[Sca-cooks] pig cheese
JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
Mon Mar 18 22:05:40 PDT 2013
My own curiosity having been piqued, I did a search. It turns out others
have considered the question, mainly in the negative:
" “Anyone who farms pigs would say that pigs' milk would make an
incredible cheese,” he says. “The problem is that it's nearly impossible to milk
pigs. When sows are lactating, they get very aggressive. "
_http://boingboing.net/2012/07/25/pigs-milk-and-other-difficu.html_
(http://boingboing.net/2012/07/25/pigs-milk-and-other-difficu.html)
Then there's this:
"Milking a pig is extraordinarily difficult, to say the least. For one
thing, they have fourteen teats as opposed to a cow’s four, and when
stimulated to produce oxytocin, they eject the milk for only fifteen seconds at a
time (the ejection time of a cow, by contrast, is well over ten minutes).
Hence it requires enormous dexterity, skill and speed. "
Only... the second quote is from an article on a cheese. An actual cheese,
made from pig's milk:
"certainly Italy’s most closely-guarded culinary secret, a rare cheese
made from pig’s milk called Porcorino"
_http://www.lifeinitaly.com/food/raresttuscancheese.asp_
(http://www.lifeinitaly.com/food/raresttuscancheese.asp)
And apparently it's not bad:
"It has a consistency both firm and runny, somewhere between brie and
peccorino. The flavor clobbers the hard palate with a sensation nearly
indescribable in its complexity and overwhelming richness: a product of the swine
to make one swoon. Imagine a milky tiramisu that melts and vibrates before
exploding with overtones of porcini mushroom and a back taste hint of
chestnuts (perhaps a product of the pig’s diet). Imagine damp woods, crisp autumn
leaves crunching under foot, a dog barking in the distance. Imagine wild
strawberries and rotting logs."
Only... there's those fourteen teats. Etc. Which explains why it never
caught on. Still - am I the only one who's intrigued?
Jim Chevallier
www.chezjim.com
Newly translated from Pierre Jean-Baptiste Le Grand d'Aussy:
Eggs, Cheese and Butter in Old Regime France
In a message dated 3/17/2013 7:37:59 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
JIMCHEVAL at aol.com writes:
You can also milk a pig, as far as that goes. No one seems to want to
though.
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