Swine Is Fine All the Time

All right, everyone. It’s time to give up the ghost of holiday gift giving and concentrate on feeding yourself and your loved ones. What all of us like to eat at Serious Eats is swine in all its glorious forms. These great purveyors will satisfy anyone’s desire for a serious pork fix any time of the day or night.

BACON from Allen Benton
Allen Benton makes some of the greatest bacon you’ve ever tasted. It’s meaty, smoky, and has the perfect fat-to-meat ratio. Phone: 423-442-5003. $18 plus shipping.

SOPPRESSATA from Paul Bertolli
Paul Bertolli was the chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, for many years before opening his own Oliveto’s in Oakland. Now he’s given up the restaurant business to make sublime fresh and dried sausage. Nine pounds of his spectacular soppressata is $210, but that includes shipping. Now I know that nine pounds of soppressata is an awful lot of swine for any one family, so form a pig-eating cooperative, order the sausage, and divvy it up however you want. framani.com.

JAMON IBERICA BELLOTTA from Tienda.com

Jamon Iberica bellotta is the prized Spanish black-footed ham that is fed only acorns (bellota is Spanish for "acorn"). Finally, after years of keeping this serious pig out of the country, the feds are allowing us to eat this ham in the States. Tienda.com is now taking orders for bone-in Iberico bellota hams for winter 2008 delivery. At $79 a pound and with an average weight of 15 pounds, an order will set you back about $1,200 (price is determined on final weighing). If you have the means, you won't regret it. This is ham as God would make it—sweet, just marbled enough, and fantastically porky. tienda.com, $199 deposit on $1,200 approximate total, plus shipping.

PORK ROASTS from Flying Pigs Farm
There are the everyday pork roasts you buy at your local supermarket or butcher and then there are the amazing pork roasts you can buy from Flying Pigs Farm. Two college administrators in their spare time (sic) humanely raise heritage-breed pork that tastes fabulous. A pork roast from Flying Pigs Farm is a revelation. The meat has a wonderful rich flavor and a satiny, buttery texture. flyingpigsfarm.com, center cut loin roast, $15 a pound plus shipping.

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