A is for...Old pig breeds
Nowadays, if you value good taste and high quality, it's worthwhile to turn to old pig breeds such as the Swabian-Hall Landrace, Duroc, Iberico or Turopolje, but why?
It's often said that stressed pigs produce watery meat, but that's only part of the story. Crossbreeding with other pig breeds for meat production, without paying equal attention to quality, has genetically resulted in two common meat defects in domestic pigs, the kind we find in supermarkets and discount stores. The first defect is called DFD (dark firm dry) and arose from crossbreeding with Pietrain boars, which passed on a stress gene. This gene makes the pork fibrous, dry, and tough, a condition exacerbated by stress before slaughter. The second defect is PSE (pale soft exudative), characterized by very pale, soft meat that shrinks considerably and becomes watery when cooked. Unfortunately, these two defects are not uncommon in modern pig breeds. For this reason, and of course for the preservation of heritage livestock breeds and thus biodiversity, it's definitely worth spending a little more to buy a juicy Iberico steak .
