Tagged: meat

Harvest Public Media

7:59 am

Mon April 29, 2013

How A Niche Market Saved This Farmer's Pork Business

Credit Amy Mayer / Harvest Public Media

Randy Hilleman turned his suffering pork business into an interstate collective of hog producers.

By Amy Mayer

There’s more than one way to sell a pig.

And when the hog market plunged to 8 cents a pound in 1998, Iowa producer Randy Hilleman decided it was time to make a change. Hilleman raises Berkshire pigs, a breed that’s fattier than traditional pigs and costs a little more to raise. Back then, that was hurting him.

“If we took them into Marshalltown, [Iowa] to the big packing plant, we would get docked because they’re too fat,” Hilleman said. “What they pay on is lean, and we like to have some fat on ours.”

Central Standard

10:01 am

Thu February 21, 2013

Local Butchers in KC

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Credit Peggy Lowe / Harvest Public Media and KCUR

Visitors who walk in to The Local Pig, 2618 Guinotte Ave., in Kansas City are greeted by this mural, which explains exactly what they are about to buy.

Credit Peggy Lowe / Harvest Public Media and KCUR

Miles Maassen, who owns The Local Pig with Alex Pope, hands out recipes for a Sunday afternoon sausage making class to the students.

Credit Peggy Lowe / Harvest Public Media and KCUR

One of the shop’s workers stands behind the huge butcher case and in front of the daily specials chalked on the wall.

Credit Peggy Lowe / Harvest Public Media and KCUR

Some of the many kinds of sausages available at The Local Pig. The green ones to the right, chorizo verde, are so green because they are made with lots of cilantro.

Credit Peggy Lowe / Harvest Public Media and KCUR

Students start the sausage making class by grinding pork, with specific ratios of fat to meat.

Credit Peggy Lowe / Harvest Public Media and KCUR

Two of the first large tubs of ground pork that will be added to ingredients and made into sausages.

Credit Peggy Lowe / Harvest Public Media and KCUR

As some students grind the pork, others are working on putting the many fresh ingredients together to make the specialty sausages.

Credit Peggy Lowe / Harvest Public Media and KCUR

Some of the ingredients that will go into the sausages include ginger, cream, eggs, salt and beer.

Credit Peggy Lowe / Harvest Public Media and KCUR

One of the last steps in the sausage-making class – the students mix the dry ingredients with the ground pork, grind it more, then add the wet ingredients.

Credit Peggy Lowe / Harvest Public Media and KCUR

The sausage is then spit out of this machine and slid into collagen casings, which are more uniform than natural casings, which are typically pig intestine.

By Peggy Lowe, Matthew Long-Middleton and Claire McInerny

The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. Professions once so famous that they made it into nursery rhymes, but how does modern commerce accommodate traditional business? Butchers and meat shops are still present in town, but how has the independent butcher shop changed with meat preparation moved into grocery stores and other superstores?

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