You know we’ve been hearing a lot about bacon, as of late, even on our lil’ ol’ blog…but it was not until this trip had I ever heard of the coveted Mangalitsa pigs.
According to the Mosefund website, this is what it’s all about:
Mangalitsa is a breed developed during the Austro-Hungarian Empire for its exquisite flavor. Originally only the Hapsburg royal family was allowed to eat Mangalitsa. They have long curly hair from dark black to blond, imagine a mad genetics’s cross between a sheep and a pig. Mangalitsa are descendents of wild boars and genetically related to the black-footed Iberian pigs of Spain. But while they may not be the prettiest pigs you’ve ever seen, they’re the tastiest you’ll ever eat. Mangalitsa were bred especially for their delicious and clean-tasting lard. The meat is dark, deeply flavorful, marbled with fat and more akin to a fine cut of beef than “the other white meat” pork. And they are unique. The breed nearly died out during the Soviet era. Were it not for the presevation efforts of farmers in Eastern Europe who revived the breed from a surviving 200 pure breds to around 50,000 today, the world would have lost this delicious meat.
Chocolate Covered Bacon Red Velvet - photo courtesy of www.apronless.com
I was approached by Morgan F. Weber, founder of Revival Meats out of Yoakum, TX. to create one of his favorite cakes, Red Velvet, utilizing the Mangalitsa lard. I thought, ‘Why the heck not? I made Red Velvet cupcakes made with rendered bacon fat and chocolate covered bacon for the Houston Chowhound Pork Belly Throwdown (pics and nice blurb courtesy of Rachel Markow)…sure…’
I received the lard when I made my weekly delivery to Tuscany Coffee - I had to nearly fight off everyone in my circle of friends that evening, after delivering cupcakes to 13 Celsius - a local wine bar, near downtown Houston. Laying my ziploc bag o’ lard on the bar…showing it off, taunting my colleagues.
Because I only had 8 oz. I had to use it sparingly - since Morgan had requested the lard in the cake as well as the icing…so here are a few pics to show off the details…
Bag o' Mangalitsa Lard - courtesy of Morgan F. Weber
Inside the bag....look how clean it looks
In the mix...batter wasn't as red as normal, wonder if lard had something to do with this?
Batter in my fave personal pans...20 years old
Finished cupcake...
In all it's piggy glory - photo courtesy of anysavoy
Bitten - photo courtesy of aynsavoy
You can check out some of Anne’s cool Houston food photos here…
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5 Comments
These look so delicious. You make it look so DAMN easy
Wow … what a GREAT post Jody. Very interesting. I had no clue about the Mangalista pigs. LOVE the photos too. When you tasted the cupcakes … what was the first thing that you noticed that was different using the lard? I’d love to know :D.
Love you girl. K
*drooling!* Red Velvet is one of my FAVORITE kind of cupcakes
WOW your pictures just jump out of the screen.. I tried to grab one but to no avail!! hehehe! Not to mention the big fat smudge and drool marks on the new IMAC beast!! Thanks JODY!! hehehe
Great post and so interesting - Now Ship me some of these DAMN IT!!
Love the little piggy on top! I bet these tasted way better than the regular shortening recipe!