The Family Pig II
The Glorious Pig
According to the philosophers, the fruits of the earth and the ingenuity of human reason serve the end of household management, which is the virtue of economy.
We argue that amongst those fruits, the family pig is preeminent. Artfully harvested, the backyard pig zealously serves the home kitchen. To that end, and compelled by the generosity of the backyard pig, we offer a new class covering old methods.
The yield of the pig is so expansive and diverse
that we lack the time to cover it all in our original Family Pig class. The Family Pig II is a three-day harvest of completely new material. It is not merely adding recipes to the list, but conferring competency in traditional processes to establish the well-off frugality of the family table.
The Curriculum
Using antique cutlery and your hands, this extensive class transforms a heritage breed pig into fresh, fermented, and preserved pork.
Among the many techniques, we will make and learn to use a preservation brine. We will make rillettes, preserving meat with fat in the confit pot. The intestines will be treated artfully, beguiling their customary baseness. We will transform the head into headcheese, and the trotters into a meal that has become a favorite at the Sheard table.
Having covered dry-salting in The Family Pig, you can add the virtues of preservation through confit and fermentation at The Family Pig II.
Though it is a “part II” to The Family Pig series, no prior experience is required. The Family Pig II is simultaneously another way to harvest a pig, and a way for those who have been to The Family Pig to broaden the human power of artful nourishment.
The Menu
We will proccess one pig, leaving us time to harvest more of the reprehensibly neglected innards.
On Day 1, we will slaughter a single pig, burning the hair off rather than scalding it. We will start headcheese, clean small intestines for casings, and harvest the large intestine for chitterlings.
On Day 2, we will advance the headcheese, start rillettes and other cures. The carcass will be carved exclusively for the preservation of each part. Instead of chops and roasts, we will separate muscle groups for lomo, ham, spalla, coppa, and pancetta, all of which will be put to cure. The day will end with making a brine for long-term preservation.
On Day 3, we will finalize the headcheese and rillettes. The ham will be boiled and roasted, and the boar’s head served with due solemnity. The art of fermenting meat will be our pleasure as we make salami without nitrates/nitrites or starter cultures, guaranteeing the unique expression of terroir.
We will enjoy naturally fermented salami, chitterlings, headcheese, trotters, baked ham and more for our festal meal together each day. The voluminous yield of fat from the pig will not be wasted but transformed into salo, hot-brined słonnina, and a spread of whipped fat.
Each meal will be served with the sauce of labor.
Will will start each day at 9:00am and will break bread together and commemorate our work with an afternoon meal. Our ingredients come from the pig and from our garden. Delicious coffee and cream are provided each day. The class days usually continue well into the afternoon or early evening and finish when the larder is full. In any case, we work at your pace. Note taking and filming is encouraged.
Parting Gifts
- 1 quart jar of your handmade rillettes.
- Lifetime access to our private Facebook page, Meatsmith Table, for class graduates and members only.
- 7-day free trial to the Meatsmith Membership. (Included all Butcher’s Salt e-chapters for you to download, our slaughter film To Kill A Pig Nicely, 7+ years’ worth of harvest films, live chats, articles, forums, and podcast topic & questioning priority.)
The above resources serve as ready refreshers of what you learn with us in this class. They are unparalleled in American butchery educational materials because they return to the radical orthodoxy of the peasant kitchen.
The Family Pig II
May 8th-10th
$1,530 per hands-on student
Please read our Student Signup Page, as we maintain a strict refund policy.
The class is unparalleled in breadth and depth of porcine harvesting. Anyone serious about learning the art of a pork provender for the farm, homestead, or home kitchen will want to take this class. In the industry, we offer the fullest range of experience. We hope you will consider how this course will impact the life of you and your family and come harvest pork with us.
We keep our classes small, The Family Pig II will be limited to just eight hands-on students. Besides the kill, you’ll participate in every part.
All three days of the class are at our homestead and butcher shop just outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma. We have limited space for on-farm camping. For more lodging information see our Out of Towners page.
*We’re offering one more Family Pig I class, September 12th-14th. You can find the details for that class here.
Meatsmith Class Testimonials
“The utility of this information will have immediate and long-term use. As a home chef, I expect to use it regularly for my domestic culinary investigations and pleasure. The long term impact of the class will continue to reveal itself with age. So much of the material (and the experience) is detailed, inter-disciplinary, bloody, emotional and tasty! It is one of the those experiences that will always be a culinary, social, emotional reference point to tie to other experiences. This is one of the principal values of the class in my mind.”
―John, Alaska
“I’ve flown halfway across the country to attend a class of yours and watched your videos numerous times. The desire was already there for me to take on the life of sustainability, self-reliance, and kitchen economy. You all just provided the direction and spark… I’m all in because of you folks!”
―Jay, Arizona
“I’ve participated in two hog processing classes. The classes and videos gave me the courage to raise my own hogs. We partnered with the Meatsmiths to host a class and harvest two of the 5 hogs. With the help of friends we processed three hogs on our own, cured three prosciutto, smoked and cured our own bacon, and made head cheese. In all that, the best part of all the learning is the growth of my family and friends. I can’t tell you how many wonderful people we call friends because of the porcine adventure.”
―Jon, Washington
“You guys have a played a major role in our farm/homestead development of which pigs are the driving factor. Definitely have empowered me and my family. we have done some butchery since watching your videos. I hope to reference you for future marketing development for our farm. And one day get you to do a workshop (fingers crossed) I’m in west Tennessee in case you needed a gage of how far your outreach is. Thanks a million.”
―Justin, Tennessee
“I took the course to feel confident repeating the process on my own pigs in the future and that future starts in two weeks! The class takes 95% of the mystery out of the process, there is nothing like flying solo, but I’m confident that we’ll shepard our pig humanely and beautifully through the process and make delicious meals for my family and friends.
I observed and learned about so many new things, knife skills, animal husbandry, the nearly limitless uses of the pig. I can’t wait to start the process on my first pig and grow and learn more with each from there.
I can’t say enough good things about the experience with Brandon, his family and his farm. The Family Pig was well worth the time and resources invested. I recommend it without reservation.”
―Rob Bodkin, Washington
“I just had to write and thank you for one of the most profound experiences of my life. I never thought when I endeavored to raise Tamworths that the butchery experience would be as amazing and fulfilling as actually raising the animals. I cannot thank you enough for your kind presence and the care and thoughtfulness that goes into your work. Because of you and your talents we were able to pay homage and honor every ounce of flesh; my animals became educational ambassadors, not just cuts of meat. This, to me, could not mean more. I pride myself on the care of my animals and each and everyone one is loved, even if they are destined for my dinner table. You showed me this love, energy, and passion does pay off through supremely healthy animals and the highest of quality. I will think of you and this experience fondly and anticipate our future work with one another. I can’t wait till the next butcher date.” ―Nicole, Washington
“Reflecting on the class yesterday, I want to repeat, thank you. Prior to coming across your work, I had followed the conventional recipes and cured pork and venison a few times. I only dared use a wet brine, because it seemed like the thing to do. Every instance resulted in something delicious and overcooked, because my eating experience was always coupled with that nagging trepidation – what if food poisoning?
As a father, I am less than excited to involve my children in something that has potential to harm them. As a nurse, I often interact with people afflicted by infection and wouldn’t rather that anyone go through it because of my culinary curiosity. Your ability to articulate the difference between science and fear has helped me recognize what I wasn’t able to alone: I do understand basic microbiology and can perceive its doings.
Learning your approach to curing was a personal revolution: curing meats makes them last longer? I had read about it in the Grapes of Wrath, when the Joads slaughtered their two pigs, salted them, and threw them in the car to sustain them in on the way to California, but that was fiction or history or something. There had to be some good reason why people don’t do that anymore.
Two weeks prior to the class, I cured a bacon using your recommendations. The result is consummately yes. Yes this is safe. Yes this is delicious. Yes this belongs on my family’s table. Our kitchen is no longer complete without prosciutto. There is no good reason why I shouldn’t do this anymore.
At this time, our family’s budget and technological means are not plush enough for membership. Maybe someday we will get a real computer and a real internet connection and be able to join. For now, I can say that the class was worth every dollar. Thank you.” ―Jordan