Niman Ranch and Heritage Foods

[Chris Hennes]

I generally order my pork from either Heritage Foods USA or Niman Ranch, but I don't really have any logic that I use to choose between the two. Niman Ranch's website seems a little slicker, and their prices are a bit lower, but Heritage Foods has a whole bunch of different breeds to choose from (not that I know anything about how that affects the flavor... I have to admit that they all taste great to me!). Do any eGullet folks have a particular leaning one way or the other? Are there other sources for good (i.e. not factory-farmed) pork that are available mail order? Also, what about the offal? Neither place seems to sell anything particularly exotic, but I'd love to expand my pork repertoire.

[Chris Amirault]

I've gotten quite a bit of Niman Ranch through Whole Foods special orders, but I've never gotten anything from Heritage. What have you gotten to compare?

I will say that NR tends to breed remarkably well flavored and marbled pork. In a perfect world, I'd always pony up the $4/lb for butts and bellies instead of having to settle for the much cheaper meat from my local carnicaria.

[Chris Hennes]

I've gotten quite a bit of Niman Ranch through Whole Foods special orders, but I've never gotten anything from Heritage. What have you gotten to compare?

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My most common cut is the shoulder: I make sausage with part of it and carnitas with the rest. I have never done a head-to-head comparison, though, which I suppose is probably the real answer. I was hoping someone else here had done it and could shed some light on the problem. As far as I am concerned, they are both so much better than supermarket pork that any further comparison is blurred by their sheer awesomeness . And yet... there are two options!

I suppose the answer will be different for chops, too...

[Chris Amirault]

I have never done a head-to-head comparison, though, which I suppose is probably the real answer.

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Sounds like you're volunteering yourself, pardner.

[Chris Hennes]

I have never done a head-to-head comparison, though, which I suppose is probably the real answer.

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Sounds like you're volunteering yourself, pardner.

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Well, this probably means six pork shoulders:

1) Niman Ranch

2) Heritage Foods - Berkshire

3) Heritage Foods - Tamworth

4) Heritage Foods - Duroc

5) Heritage Foods - Red Wattle

6) Supermarket

To say nothing of this being about $350 in pork counting shipping (and over 40 pounds!), I started to think about how to cook it and my head started spinning... there are so many ways to cook a pork shoulder! I am thinking of trying four main tests:

1) Basic sous vide - salt and pepper only, trying to get a sense for the flavor of just the pork

2) Carnitas

3) Barbeque

4) Basic sausage

The trickiest one is the BBQ, I think, since I will have to do all six shoulders at the same time to eliminate variability between smoking sessions. This will then require using quite small pieces of the shoulder to get them to fit in the BBQ, which will affect the amount of time they can be smoked.

Sure is tempting to try, though... hell of a party .

[tafkap4d]

I've purchased from Niman's ranch many times and love it. I am not of much assistance in a comparison however but I've never ever been disappointed in anything I've purchased from them.

I've got a meat order going out for the holidays and I will try Heritage for a small order.

Pardon my ignorance but I've never heard of them.

[jmolinari]

I've had tremendously good pork from a guy in N. Carolina: cawcawcreek.com It is truely spectacular. I need to try some of the heritage pork. I do have a lot of Tamworth pork in my freezer from a different farmer here in Georgia, so that is the next comparison i'm going to run.

I also did a head to head making salame with a local Georgia (not the n.Carolina guy) raised berk. and Costco pork.

The results are interesting. You can find details on my blog:

Making the salami:

Cured meats - farmer vs. costco salame

and the results:

Cured meats - farmer vs. costco results

Basically, i made a very simple salame, using just salt, pepper, garlic, meat and fat, and starter culture. I made 2 batches, one using the local farmer pork, the other using costco pork. Everything else was held the same. Ratios, fermentation times, etc.etc.

I believe because of the higher intramuscular fat content of the farmer pork, those salami took longer to lose the same % of water by weight. What was most astonishing, was that the flavor was preferred by 5 out of 5 people tasting it blind. The farmer pork had a more distinct sour flavor, and the texture wasn't as nice as the commercial pork. Again, i attribute this to the intramuscular fat.

If you've ever eaten a farmer pork chop against a commercial pork chop, you can tell the difference immediately in flavor. The farmer pork is just much porkier. I was expecting that to be even further enhanced by the drying. Instead, the flavors, other than the more sour note, were essentially identical.

My conclusion is actually to attribute this to the farmer. Just because a farmer raises berkshire hogs, doesn't mean they'll come out spectacularly tasting...raising is as important as the breed. So i need to try pork from a different supplier (which have in my freezer), and re-run the test.

jason

Edited November 1, 2007 by jmolinari (log)