The meat, as expected, was excellent. The real surprise, though, was what an enormous difference it made to fry the chops in lard instead of our usual olive oil. The chops were tender inside with a delicious crispy surface, and even after I fried 3 pan-fulls of chops in succession, there was absolutely no scorching or sticking to the pan, which made it easy to make delicious pan gravy in a matter of moments.
Now that I've tried it, I would definitely recommend frying in lard!
Here's what the chops looked like before they were cooked:
These chops were from a hog that was very obese. I'm showing this photo as a reminder to people: Don't overfeed your Guinea hogs! They are easy keepers and gain weight very easily. If you feed more than is necessary, you're not making more meat, you're just making more fat. I like a bit of marbling in my meat, but that marbling doesn't need to be in big 2.5" wide swaths like in that bottom right chop.
Oh wow!!! The finished product looks great! The before doesn't look to bad either. What a treat.
ReplyDeleteAlas, poor Hagrid, we knew ye well...
ReplyDeleteLooks amazing. I bet the lard had a high burn temps perhaps and that contributed to the moist interior with the crispy exterior.
Those look really really yummy.
ReplyDeleteYou're making my mouth water!
ReplyDeleteHmm that looks delicious! I want to eat the picture itself! Great blog, I'm gonna follow from Italy! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for posting about your guinea hogs and pictures of the meat. I am just getting into raising guinea hogs but have yet to get a hold of any meat as it is hugely popular and sells out quickly here. Thanks for the tip on overfeeding. Great example showing the processed meat. Thanks for sharing!
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