Email
RSSDining with a good pig
Posted under:
OLDFARM
Redwood
Lorrha
Nenagh
Co. Tipperary
A few weeks ago, via the Twitter machine, the Chef & I received an invitation to visit Margaret & Alfie O’Farrell at their beautiful home in Tipperary. Less than a one-hour drive from our home in Galway we found a haven for pigs.
I had met Margaret a few times over the summer at different foodie events and had been drawn to the very nature of who she is. Very warm and open, the kind of lady you could sit down and have a great chat with. Margaret and her husband Alfie raise pigs. Big, beautiful, well fed and exceptionally well cared for (rare-breed) black and white saddleback pigs.
Oldfarm homestead with ducks on the green lawn
Sometimes, it is the openness of the business owners that attracts me to a product. And, we love bacon.
Not shy at all are these pigs
We were the last to arrive, and Margaret and Alfie had already settled the other food bloggers into their kitchen with welcoming warm mugs of tea. A few plates of Margarets delicious sausage rolls (her secret is she uses lard in the pastry!) were shared at their large dining table. We were enveloped in the smells of Alfie’s focaccia bread just out of the oven, and the smell of the charcoal smoldering outdoors, lending the promise that something delicious was going to be shared with us for lunch. But first, wellies on a tour of the farm for us.
Margaret and Alfie had invited ourselves, Collete (The Katz Miaow) with her husband John, and Lily (A Mexican cook in Ireland) with her husband Alan. We went for a wander around the farm and got to see first hand just how much work goes into raising and feeding your own pigs.
Waste not, want not
The first thing I noticed was that these pigs eat a lot and dine like kings. They have a healthy supply of raw vegetables which is bound to make for a happy pig. Alfie relieves local business’s of their produce if they fail to sell it by the ‘sell by’ date.
As you can see from the cabbage below, there is not much wrong with a lot of the produce that makes its way to the pigs plate.
A perfect head of cabbage
Another, waste-not-want-not way of recycling is shown below. Mossfield cheese company, located nearby, donate to the pigs diet too. Imperfect wheels of cheese roll down a rambling road to Oldfarms pigs. Imagine how tasty this pork meat is!
Mossfield cheese for the piggies
Although it was a bit damp whilst we were walking around the farm, you wouldn’t know it from looking at the photos. Everything was so green and vivid and lush and healthy. One of the reasons I love Ireland, is the rain.
A perfect toadstool . . .
Although there is no shortage of work to be done around the farm, Margaret, in her efforts to live sustainably, has quite a nice size garden that she tends to in her free time. I had chard envy and turnip envy.
Rainbow Chard . . . such colour in Margaret's poly tunnel.
One of the reasons we were all assembled at Oldefarm was to try a new product that Margaret and Alfie are working on. Their pork is available to buy online right now, and soon they hope to include burgers.
Back at the house, raincoats hanging on radiators and wellies lined up outside the back door, we all sat and shared the beautiful food that our hosts had spent all morning preparing.
Carrot Salad
The table was filled with colour and flavour and we all dug in. The burgers are a work in progress and with a little tweaking I reckon we will see them for sale very soon on their website.
After seeing where the pigs live, and how they are cared for, and knowing that they have not been pumped full of growth hormones, it is easy to fall in love with the flavor of Oldfarm pork.
Beets with Margarets homemade yoghurt made from raw milk.
When we were leaving we grabbed a bag of short ribs (or Country Ribs if you are looking for them in America) and decided to treat these with a little tender loving care to see if we could come up with something that would be easily marketable.
Pork short ribs ….. raw and ready
| Pork short ribs in black bean sauce |
- 3 kilos of pork short ribs
- 6 tablespoons of elderflower honey
- 3 tablespoons of black bean sauce
- 1 tablespoon of dried chili flakes
- 8 cloves of garlic, chopped.
- Coarsely ground black pepper
- Maldon salt flakes
- A handful of sesame seeds. (2 handfuls if you have small hands helping in the kitchen)
- 6 whole star anise
- In a large roasting pan pour the honey and black bean sauce into a roasting tin.
- Add the garlic, star anise, sesame seeds and chili flakes.
- Cover the meat with black pepper and salt on all sides.
- Toss the ribs in the marinade then leave aside for at least 2 hours, turning after an hour to ensure coated all around.
- Roast the ribs at a medium heat (175°c) for an hour and a half, turning them at half hour intervals. Do not ‘leave them alone’ because with all the honey they could easily burn.
- When the meat is tender to the touch but not falling off the bone, they are done.
- We served ours with a brown basmati rice blend and sautéed green beans.
This is the kind of thing that does not really need a recipe. We use this marinade on chicken, beef and pork. You know you are going to have a delicious dinner when you are working the marinade into the raw meat and feel like licking your fingers.
It is important to keep a watchful eye on this after the first thirty minutes.
After you have turned them the first time you will be drawn to the smell from the oven and fierce hunger hunger pangs will pain your belly.
Turn after 40 mins….get nice colour on both sides
Once ready the ribs are plated up and served with some sliced fresh chillis and fresh coriander/cilantro.
Pork short ribs in black bean sauce
I have yet to find a dining guest that did not want to come back for more.
So sticky and sweet…..finger licking pork bones of yum…
Those are all the WiseWords I have for this evening.
WiseMóna
No related posts.
Like this post? Subscribe for free by email to get notified of new posts.
36 Comments + Add Comment
Got anything to say? Go ahead and leave a comment!
About MónaI am a native Galway girl that seems to be drawn to professions that rhyme with 'err'. Writer, Mother, Restauranteur, Wedding Planner, Dishwasher, Grass cutter, Cocktail maker. I suppose you could say I am a well rounded entrepreneur.
You can find me here
About the ChefYou can't find the Chef here.
You might as well just come visit.
He prefers face to face communication.
From The Kitchen
Buy the Book
Recent Comments
- WiseMóna on Hot off the press – The Sunday Times interview and first column
- Simone on Hot off the press – The Sunday Times interview and first column
- WiseMóna on Hot off the press – The Sunday Times interview and first column
- catherine on Hot off the press – The Sunday Times interview and first column
- WiseMóna on Hot off the press – The Sunday Times interview and first column
Latest Tweets
Networked Blogs
Stats
Thanks Móna & Ron, for this delicious sounding (and looking) recipe. We, too, took home a pack of ribs, and I will be making this recipe with them. (Minus the chilli!). We have enjoyed the Pork from Oldfarm, on a few occasions now, and, really, there is nothing else like it. Margaret and Alfie are always the most genial hosts, and it is lovely to be able to visit them, and their wonderful pigs. Lovely meeting you, Ron, Lily, and Alan, too.
Thank you Colette. Do try the recipe, they were so good I am still licking my fingers. And the chili flakes sis not heat it up too much at all
so it will not affect the flavour at all if you leave it out. Oldfarm Pork is the best. I think that seeing the pigs on the farm
does give a customer a better perspective on where the meat comes from and the whole animal welfare issue was put to bed fairly fast too! Margaret & Alfie are the best and most accommodating hosts. I can’t wait to go back! Lovely meeting you and John and I am looking forward to our next foodie rendezvous!
That place looks fabulous! I love the mushroom photo & the piggy! Great work Móna!
Thanks Lorna. I love the mushroom photo too! The pigs are like pets. Very very friendly and you would not believe
how well looked after they are. If you ever want some Pork – they deliver to Galway :0)
oooh, they look yum. Scary to see what food is thrown away, mind you, it is good to see it being turned into tasty pork but still, so much of it looks perfect.
Lorna –
It was shocking to see the throw away pile. All of us were just standing there in shock, especially considering the quality of it all.
With all the world hunger you would think that someone would have come up with an idea to take the food and actually feed someone?
The pork short ribs were a winner all round here. My Mum came for dinner and she loved them too!
Mona,
what a lovely post! Thank you! It was a pleasure to have yourself and The Chef visit.
Margaret
You are most welcome Margaret. Ron & I enjoyed our time with you and Alfie and the gang very much and
can’t wait to come back for a visit. See you in a few weeks! xx
I just love pigs – and of course pork and bacon also. My father keeps pigs from time to time and they are such wonderful animals. The amazing thing is how their flesh reflects their diet, so the better they are fed, the better they will taste.
BTW – is there any way that I could get my mitts on some of those “imperfect” Mossfield cheeses? They look perfectly fine to me
Oh – Lucky you that your Dad keeps Pigs. The chef wants to but we need a bigger place before we get into the
pig farming. We have enough mouths to feed right now with the kids and the ducks and hens!
When we left, we toted home quite a supply of the cheese. It is so good. Apparently if a wheel has a blemish or
a crack it has to be discarded……..there is something wrong with that rule for sure.
Thanks for the visit Joanne…
Lovely post Mona, the photos are beautiful! It was a wonderful day and enjoyed every minute of it. Lovely to spend time with you all!
Thanks Lily. It was a lovely day and especially nice to get away for a few hours without the kids.
The drive over to Oldfarm — from Galway — is so short and scenic I am guessing we will be going back there
plenty of times in the near future. See you in November xx
Mona,
Looks like you and the Chef are becoming rock stars of the blogosphere:) The pictures of the food that is feed to the pigs is in stark contrast of what I remember as a child on my Grandmothers’ farm. The slop that was feed to her pigs looked like mush. However, I was a small child and have no idea what it consisted of. I can tell you that it was nothing like the gourmet feast that Margaret and Alfie of Oldfarm feed their pigs.
The pork ribs from your recipe look as delicious as I’m sure they tasted. In the photos of the pork ribs, it looks like you added maybe sesame seeds, or could it be the Maldon salt? (I,m almost too embarrassed to ask). Almost:)
Hi Robert,
Ha! Yes. Sesame seeds were thrown into the mix and (bad blogger that I am) I neglected to add them to the recipe.
We have a bag of toasted sesame seeds that he keeps near the oven to put on all his loaves of bread and as they were going in to the
oven he threw a handful on there. I will adjust the recipe right now and thanks for catching that. Coffee’s on me when we visit your side of the Ohio river :0) AND, I know. As a child I remember watching pigs be fed pure swill. It was slop.
They say that the pigs flesh does absorb the flavours of the food it is fed, and having tasted the pork, I can only say it is delicious.
AND – no. Not rock stars at all. Just lucky enough to meet up with some very cool people who share a like mindedness for where their food comes from!
Looks like you had a great time Mona. Those ribs look lovely, anything that you can eat with your fingers is a winner in my book, saves on the washing up doncha know. It seems no great hardship to be an Oldfarm piggy, they seem to eat better than most people do.
The ribs were delicious and a visit to Oldfarm for anyone interested in pig rearing should be on the cards. I could not believe the wealth of veggies these beasts are being fed. AND they
are extremely well socialized so we got the chance to be up close and personal with them. The Chef really wants pigs, to make his own bacon of course, but the kids are still a little to ‘short’ and
I fear not fast enough to outrun a hungry piggy! I agree with you on the eat-with-fingers food . . . .head dishbitch in charge here :0)
Hi Mona, I laughed to read about your turnip and chard envy. It does look like rather good veg. I love the recycling aspect of rearing these animals. If only all meat reached our plates via such a happy life.
Thanks Hester. Wouldn’t it be lovely to think all our ‘meats’ would have such happy and well cared for existences.
I did have turnip and chard envy. These items grow very well in Ireland, we have found, but our hens LOVE them so we end up fighting a loosing battle with them
and let them feast on turnip greens (my favourite of all the greens) and swiss chard. They, in return. produce the most amazing eggs I have ever eaten so I am willing to cut them some slack :0)
Thanks for the visit!
Wow, yumba! I have got try this. Miss you guys! -E
Eric,
‘Yumba’ will always be my very favourite word. The ribs are right up your alley. They were just delicious and although not quite falling of the bone they
really melt in your mouth. What a lovely way to start your day in the ‘nati dreaming of sticky pork ribs!
Hugs to J & E and you xxx
This looks so delicious and that farm sounds fantastic too! I love places like that where animals have a normal life before we eat them… That’s why we love going to the farm we usually go and buy our meat from; you can see the animals roaming around freely in the meadows and they all look happy and I do believe you actually taste that in the meat. I can’t explain why the meat is soooo much better then supermarket meat but I bet that has a lot to do with it! And those ribs… so good looking!
The farm is a lovely lovely place. And the drive there, from Galway, is scenic in a rolling hills kind of way. I think you are right Simone,
because we see animals living in an environment like this, and see what they eat, we expect the meat to taste better and it does!
The ribs were divine. Sweet sticky yum. Thanks for the visit!
What a wonderful day! And beautiful! I am fascinated by people who live sustainably, self-sufficiently and green. And what food! And wow, Mona, what fabulous ribs!! The flavors in the marinade are exceptional!!
Thanks Jamie. The flavours were exceptional. This, like with your baking I am sure, cannot be hurried and made taste good in a flash. It is ‘slow’ food. It takes time to marinade, time to cook and time to rest before you can eat it. But with all that time…it is worth it. Every nibble is nourishing. I really loved your Macarons Jamie. The Chef has never made them but he is gearing up for it soon. Perhaps over the halloween break with the kids :0)
Well, I knew that pigs ate vegetables but I had no idea that they ate cheese. You are not kidding when you say that these fellas are well fed. What a lovely old farmhouse and what a lovely sounding couple. Beautiful post and as usual, wonderfully photographed. Your ribs definitely look like there would be requests for second helpings.
I believe that pigs eat ‘everything’. Yes. These guys are so happy and healthy looking and have great personality.
It rained buckets the day of our visit to Oldfarm so I can let the rain take the credit for the photos turning out so nice. Green, lush and lovely.
The ribs are a winner for sure. That sticky sweet recipe is a little addictive.
Thanks for popping in for a visit Paula. Hope you are doing well :0)
I’ve been meaning to visit Olde Farm for ages, I hope I get there some day soon! Their pork looks absolutely stunning, and their piggies look so happy!
I’ll definitely keep this recipe in mind for a future pork feast, it looks really delicious. Thanks, Mona!
Aoife,
Go visit Margaret & Alfie. They are the nicest couple. It is hard to believe the standard of care and diet that these pigs have.
We are as careful as can be when sourcing our meat and fish and I find nows since this visit we have raised the standards even higher.
A little list of criteria has been drawn up and now we will compare the treatment of the the animals with Oldfarm as the standard to beat.
If I could find a beef farmer that feeds his cows Cashel Blue cheese…….oh.my.gawd.
Imagine. Thanks for popping in for a visit. I hope you are not being washed away in the pale….
This is exactly the way pigs should be fed: on waste; it’s crazy wasting grain that could be consumed by humans when these animals are natures refuse collectors. Do you have to actually go to the farm to buy the meat or can you buy it online?
Thans Stef. If you follow the link to their site you can buy direct on line and they deliver in person.
I cannot imagine feeding them anything else myself!
Thanks for the visit!
Long time visitor, first time commenter!
Great and thank you!
Oldfarm is a great place to visit – happy pigs, interesting people and great food. What more could you ask for?!
Thanks Caroline and it is a great place to visit.
After seeing their set-up, the Chef really REALLY wanted to bring home a pig, but settled for the
less needy piece of pork instead. Hope you and small girl and little missy and beer man are all doing well and
staying warm. xx
I want to eat those ribs so so much, right now! They would give a bang to this wet, gloomy murky November day. I loved this post, it is so fascinating to peek into other lives and I have huge life envy of the lifestyle on the farm, and the pigs look like they get A* treatment. I am just about to publish an apple sauce with brandy post, might be just the thing if you have any pork left, and I learnt lots about traditional slaughter when researching it – fascinating.
Oh – I love apple sauce – so does my little boy. Alex, I wish you lived closer. We are having a lovely piece of Oldfarm pork tonight
stuffed with garlic sautéed spinach and a little sherry. You could bundle up your babies and your hubby, come over for supper and we would eat that lovely
apple sauce with the pork and invite a few other foodie friends to bring a few covered dishes and dessert. It would be a lovely evening.
Someday. We will do just this. Thanks for the visit….will pop over later to read all about it!