SC - period pigs, fatter or not?

[LrdRas@aol.com]

Hi all from Anne-Marie

about pudgy porkers...

Ras and I have hashed this out off line (saw no reason to bug you guys with
this AGAIN), but since you asked...

we came to the following consensus...
1. when I say free range, all Imean is not lot fed. Ras wasnt sure I was
including herded piggies, which I was (ahhhh....language!)

2. period pigs are a different shape than modner lot fed pigs. Sources are
all those pictures in boks of hours, and my own experience as a hog raiser.
My pigs jiggled. Droopy jowls. Bigger hams. Steroides. Up to market weight
in less than a year. Ras and I agreed, however, that if you picked the
right "old world" breed, and raised it by taking it out to the woods and
feeding it acorns, you could get a "medieval" piggie. So, "modern" piggs
arent neccessarily skinnier by genes than medieval ones, but grocery store
pork nowadays is going to be leaner than pork from an appropriate medieval
breed that actually had to walk a bit to get its dinner.

3. Since the grocery store pork most of us have access to is lot fed, and a
pudgy breed, I chose to reconstruct the recipe using Canadian bacon, rather
than the generic high salt, mostly fat, little meat bacon you get at the
grocery store.

4. Ditto chickens...heck, even the "free range" chickens I can get now are
less fatty than the generic ones, and thery're the same breeds.

Ras, did I get that right?
- --AM

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