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“Dear WAPF,” began the hand-written note, “We are cancelling our membership because of the Foundation’s stand against eating pork. Your prejudice against pork hurts hard-working farmers.”
This letter has languished in my files for several years as I considered how to answer what I call the “pork dilemma.” On the one hand, several practitioners of live blood cell analysis have told me that eating pork causes undesirable changes in the blood; on the other hand, pork was consumed by healthy Polynesian and Melanesian groups which Dr. Price visited and described; and pork is a major food in the diets of long-lived peoples such as the Okinawans and Caucasian Georgians. Equally important is the fact that raising pork fits so well into the model of an integrated farm. If the farmer is making cheese (from grass-fed cows, of course), he can give the whey, considered a waste product, to the pigs and chickens. Many farmers have told me that it is the pigs, more than any other product, that brings prosperity to the farm, even if they are raised on purchased grain.
A clue to the dilemma came from a Chinese member of WAPF. “In China,” he told me, “we prepare pork in a special way, otherwise we think it is unhealthy.” The preparation technique involves cutting pork into small pieces and marinating it in vinegar before cooking it in pork fat. “When we prepare pork this way,” he said, “we know that it is good for us.” Pork and pork fat together form the number one source of calories in the traditional Chinese diet.
Pork is traditionally marinated in vinegar in the Philippines and in Argentina; in Europe it is fermented or cured; even America has her tradition of pickled pigs’ feet and vinegar-marinated barbecue.
At last we have been able to bring some finality to the question with the live blood analyses of Beverly Rubik (see article page 24). Her study indicates that plain pork meat indeed causes undesirable changes in the blood, accompanied by fatigue, but pork that has been marinated, fermented or cured does not. This is indeed good news for farmers and bacon lovers!
Here is a collection of pork recipes from around the world that WAPF members can eat with confidence.
Sally Fallon Morell
ADOBO
Serves 4-6
Adobo is a popular Filipino meat dish cooked in vinegar, soy sauce and garlic. Different regions cook the dish in varied ways, some like it saucy, others dry. This version comes from Agnes Bunagan, office worker at the Weston A. Price Foundation.
- 2 teaspoons salt or naturally fermented soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon crushed black peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon crushed garlic
- 1 cup raw apple cider vinegar
- 2 pounds pork belly, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 cup water
In a bowl, combine salt, peppercorn, garlic, and vinegar. Marinate pork pieces in this mixture for an hour, or better yet overnight. When ready to cook, pour water in the mixture, cover and let simmer over low heat until meat is tender.
A variation of this recipe calls for cooking the pork in pork fat rather than water, for a dish that is dryer. Adobo is best eaten with rice.
PORK CHOP CASSEROLE
Serves 4
- 4 large pork chops
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 cups brown rice
- 2 tablespoons fresh whey or vinegar
- 3 cups water
- 4 tablespoons lard
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
- 3-4 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 large can chopped tomatoes
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- sea salt to taste chopped
- cilantro for garnish
In the morning, place the rice, whey or vinegar and water in a jar. Close tightly and leave on the kitchen counter all day. Also in the morning, pound the pork chops with a meat hammer and place in a pyrex casserole with the vinegar. Marinate, refrigerated, throughout the day, turning occasionally.
Melt the lard in a cast iron or enamel casserole. Dry the pork chops well with paper towels and brown in the lard, two at a time, until well browned on both sides. Remove and set aside. Cook the onion and green pepper in the remaining fat until soft. Drain the rice through a strainer and add to the casserole. Cook about ten minutes, stirring frequently. Add the chili powder and stir into the rice and vegetables until well amalgamated. Add the tomatoes and stock and bring to a boil. Allow to boil uncovered until the liquid is reduced to the level of the rice. Season to taste with salt and place the pork chops on top of the rice.
Place in an oven set at 250 degrees with the top slightly ajar on the pan. Bake at this low temperature for about 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is completely tender and the rice is cooked through.
To serve, place rice and one pork chop on a plate and garnish with cilantro.
PROSCIUTTO AND MELON APPETIZER
Serves 4
This makes an elegant and easy appetizer; it’s equally delicious served for lunch, perhaps with the addition of some thinly sliced Parmesan cheese.
Prosciutto is an Italian word for ham. In English, the term prosciutto usually refers to a dry-cured ham that is thinly sliced and served uncooked; this style is called prosciutto crudo in Italian and is distinguished from cooked ham, prosciutto cotto. The ham is rubbed with sea salt and allowed to age from nine months to two years, resulting in mellow, delicious flavors.
Be sure to have your prosciutto sliced for you, rather than purchase it pre-sliced in packages. Find a deli that will keep all the fat on the ham—some stores, like Whole Foods, cut the fat off, thereby wasting the most flavorful and nutritious part.
- 16 thin slices of freshly sliced prosciutto ham
- 1 ripe cantaloupe
- 2 limes
Cut the cantaloupe into wedges, rind removed. Cut the limes into quarters, lengthwise. Arrange the prosciutto slices artistically on 4 large plates with cantaloupe slices and lime wedges.
To eat the proscuitto, first squeeze lime juice on the melon and ham slices, then garnish with freshly ground black pepper.
CHICKEN LIVERS WRAPPED IN BACON
Makes 24
- 8 chicken livers from pastured chickens
- 8 pieces no-nitrate thinly sliced bacon
- 1 small can water chestnut slices
- 1 cup naturally fermented soy sauce
Trim the chicken livers, dry well and cut each into three pieces. Wrap each piece with one half slice of water chestnut and 1/3 piece of bacon, secured with a toothpick. Place in a baking dish and marinate refrigerated for several hours in the soy sauce.
To serve, place on a broiler pan and broil about five minutes per side or until the livers are cooked through.
PORK AND BROCCOLI STIR FRY
Serves 4
- 1 pound pork, cut into small strips
- 1/2 cup vinegar (any type) 1 cup chicken stock
- 1/4 cup naturally fermented soy sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup rice or red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Rapadura
- 2 tablespoons lard
- 1 bunch green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2 red peppers, seeded and cut into thin strips
- 2 cups broccoli florets
- 1 tablespoon arrowroot dissolved in
- 1 tablespoon water
Place pork in a bowl with vinegar and marinate for several hours. Drain and dry well with paper towels. Mix stock, soy sauce, chile flakes, ginger, garlic, rice vinegar and Rapadura and set aside.
Heat lard in a cast iron skillet or wok over medium high heat. Stir fry pork until moisture evaporates and the pork browns. Add green onions, red peppers and broccoli and stir fry for several minutes, until vegetables soften slightly. Add sauce mixture and bring to a boil. Add arrowroot mixture and boil vigorously until sauce thickens. Serve immediately. This goes well with brown rice. (Recipe from Eat Fat Lose Fat.)
SHREDDED PORK
Makes about 4 cups
- about 3 pounds pork butt or fatty pork meat, including organ meats such as heart
- 1 cup vinegar
- 1/2 cup lard
- 4 tablespoons chile powder
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup tomato paste
- 2 cups beef or chicken broth
Cut pork into 1-inch cubes and marinate in vinegar about 24 hours, refrigerated. Dry cubes well and brown in hot lard in a large flame-proof casserole. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and place in a 350-degree oven, with the lid slightly askew so moisture can evaporate. Bake several hours until the liquid is reduced to about half. Shred the pork with a fork or knife. This is a great filling for tacos, burritos, enchiladas, tostados and other Mexican dishes.
SIDEBARS
THE RACTOPAMINE SCANDAL
Although banned in one hundred sixty countries, including China, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows the administration of a drug called ractopamine for pigs. Used in 45 percent of U.S. pigs, the drug increases protein synthesis at the expense of fat buildup in maturing pigs. Side effects include hyperactivity, muscle breakdown and mortality but farmers use it anyway to get pigs lean for today’s fat-phobic market. Unlike growth-promoting antibiotics and hormones, which are withdrawn as the animal nears slaughter, ractopamine is started as the animal gets close to butchering day.
Handling instructions for ractopamine caution: “Not for use in humans. Individuals with cardiovascular disease should exercise special caution to avoid exposure. Use protective clothing, impervious gloves, protective eye wear and a NIOSH-approved dust mask.” Yet FDA allows its use in meat in such a way that residues surely remain—up to 20 percent of ractopamine remains in the meat you buy from the supermarket, according to veterinarian Michael W. Fox. (The drug is also approved for confinement beef and turkeys.)
Of course, there are other reasons to avoid conventional pork, including the horrendous way that they are raised in confinement, a system that tortures the pig, demeans farm workers and pollutes the environment.
Be sure to seek out pork from conscientious farmers who allow their pigs to roam on pasture or in forest. In fact, pigs will clear out a forest floor, creating a savanna where cows can graze in hot summer months; and pigs build up nutritious, delicious fat from a diet of forest nuts and roots that otherwise go to waste. There is enough forest in the U.S. to raise our entire supply of pork, without a single cage or CAFO.
SALUMOTERAPIA
The latest health craze in Italy is salumoterapia or cured meat therapy. Hosteria da Ivan, outside the Italian town of Parma, has dedicated one room of the establishment to serve as a salumoterapia salon, where delicious cured meats are paired with fine wines and cheeses as a health-restorative formula. The salon is lined with crates of Champagne and Italian wines, while prosciutto, culatello and salami hang from the beamed ceiling. Guests sit around one big table. The treatment consists of deep breathing, eating and drinking. Participants are served a plate of choice salumi—sliced prosciutto, culatello, salami and Tuscan head cheese. They are then given large cloth napkins to be placed over their heads and the plate, allowing them to inhale the porky perfumes and stimulate the salivary glands and appetite. Remove napkin, taste salumi and drink sparking wine. Salumoterapia is followed by a superb four-course dinner, a treatment that guarantees a feeling of renewal!
Variations include prosciutto wraps, mortadella mask and lard massage. The mortadella mask involves putting one large slice of the cold cut, with holes removed for eyes, nose and mouth, over the face, as a skin softener. Prosciutto wrap is recommended for tennis elbow or knee problems. SOURCE: theatlantic.com, June 9, 2011.
This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Fall 2011.
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When you make the shredded pork do you throw out the vinegar after it’s marinated?
I would say yes, throw out the vinegar. That’s how I read the recipe.
So, am I reading this post correct that eating pastured pork that has not been either fermented, cured or marinated is bad for our health? I write this because I was about to purchase an entire hog from a local rancher; however, if this is true, I certainly am not going to make the investment. I also read the article concerning the live blood analysis which really concerned me.
Thank you for responding to my inquiry.
Respectfully,
A. T. Ross
Dear AT Ross,
Yes, this is true. Years before I read the article about this, I noticed the phenomena that Beverly Rubrik wrote about in her article in the WAPF journal about pork. When I ate pork (prepared improperly) I would get a feeling like my blood was thickening, and I just wanted to lay down on the couch after eating it and not move for a while until the feeling passed. The live blood analysis showed exactly that, that the blood cells coagulate together if one eats pork that has not been prepared properly, smoked, soaked in vinegar, marinated, salted as bacon or ham…Turns out we need to treat port with more care than we thought, just like so many other foods we learn about from the Weston A Price foundation!
I would say, buy that pork, and learn to prepare it properly. As we’ve learned, our grains, nuts, seeds and legumes also need to be special preparation to be safe to eat!
There are many websites that give recipes for bacon, ham, and marinades for chops, carnitas, etc.
My dad is Mexican, and a great cook. One of his best recipes is “Killer ribs” where he would marinade pork ribs in a spicy sauce…and watch out! Everyone loved his ribs, and still talk about them at gatherings now that he’s passed on. Pork is so delicious, and easy to raise. I say it’s worth learning how to cook it right and enjoy!
Kind regards,
Geri Quintero
I would love to know his recipe.
After not having eaten pork for 15 years, I made the recipe for Pork Caserrole above ,and, unfortunately, it was not taste treat. After cooking the pork chops for one and a half hours, the meat was as dry as sawdust. And having soaked the pork in a the cider vinegar marinade overnight, the taste was too acidic. Is there a reason to cook the pork chops that long? I would think they would be done when no trace of pink shows, no? And is there a marinade you can recommend that is more balanced and subtle? I’d like to try this again. Thanks!
there are 2 soaked pork recipes here
https://www.westonaprice.org/category/our-blogs/recipe-of-the-week/entrees/
Is sausage considered cured or otherwise properly prepared like bacon & ham are considered?
Theresa, it completely depends upon the type of sausage. Pepperoni for instance, is a type of sausage which is cured. Breakfast sausage usually is not. Look for “naturally cured” or “lactic acid culture” on the label, as well as “naturally smoked”.
Is there a healthier way to prepare ground pork sausage for italian dishes? I have ground unseasoned pastured pork.
Did you ever get an answer?
Hello,
We raise and kill our own pigs and usually make bone broth from the bones etc. How is the best way to prepare the broth safely?
Suzie Osmond
i am a small farmer of pastured pigs. They are fed a soaked mixture of all organic wheat, oats, barley, and field peas. the soaking liquid is water, organic apple cider vinegar and organic molasses. we also add organic kelp, alfalfa meal, flax meal and black oil sunflower seeds. They eat as much pasture and hay as they want and receive the grain late in the afternoon. I feel like they produce a meat that is nothing like commercial pork. I am wondering if this would make the pork more digestible for us? We obviously eat it regularly and feel fine–good cholesterol numbers etc. I do notice a difference if I eat other pork….
wow that is awesome! where are you located? haha
Click on the person’s name. It’s a link.
Hello,
What about pork liver pate? Is it acceptable?
Thanks,
What about sausages made from salivary glands and lymph nodes of pigs (like Mexican chorizo)?
Im as always so grateful for Weston A Price foundation : and their thorough exploration of traditional nutrition! I have been raising pigs for 3 years and though I am an avid WAP member: I had somehow missed this message. We recently harvested a beautiful sow and I have been struggling with even wanting to do the whole butchering process and feeling sick to my stomach about eating pork. Then WAP posted on IG today about this and it led me to these articles. Now I understand why I was feeling conflicted and I will proceed with proper meat preparation!
I may have missed it, but what does soaking the pork in vinegar do to the meat that it would not hinder a person’s blood?
My understanding, reading the previous article about fresh-cooked pork’s effect on the blood, is that they don’t know yet why marinating in vinegar has a beneficial effect. All they have been able to do so far is to observe that it does so.
I am grieving over this, because I love fresh pan-fried or pan-sauteed pork. In fact, I seem to have somewhat of an addictive relationship with it. Marinating it does something to the taste — seems like it’s not as intensely PORK-flavored. And I didn’t have cravings for more, though it was good and I ate it.
I just bought breakfast sausage… ( healthy source ) is there any way to prepare this properly ? Thank you
I am wondering the same thing. Did you ever get an answer? Thanks
hello, would wine be enough acidity to marinade pork?
Also I would be interested in a preparation for ground pork, as I have a lot of it right now. Can I just mix up a sausage meat with the vinegar or wine in the mixture and let it sit for 24 hours or do I have to soak the whole lump of sausage in the acidic mixture? Thanks!!!
I do feel there hasn’t been sufficient testing for Weston Price Foundation to condemn eating uncured pork. I understand some religions forbid it, but that should not get mixed up with facts, and the fact is you haven’t done sufficient testing. You need to look at the blood of MANY people and use 100% pastured pork not treated with drugs or vaccines. THEN I will believe your warning. As of now, I think it is irresponsible and possibly harmful.
I grew up eating pigs we raised and butchered. We ate everything. We cured the bacon made livermush, cured hams, and made sausage. I am thankful we had it.
From my direct experience of results with my body, untreated cooked pork causes erectile dysfunction (all other things in ones diet being on point), – and this is with pastured pork or otherwise raised pork. However that doesn’t occur with pork skin,… pork skin seems to be ok, not so likely to cause ED. And, properly treated pork (culture, nitrate-vegetable powders, or acids/vinegar)… good erectile function occurs. Isolated nitrates for the curing, seems to cause erectile dysfunction. The advantage of celery powder nitrate curing is the broad spectrum composition of the celery powder vs. the narrow ‘spectrum’ of modern nitrate curing-salts.