More Modern Marvels
Apr 26, 2008 Television, offal watch
Last night the episode of Modern Marvels was titled “The Pig.”
Although I braced myself for a biased portrayal of the pork industry as it shifted from the lard type breeds of old to the lean “white” meat of the 80’s and 90’s; and they were a bit generous with their praise regarding the genetic engineering of hogs and made it sound almost like a good thing that you need to take showers before going into a CAFO operation; they did swing it around at the end showing an organic farm that raises Berkshire hogs and even fattens some of them on acorns in their final days.
Still, it was after showing some medcal uses for pig genetics like insulin and tissue repair that the episode steered into a direction I didn’t see coming: Chris Cosentino was on cooking offal at Incanto.
He cracked open a pigs head, poached the brain, and then sautéed it with mushrooms and capers.
The listing on The History Channel’s website also shows that Missouri’s Burger’s Smokehouse was also in the episode, but I missed the first ten minutes and it must have been in that segment as I didn’t see it.
It will air again May 7, and here’s the rundown on upcoming episodes of food-related interest:
- Whiskey - April 26
- Corn - May 5
- Farming Technology - May 6
- The Pig - May 7
Tags: Berkshire, Burger's Smokehouse, Chris Cosentino, hogs, modern marvels, offal, pigs, pork
The Butcher
Feb 21, 2008 general food
In a carnivorous world, a butcher is a necessary link in the food chain, carving a carcass of unsavory flesh into mouthwatering cuts.
Now that’s a tag line!
Not in the typical rotation of shows I watch, last night the episode of Modern Marvels on the History Channel was “The Butcher.” It was pretty interesting, and especially the last couple bits when they briefly spoke about custom slaughtering and then showed at length a mobile butcher in action.
After hauling his giant mobile butchering trailer out into the middle of nowhere and leveling it, the guy literally got on a tractor and shot a cow in the head with a rifle before they strung it up and pulled it in. He then proceeded to skin it and gut it before taking it back to his facility to age and butcher into the final cuts.
As gruesome as that may or may not sound to you, it’s the best possible scenario for an animal to be slaughtered humanely, and as I haven’t found anyone that can do this in Missouri, I’d been deeply curious as to how it worked.
I did get the impression that the mobile facility on the show is probably in the upper crust as surprisingly there was actually a USDA inspector present for the entire slaughter.
The butcher specifically stressed that he is fully USDA inspected so that the meat can be further sold down the line. This is not typically the case with custom slaughter because many of the people utilizing it have no further need to resell the meat as it is for their own consumption.
I’m sure they’ll show it again so be on the look out.
Another upcoming episode of food related interest (I thought to look since they had this one) is Harvesting which will air next Wednesday.
Tags: butcher, mobile butcher, mobile slaughterhouse, modern marvels, slaughter, USDA
