Favorite regional meat(s)?

[charby]

Dude. Hormel.

By the early 1900s Hormel was processing thousands of pigs a year that were raised on dozens of dedicated farms in the midwest.

Other industry processors, such as Swift and Armor, were emulating Hormel to a smaller scale with hogs, but to a far larger degree with beef.

Industrial meat farming in the midwest goes back far earlier than you're giving it credit.

Yes, I know about Hormel, Swift, Morrell, Dubuque, Rath, etc. Probably 10,000s of farms actually involved, not just a few hundred.

It was different though, the packers didn't own the livestock, the farmers did. The packers had to buy the animals on the open market at stock auctions or at buying stations. Hormel still buys hogs direct from the famers, but a much bigger scale. The other guys like Tyson contract grow the livestock. They own the pigs and rations, contract farmers who own the buildings and have to deal with manure disposal. This is what started happening in the 60s. The way I understand it, contract growing started with the poultry industry in the 30s and branched into the other livestock and dairy operations. IBP came along in the 60s, pretty much killed the stockyard industry in Chicago, Sioux City, Omaha and Kansas City. IBP changed how meat was shipped by the half carcass to the butcher and to the now familiar vaccum packed boxed meats. IBP also broke the meat packers unions. Here is article from NY Times when the founder of IBP died, he wasn't a very nice guy. http://www.nytimes.com/1977/02/18/archives/currier-holman-65-beef-processor-dies-cofounded-the-largest.html

Used to be a hard job that paid well, now its a hard job that pays crap and hires refugees.

[K Frame]

I never said that the packers owned the animals or the farms. That's not a requirement for an industrial farming model.

What I am saying is that the meat packing industry drove the development of the industrial farm model in the United States, and there was NOTHING like it on the east coast when it came to pig production.

Having an industrialized farming model doesn't mean that you have to have a large conglomerate controlling it. It means that you're focusing on producing one main product, in this case hogs, for one target audience -- the large meat packers.

[charby]

I never said that the packers owned the animals or the farms. That's not a requirement for an industrial farming model.

What I am saying is that the meat packing industry drove the development of the industrial farm model in the United States, and there was NOTHING like it on the east coast when it came to pig production.

Having an industrialized farming model doesn't mean that you have to have a large conglomerate controlling it. It means that you're focusing on producing one main product, in this case hogs, for one target audience -- the large meat packers.

I agree the meat packers drove to create specialized farms, but probably up until the 1920s-1930 almost every farmer had hogs but probably less than a herd of 20. They were a way to convert corn into food, just didn't have the acreage to support a large herd. It's somewhere around 20 bushels of corn to feed a pig for a year and up until hybrid corn the yield averages were about 25 bushels an acre, so you needed about an acre of corn per pig. Most farms were between 40-160 acres, needed to grow hay for your horses and dairy, oats for horses, grain for chickens, pigs and dairy. Also needed pasture for dairy and horses, so actual acreage of corn was a lot smaller than one thinks.

Back when Iowa was started getting settled in the 1830-1840s by German immigrants, you can read stories about having a crate of piglets hanging from the bottom of their wagon. These immigrants usually started in Ohio or Indiana after getting off the boat and riding the train to the end of the tracks, or ending up at relatives houses in those states. How my mom's family got to Iowa, stopped in Ohio at relatives and headed this way.

I still think pork was easy food (and cheaper) to raise compared to beef, had a source of fat to fry in and similar texture to veal.

[RocketMan]

I will second the country ham mentioned by mtnbkr.  When we still lived in Oregon and traveled to NC on vacation, we'd stop at a grocery store on the way to the airport and stuff our suitcases full of the stuff.  City ham was the only kind available in Oregon.  When we ran low on country ham, we knew it was time for another NC vacation.
And all NC BBQ is great stuff, whether from the east or west side of the state.  Sauce must be served on the side, not slathered over the meat.
SWMBO loves livermush all to heck. Personally, I can't stand the stuff.

[mtnbkr]

The TSA agent at the airport was probably thinking, "we get the strangest damn smugglers around here...". :D

Chris

[Jocassee]

SC does not lay claim to its own style of BBQ, though mustard base sauce seems to be predominant. In my opinion, the only True Q on the east coast is "Carolina Style" (which is really NC style I think?), which is vinegar based, and these days I think typically injected straight into the meat. The very best BBQ i have had did not require any sauce after smoking, as it was so flavorful and juicy. But even a properly done Q can need some additional sauce.

I don't have an opinion on Texas or KC style Q with tomato based sauce. IMO the sauce tends to obscure the flavor of the meat. I'll eat it and gladly but it's not my go-to.

[K Frame]

I never cared much for the vinegar based sauce, nor the mustard based sauce.

I do like the sweeter tomato based sauces.

A new one on me, though, that I first encountered a number of years ago, was Alabama white sauce, which is mayonnaise based. I really enjoy it. 

[mtnbkr]

I think typically injected straight into the meat.

I've never seen that (have cooked a few hogs for BBQ myself).  The sauce is typically "mopped" on during cooking, with some additional applied while the meat is being chopped as necessary/desired.

Chris

[T.O.M.]

I've never seen that (have cooked a few hogs for BBQ myself).  The sauce is typically "mopped" on during cooking, with some additional applied while the meat is being chopped as necessary/desired.

Chris

Got a buddy who does whole hogs.  He does both.  He mixes his rub with 1/2 vinegar, 1/2 water, and injects that into large muscle groups.  He then mops throughout the cook.  I bet he goes through a gallon of mop sauce for a whole hog.  But man, the bark is tasty when he's done.

[K Frame]

In Pennsylvania, BBQ really only just started making inroads within the last 10-15 years or so.

Previously, a pig roast, at least practiced by my church, was a whole roasted hog, but normally stuffed with sauerkraut; no sauce.

[charby]

In Pennsylvania, BBQ really only just started making inroads within the last 10-15 years or so.

Previously, a pig roast, at least practiced by my church, was a whole roasted hog, but normally stuffed with sauerkraut; no sauce.

I miss pig roasts/pig pick. They were almost everywhere weekend somewhere growing up, seems to have been replaced by ever present weekend fish fry. Fish fry used to be use a Lenten thing and maybe one big one during the summer.

 

[K Frame]

They never did fish frys where I grew up. The other big thing, at least for fund raisers, were grilled chickens. LOTS of fire companies and churches do grilled chickens for sale.

[charby]

They never did fish frys where I grew up. The other big thing, at least for fund raisers, were grilled chickens. LOTS of fire companies and churches do grilled chickens for sale.

Lions Club are known for annual chicken BBQ in many communities here.

They build up a giant charcoal grill with cinder blocks and grill on big pieces of expanded metal.