Heritage hog breeds are all the rage, culinarily speaking, anyway. Here's a guide of what to expect from different types of heritage pork:
- Berkshire pork has a naturally smokey sweet flavor and is prized for its evenly distributed, mild flavored fat.
- Duroc pork is known for its incredible juiciness and relatively mild flavor (especially compared to the bold flavor of many heritage hog breeds).
- Gloucestershire Old Spots pork is even more difficult to find than some of these other breeds, but it is a well marbled, nutty tasting meat that butchers and chefs adore.
- Hampshire pork is lean with a fairly mild flavor.
- Mangalitsa pork is fatty. Fatty, fatty, fatty. And that's why chef's love it. The creamy white lard from these hogs is perfect for making cured meats and pâtés.
- Ossabaw pork is a fatty, dark-colored meat with a strong, spicy flavor. It comes from hogs that evolved running wild on an island off the coast of Georgia.
- Red Wattle pork has a strong flavor that really tastes of pork. It is a great match for spicy, bold recipes, which makes sense since it was originally bred in New Orleans.
- Tamsworth pork is great for making bacon, since it has a big, long belly. It's also known for its extra-large chops.
