a great many ways and highly esteemed in Chinese cuisine.^[7] There, pork is preferred over beef for economic and aesthetic reasons; the pig is easy to feed and is not used for labour. The colours of the meat and the fat of pork are regarded as more appetizing, while the taste and smell are described as sweeter and cleaner. It is also considered easier to digest.^[8] In rural tradition, pork is shared to celebrate important occasion and to form bonding.

Pork products[link]

Smoked pork ribs

Pork may be cooked from fresh meat or cured over time. Cured meat products include ham and bacon. The carcass may be used in many different ways for fresh meat cuts, with the popularity of certain cuts and certain carcass proportions varying worldwide.

Fresh meat[link]

Most of the carcass can be used to produce fresh meat and in the case of a suckling pig, the whole body of a young pig ranging in age from two to six weeks is roasted. Danish roast pork or flæskesteg, prepared with crispy crackling is a national favourite and the traditional Christmas dinner.^[9]

Processed pork[link]

Pork is particularly common as an ingredient in sausages. Many traditional European sausages are made with pork, including chorizo, fuet, Cumberland sausage and salami. Many brands of American hot dogs and most breakfast sausages are made from pork. Processing of pork into sausages and other products in France is described as charcuterie.

Ham and bacon are made from fresh pork by curing with salt (pickling) and/or smoking. Shoulders and legs are most commonly cured in this manner for Picnic shoulder and ham, whereas streaky and round bacon come from the side (round from the loin and streaky from the belly).^[10]

Roasted pork knuckle

Ham and bacon are popular foods in the west, and their consumption has increased with industrialisation. Non-western cuisines also use preserved meat products. For example, salted preserved pork or red roasted pork is used in Chinese and Asian cuisine.

Bacon is defined as any of certain cuts of meat taken from the sides, belly or back that have been cured and/or smoked. In continental Europe, it is used primarily in cubes (lardons) as a cooking ingredient valued both as a source of fat and for its flavour. In Italy, besides being used in cooking, bacon (pancetta) is also served uncooked and thinly sliced as part of an antipasto. Bacon is also used for barding roasts, especially game birds. Bacon is often smoked, using various types of wood, a process which can take up to ten hours. Bacon may be eaten fried, baked, or grilled.

A side of unsliced bacon is a "flitch" or "slab bacon", while an individual slice of bacon is a "rasher" (United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Australia and New Zealand) or simply a "slice" or "strip" (North America). Slices of bacon are also known as "collops". Traditionally, the skin is left on the cut and is known as "bacon rind". Rindless bacon, however, is quite common. In the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, bacon comes in a wide variety of cuts and flavours, and is predominantly known as "streaky bacon", or "streaky rashers". Bacon made from the meat on the back of the pig is referred to as "back bacon" and is part of traditional full breakfast commonly eaten in Britain and Ireland. In the United States, back bacon may also be referred to as "Canadian-style Bacon" or "Canadian Bacon".^[11]

The USDA defines bacon as "the cured belly of a swine carcass", while other cuts and characteristics must be separately qualified (e.g. "smoked pork loin bacon").^[12] "USDA Certified" bacon means that it has been treated for Trichinella.

The canned meat Spam is made of chopped pork shoulder meat and ham.

[edit] Cuts

There are different systems of naming for cuts in America, Britain and France.

British cuts of pork

American cuts of pork

• Head - This can be used to make brawn, stocks and soups. After boiling, the ears can be fried or baked and eaten separately.
• Spare rib roast/spare rib joint/blade shoulder/shoulder butt^[11] - This is the shoulder and contains the shoulder blade. It can be boned out and rolled up as a roasting joint, or cured as "collar bacon". It is not to be confused with the rack of spare ribs from the front belly. Pork butt, despite its name, is from the upper part of the shoulder. The Boston butt, or Boston-style shoulder, cut comes from this area, and may contain the shoulder blade.
• Hand/arm shoulder/arm picnic^[11] - This can be cured on the bone to make a ham-like product, or used in sausages.

• Loin - This can be cured to give back bacon or Canadian-style bacon. The loin and belly can be cured together to give a side of bacon. The loin can also be divided up into roasts (blade loin roasts, centre loin roasts, and sirloin roasts come from the front, centre, or rear of the loin), back ribs (also called baby back ribs, or riblets), pork cutlets, and pork chops. A pork loin crown roast is arranged into a circle, either boneless or with rib bones protruding upward as points in a crown. Pork tenderloin, removed from the loin, should be practically free of fat.
• Fatback - The subcutaneous fat and skin on the back are used to make pork rinds, a variety of cured "meats", lardons, and lard.
• Belly/side/side pork - The belly, although a fattier meat, can be used for steaks or diced stir-fry meat. Belly pork may be rolled for roasting or cut for streaky bacon.
• Legs/hams - Although any cut of pork can be cured, technically speaking only the back leg is entitled to be called a ham. Legs and shoulders, when used fresh, are usually cut bone-in for roasting, or leg steaks can be cut from the bone. Three common cuts of the leg include the rump (upper portion), centre, and shank (lower portion).
• Trotters - Both the front and hind trotters can be cooked and eaten, as can the tail.^[13]
• Spare ribs, or spareribs, are taken from the pig's ribs and the meat surrounding the bones. St. Louis-style spareribs have the sternum, cartilage, and skirt meat removed.
• Knuckles, intestines, jowls and all other parts of the pig may also be eaten.

Feijoada, the national dish of Brazil (also served in Portugal), is prepared with pork trimmings: ears, tail and feet.^[14]

Nutrition[link]

A pack of Tesco diced pork.

Its myoglobin content is lower than that of beef, but much higher than that of chicken. The USDA treats pork as a red meat.^[15] Pork is very high in thiamin (vitamin B₁).^[16] Pork with its fat trimmed is leaner than the meat of most domesticated animals, but is high in cholesterol and saturated fat.

In 1987 the U.S. National Pork Board began an advertising campaign to position pork as "the other white meat" — due to a public perception of chicken and turkey (white meat) as healthier than red meat. The campaign was highly successful and resulted in 87% of consumers identifying pork with the slogan. The board retired the slogan on March 4, 2011.^[17]

Religious restrictions on the consumption of pork[link]

Judaism[link]

Pork is a well-known example of a non-kosher food. This prohibition is based on Leviticus chapter 11 and Deuteronomy chapter 14:

These are the creatures that you may eat from among all the animals that are upon the land. Everything that possesses a split hoof, which is fully cloven, and that brings up its cud – this you may eat. But this is what you shall not eat from what brings up its cud or possesses split hooves – the camel, because it brings up its cud but does not possess split hooves...and the pig, because it has split hooves that are completely cloven, but it does not bring up its cud – it is impure to you and from its flesh you may not eat. — Leviticus 11:2–4, 7–8

And the pig, because it possesses split hooves and does not bring up its cud — from its flesh you may not eat. — Deuteronomy 14:8

As indicated by the Torah verses, pork is non-kosher because Jews may not consume an animal that possesses one trait but not the other of cloven hooves and regurgitating cud. Hogs, which are not ruminants, do not chew cud as cattle and sheep do.

Islam[link]

Pork is prohibited by the Islamic dietary laws. Throughout the Islamic world many countries severely restrict the importation or consumption of pork products. Examples are Iran,^[18] Mauritania,^[19] Oman,^[20] Qatar,^[21] Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Pakistan and Maldives^[22] (though conversely, the pig is the most widely reared livestock in Muslim-majority Malaysia). The Qur'anic basis for the Islamic prohibition of pork can be found in suras 2:173, 5:3, 5:60, 6:145 and 16:115.

Chapter (Sura) 2 - Verse (Ayat) 173 Al-Baqara (The Cow)

"He has forbidden you only the Maitah (dead animals), and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that which is slaughtered as a sacrifice for others than God (or has been slaughtered for idols). But if one is forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits, then there is no sin on him. Truly, God is Oft-forgiving Most Merciful."

Other religions and cultures[link]

Seventh-day Adventists,^[23] Rastafarians, and members of the Ethiopian Orthodox^[24] church also do not eat pork. Scottish pork taboo was Donald Alexander Mackenzie's phrase for discussing an aversion to pork amongst Scots, particularly Highlanders, which he believed stemmed from an ancient taboo. Several writers who confirm that there was a prejudice against pork, or a superstitious attitude toward pigs, do not see it in terms of a taboo related to an ancient cult. Any prejudice is generally agreed to have disappeared by 1800.

Disease in pork[link]

Pork, usually if undercooked, is also known to carry some life-threatening diseases such as pork tapeworm and trichinosis. Scholars^{[citation needed]} recently have suggested that some of the stigma placed on pork by Islam and Judaism might stem, in part, from ancient times when pork would be the carrier of disease.

Undercooked or untreated pork may harbour pathogens, or it can be recontaminated after cooking. In one instance, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) detected Listeria monocytogenes in 460 lbs of Polidori brand fully cooked pork sausage crumbles.^[25] The FSIS has previously stated Listeria and other microorganisms will be "destroyed by proper handling and thorough cooking to an internal temperature of 160 °F (71 °C)" and that other microorganisms, such as E. coli, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus aureus can be found in inadequately cooked pork, poultry, and other meats.^[26] The FSIS currently recommends cooking ground pork to 160 °F (71 °C) and whole cuts to 145 °F (63 °C) followed by a 3 minute rest.^[27]

The pig is the carrier of various helminths, such as roundworms, pinworms, hookworms, etc. One of the most dangerous and common is Taenia solium, a type of tapeworm. Tapeworms may transplant to the intestines of humans, as well, when they consume untreated or undercooked meat from pigs or other animals. If the infection is not treated, it can be fatal.

Although not a common cause of illness, Yersinia enterocolitica – which causes gastroenteritis – is present in various foods, but is most frequently caused by eating pork and can grow in refrigerated conditions. The bacteria can be killed by heat.^[28] Nearly all outbreaks in the US have been traced to pork.^[29]

Pork may be the reservoir responsible for sporadic, locally acquired cases of acute hepatitis E (HEV) reported in regions with relatively mild climates. It has been found to transmit between swine and humans.^[30]

Vacuum packed pork loin fillets

Trichinosis, also called trichinellosis, or trichiniasis, is a parasitic disease caused by eating raw or undercooked pork infected with the larvae of a species of roundworm Trichinella spiralis, commonly called the trichina worm. Infection was once very common, but is now rare in the developed world. From 2002 to 2007, an annual average of 11 cases per year were reported in the United States; the majority were from consuming wild game or the source was unknown. The number of cases has decreased because of legislation prohibiting the feeding of raw meat garbage to hogs, increased commercial and home freezing of pork, and the public awareness of the danger of eating raw or undercooked pork or wild game products.^[31]

See also[link]

• Beef
• Pig farming
• Religious restrictions on the consumption of pork

References[link]

v t e Pigs Kingdom Animalia · Phylum Chordata · Class Mammalia · Order Artiodactyla · Suborder Suina · Family Suidae · Subfamily Suinae · Genus Sus Domestic Selection List of domestic pig breeds • Swine judging • Pig show Husbandry Pig farming • Intensive pig farming • Sty • Pannage • Pig toilet • Hog oiler • Gestation crate • Cross-fostering • Swine diseases • Swineherd As food or other product Pig slaughter • Pig scalder • Suckling pig • Pork • Ham  • Bacon • Lard • Blood • Dishes • Pig bladder Other uses War pig • Truffle hog • Miniature pig • Pig racing • Pig wrestling Wild Feral Wild boar • Razorback • Wild pigs of the Philippines • Boar hunting • Boars in heraldry Pigs in culture Iron Age pig • Flitch of bacon custom • Miss Piggy • Porky Pig • "The Three Little Pigs" • Babe • Charlotte's Web • The Sheep-Pig  • Peppa Pig Cultural references to pigs

v t e Meat Poultry and game Chicken Duck Turkey Goose Pheasant Grouse Ostrich Quail Partridge Rabbit Venison Livestock Beef and Veal Bison Dog Goat Guinea pig Horse Kangaroo Lamb and mutton Llama Pork Yak Fish and seafood Crab Crayfish Lobster Prawn Shrimp Anchovy Basa Bass Catfish Carp Cod Crappie Dolphin Eel Flounder Grouper Haddock Halibut Herring Kingfish Mackerel Mahi Mahi Marlin Milkfish Orange roughy Perch Pike Pollock Salmon Sardine Sole Swordfish Tilapia Trout Tuna Walleye Whale Cuts and preparation Bacon Barbecued Braised Burgers Chop Corned Cured Fondue Fried Haggis Ham Aged Marinated Offal Pepperoni Pickled Poached Roasted Salami Sausage Salt-cured Smoked Steak Stewed Tartare Tenderized Other Butchery Ethics Preservation Slaughter Red meat White meat

External links[link]

• The Other White Meat Pork Main Website
• National Pork Board Pork Producer's Main Website
• National Pork Producers' Council
• Radio broadcast about pork production by Kootenay Co-op Radio
• Slovak Pork Slaughter and Traditional Sausage Making - article in English with detailed pictures of a Slovak family slaughtering a pig in 68 steps

Chris Cosentino is an American chef noted for his specialty, offal dishes, now considered haute cuisine by many,^[1] and his eco-consciousness. He is chef-partner^[2] at Incanto in San Francisco. He was a competitor on The Next Iron Chef and has appeared on Iron Chef America. As of September 2009, he is writing a book on offal cookery, and he maintains an offal-themed website, Offal Good. Forbes Traveler calls Incanto "perhaps America’s most adventurous nose-to-tail restaurant … On offer are lamb’s necks, pig trotters and a five-course nose-to-tail tasting menu perhaps including venison kidneys and chocolate-blood panna cotta."

Early life[link]

Chris was raised in Rhode Island and is a 1994 graduate of Johnson & Wales University.^[3] Raised in an Italian American community, he has stated that he hated offal as a child, especially the tripe his Italian grandmother prepared.^[4] Since becoming a chef himself, however, he has embraced a "whole-animal" ethic. He explains, "What I try to do is make people understand a whole-animal ethic. When people realize that this is a whole animal, that there is more than just the skeletal meats, sometimes that makes people step back, and they might not order any meat. They might have a vegetable entrée. Putting a face on what you’re eating sometimes opens your eyes a lot."^[5]

Career[link]

Cosentino worked at Mark Miller’s Red Sage and later at Kinkead’s, in Washington, D.C. He then moved to San Francisco’s Rubicon, which was owned by Francis Ford Coppola, Robin Williams and Robert De Niro. He went on to work at several prestigious restaurants, such as the Coach House on Martha’s Vineyard, and, in the San Francisco area, Chez Panisse and Belon. He was then hired as a consultant to the Aqua restaurant group. While working with them, he opened several restaurants, including the highly acclaimed Nobhill at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas.

Since 2002, Cosentino has worked at San Francisco’s Incanto, in Noe Valley, serving as the executive chef.^[6] Reviewers in the area noticed a definite upturn in the food quality at Incanto after Cosentino took over.^[7] Working with co-owner, Mark Pastore, he has created a rustic Italian menu that includes all cuts of meat, the whole animal or whole fish, including what would usually be discarded or used as an ingredient in animal feed. Chitterlings would be an example of the kind of food he uses, one which is more familiar to the general public than some examples.^[8] In 2007, they had their fourth annual "Head-to-Tail Dinner."^[9]

In fall, 2007, Chris started selling sausage under the name Boccalone: Tasty Salted Pig Parts.^[10] His Boccalone shop is found in the Ferry Building of San Francisco, California. This new line was a natural outgrowth from family tradition, because his mother’s family, named Easton, founded Newport’s Easton’s Sausage Company, a company which developed a very devoted clientele. Under Chris’s direction, Incanto has launched a charcuterie selection, all selections cured in-house, and ranging from mortadella to fennel salame, including even a sweetbread terrine. There is also a salt-cured pork liver with especially intense flavor. This effort is based on the community-supported agriculture (CSA) concept in which providing locally grown produce is the focus. Chris credits the late chef Jean-Louis Palladin with teaching him never to cook for reviews, but for the diners and for himself. Palladin was an avid hunter and taught Chris to be realistic and respectful about the fate of an animal going from the farmyard or the forest to the dinner plate.

Starting in October 2007 he was a contestant on The Next Iron Chef, competing with erstwhile mentor at Rubicon, Traci Des Jardins, who is still a close friend.^[11] By the third episode, his cooking style had emerged enough and was distinct enough that, when Michael Symon gave him squab as a secret ingredient, his first action was to check the cavities for offal. It was implied that Symon had removed the innards; when Cosentino discovered this, Symon quipped, "No guts, no glory."^[12] He was the last chef eliminated before the final battle, being eliminated in Episode 7, 'Lead and Inspire'. In November 2007, he was featured at the end of a Modern Marvels pig episode, in which he showed his expertise in cooking pig brain.^[13]

In August, 2009, he and fellow The Next Iron Chef contestant Aarón Sánchez began hosting Chefs vs. City on the Food Network. Each week they travel to different cities, taking on two local chefs in a variety of food-related challenges.

In addition, Cosentino is regularly featured on episodes of the Food Network series, "The Best Thing I Ever Ate."

He considers single-varietal extra-virgin olive oils, each having a distinct flavor, his culinary secret weapon.^[14] His involvement with local farmers' markets has enabled him to develop close relationships with local food producers, relationships which are very important to him and allow him to be involved in the production and butchering of meat he uses and of other ingredients in his many specialties. He has been especially dedicated to the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market.^[15]

In his spare time he cycles on rugged Northern California mountain-biking trails on a one-speed, does endurance rides, and spends time with his wife and young son.^[16]

It was announced in 2011 that Cosentino is teaming up with the publishers of Wolverine to write a comic. In addition to helping out with the story, he'll also be featured as a character.^[17] He has authored a cookbook, Beginnings: My Way to Start a Meal, which became available in May 2012. Michael Harlan Turkell is the photographer for the book, and Traci Des Jardin wrote the foreword. ^[18] The book contains recipes for dishes for first courses (most vegetable-based, not meat-based, despite Chris's specialty), but also includes philosophy and reproduced handwritten notes and sketches; it is laid out by seasons.^[19]

In March of 2012 Chris opened PIGG, "a tribute to all things pork around the world," at UMAMIcatessen in Los Angeles ^[20]. UMAMIcatessen is a three-part cafeteria-style dining establishment on the ground floor of the Orpheum Lofts at 9th and Broadway.

Television appearances[link]

• 2005, Check Please! Bay Area^[21]
• 2005, Martha Stewart^[3]
• 2007, Iron Chef America^[22]
• 2007, The Next Iron Chef
• 2007, Modern Marvels - Episode: The Pig^[13]
• 2008, Iron Chef America^[23]
• 2008, At The Table With... ^[24]
• 2009, Chefs vs. City Food Network^[25]
• 2009, No Reservations" Travel Channel, August 10
• 2009, The Best Thing I Ever Ate" Food Network
• 2011, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern" Travel Channel, March 1
• 2012, The Layover, San Francisco, Travel Channel, January 9
• 2012, Top Chef Canada-Episode 4, Food Network Canada, April 1

References[link]

External links[link]

• Offal Good - Cosentino's professional blog
• Q&A With Chris Cosentino - AllYourTV.com
• Boccalone
• Incanto
• Offal Incanto Dinner with Anthony Bourdain Mission District writer Mary Ladd recounts eating an offal tasting menu at Incanto with Anthony Bourdain
• [1] Joshua M. Bernstein discusses Incanto/Cosentino and other US restaurants/chefs specializing in serving the whole animal.
• KCRW radio's Good Food program 03/10/2012 Titled: Foie Gras and Jelly Doughnuts (Jonathan Gold reviews UMAMIcatessen, a collaborative restaurant featuring food by Adam Fleischman, Chris Cosentino and Micah Wexler, as well as cocktails by Adrian Biggs. He describes it as the ultimate dude food with dishes like fried pig's ears with brainaise and foie gras and jelly doughnuts, both of which are delicious.

See also[link]

• Local food
• Sustainable agriculture
• Sustainable food system
• Offal
• Locavores
• Animal husbandry
• Italian-American cuisine
• Pork