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Husband and I lived on rural property we owned in WA state. We raised pigs, kept one, sold several. We had the one butchered and I did not notice any difference in taste. We always wondered if the folks gave us someone else's meat. We had corn fed this pig and took very good care of her.
Remember that if it's raised on scraps/dirt/out in the open that you must cook the meat to 160* so as not to get trichinosis. None of that med-rare pork, 140-150.
FWIW, have raised pigs in barns and on the ground, we liked barn raised(confined on slats).
The most of the flavor change to pork is from breeding much leaner hogs. Flavor of all meat is determined by the type of fat so I've read from culinary publications.
All meat is affected by the diet of the animal. Pork probably has the biggest difference in flavor depending upon what the pig was fed.
However, the commercial raised pork is fed a diet that produces good flavor and acceptible fat texture.. I can raise better pork at home but the cost to do so would be too high for mass produced meat. I can raise apple fed pork because I have my own apple trees. The cost to buy enough apples to raise pigs would be prohibitive. Plus, mine grow slower, so there would be more labor costs which doesn't affect me because I provide my own labor.
For beef, the diet has some effect but the biggest difference in beef is the quality of the butchering and aging. Again, really excellent aging and handling is too expensive for mass market beef. The diet of mass produced beef is adequate to produce good flavor.
A comment here about thinking you will get better pork by buying direct from the farmer: you might, you might not. It depends upon whether the farmer is raising meat for high quality or raising meat for the highest profit possible. There are some really cheap things that pigs can eat but that don't produce the best quality pork. Really top quality meat takes time and money to produce, and top skilled butchering and aging costs money.
The most of the flavor change to pork is from breeding much leaner hogs. Flavor of all meat is determined by the type of fat so I've read from culinary publications.
Disregard that tripe, no pun intended. If that were true then wild game would be as bland and tasteless as beef.
I can only tolerate beef and never really liked it, especially as a child ,chicken and pork are better, but still are lacking. I have hunted and eaten wild game and fish, which is extremely lean, for over 40 years and it is vastly superior to any farm raised animal.
Disregard that tripe, no pun intended. If that were true then wild game would be as bland and tasteless as beef.
I can only tolerate beef and never really liked it, especially as a child ,chicken and pork are better, but still are lacking. I have hunted and eaten wild game and fish, which is extremely lean, for over 40 years and it is vastly superior to any farm raised animal.
I think the point the author was making is about the unique flavors imparted by different fats. Bacon is pork but not the flavor of Ribs on the grill or fresh ham being baked. Feed has an impact as mentioned earlier. Wheat when fed to pigs will make a softer pork than corn. (From a pork producer)
I think the point the author was making is about the unique flavors imparted by different fats. Bacon is pork but not the flavor of Ribs on the grill or fresh ham being baked. Feed has an impact as mentioned earlier. Wheat when fed to pigs will make a softer pork than corn. (From a pork producer)
I believe that opinion (shared by many) is more a result of ignorance when compared to wild game, also that lack of recognizing, even though mentioned, that diet is the most relevant factor in flavor, not fat.
I have killed and eaten moose and caribou that share the same habitat but taste nothing alike due to the difference in diet. Both animals are exceptionally lean, as is most wild game. A significant difference is that wild animals do not store fat in muscle, but under the skin and around the internal organs because they are constantly using their muscles and burning the fat reserves to survive, whereas farm raised animals are restricted from moving about, thus they are forced to store unnatural amounts of fat anyplace available. It is in the farmers interest to raise as fat and heavy an animal as possible for the sake of profit, nutrition and flavor is nary a thought where commerce is concerned.
Diet is flavor, fat is fat.
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