Equipment:
'88 Vintage Fire Magic gasser with over 4000 cooks to its credit
Large Big Green Egg
18 Inch Weber Kettle (Rescued from neighbor's trash)
Rotisserie for 18 inch kettle
Dyna Glo propane smoker
Pit Barrel Cooker
Smokey Joe with mini WSM mod
Garcima paella burner
Anova Sous Vide
Slaiya Sous Vide (gift)
LEM grinder, sausage stuffer and meat slicer (all gifts)
I can't say much about their products. A couple of years ago I ordered a pork belly and their pork chop sampler when they were half price. Compared to commodity pork, they were good, but (IMHO) not worth the full price. I posted the sale because I've seen some pit members post that they liked their products.
It bums me out so bad that they closed the store down (they are local to me) and will only sell in person to wholesalers (not me). It's mighty fine pork.
Wholesale may be where they're headed. My daughter manages a bar/restaurant and found Cheshire products available through one of their food service suppliers, Cheney Brothers. Cheney Brothers is a multi billion $ food service outfit throughout Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.
I’m not a shill for them but their pork is excellent. They are the Official House Purveyor of pork for the James Beard Foundation.
They raise Chester Whites which is a heritage breed:
”The Chester white breed pig is a crossbreed of the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire pigs that came from England and landed in New York. These two breeds were intermingled with the Chester breed that was already a native of the Americas.
Sometime in the years between 1815 and 1818, a captain named James Jeffries imported a white boar from England called a Cumberland or Bedfordshire boar. This white boar was used in extensive breeding of the local pig population, and, as a result, the Chester White breed was created.”
While this is a quote from their marketing I think it might explain some of your questioning:
”For the past 40 years, the Ivey family has been raising heritage breed hogs on the family farm in Seven Springs, North Carolina. They have selectively bred a herd of Chester White hogs that is widely known for its intramuscular fat and the superior taste that this fat imparts. Careful farming practices and close monitoring of the herd’s genetics have produced what we believe to be the juiciest and most flavorful pork in the market. This pork is richly colored, well marbled, and always juicy. The pork gets high Minolta scores, a measurement of the red color of the pork, and for having a pH that is more neutral, which insures moisture retention during cooking.“
Maybe not for everyone but this is who we personally buy most of our pork from and we think the quality is worth the extra cost. Just my 2¢
Comment