Porc Noir de Bigorre, AOP – An Ancient Breed of Pig That Provides the Most Highly Rated Cured Ham in France. The Porc Noir de Bigorre in French Cuisine.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com 

The Porc Noir de Bigorre, AOP.

Pork is the most popular meat in France, though restaurants prefer to highlight more expensive cuts of beef and lamb. Nevertheless, there will be jambon cru, cured hams, and other costly cuts from some of the most famous porcine breeds in France on most menus, along with farmed and real wild boar and top-level cured ham imports. In the French lineup of famous porkers, one pig is far ahead of all others in quality and taste, and that is the Porc Noir de Bigorre AOP, the Black Pig of Bigorre. This ancient breed of pigs has been raised for at least 1,000 years around the old French Province of Bigorre, now included in the modern departments of Hautes-Pyrénées, Gers, and Haute-Garonne. (Since 1-1-2016 these departments have been part of the region of Occitanie).
   
The Porc Noir De Bigorre is free-range for 70% of the year.
 
Flavor in pork comes from fat and the Porc Noir de Bigorre is very flavorsome, coming as it does from a 55% fat to meat ratio. However, that was too much fat for many farmers after WWII when the farmers needed inexpensive fast-growing breeds with more meat per kilo, and so by the 1980s, the tasty Porc Noir was nearly extinct. Nevertheless, there were always a few farmers who kept raising these pigs as a hobby while waiting for an educated public who would pay extra for the quality and taste of the Porc Noir de Bigorre. 

By 1992 there were enough producers who had agreed breeding and quality standards to begin offering the wider public a uniquely tasting saucisson, a salami type sausage, and jambon sec, dry-cured ham, with a fabulous taste, along with other cuts. The public responded, and in short order, the farmers couldn't keep up with the demand. The Porc Noir, however, is a slow-growing pig, and its dry-cured ham is aged for at least 18 months with its very best offerings aged for twenty-four. Long aging takes up a lot of expensive climate-controlled storage, and they can't compete with popular cured hams that are only aged for seven to twelve months. Altogether, that makes for an expensive product, but at the end, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the Jambon de Porc Noir de Bigorre melts on your tongue. In 2017 the Porc Noir de Bigorre received its AOC, and a Pan-European AOP closely followed that. (The Porc Noir de Bigorre AOP is also one of the few hams supported by the Slow Food Movement).  
    
Slices of cured ham from the Porc Noir De Bigorre AOP.

The Porc Noir de Bigorre of French menus :

Carré de Porc Noir de Bigorre, Flan de Haricots Tarbais et Jus Corsé – A pork chop from the Porc Noir de Bigorre accompanied with a savory tart made from the Label Rouge Tarbaise dried bean and served with a Jus Corsé, a sauce made from the natural cooking juices. The dried white Haricot Tarbais bean was the first dried bean to be awarded the French Label Rouge, the red label, for its unique and consistent quality. 

A Porc Noir de Bigorre sow will also have fat piglets.

Gambas et Poitrine De Porc Noir De Bigorre Caramélisées Et Poivrées - Caramelized large shrimps with pepper accented pork belly from the Porc Noir De Bigorre.

Porc Noir Burger: Pain Burger, Sauce Fumée, Oignons Confits, Ventrèche De Porc Noir De Bigorre - A Porc Noir Burger served with a burger roll, accompanied by a smoke-flavored sauce, onions confit (slowly cooked and offered as a sweet jam with their taste made to contrast with the meat) and pork belly from the Porc Noir De Bigorre  

A store of Porc Noir hams.
  
Jambon de Porc Noir de Bigorre et Langoustine Croustillante de Kadaïf, Assaisonnés D'une Huile de Noisette du Gers, Fraîcheur de Pomme Granny et Gingembre – Cured ham from the Porc Noir de Bigorre served with crispy Dublin Bay Prawns (the real scampi) wrapped in the thin pasta strands of Kadaïf, flavored with oil from hazelnuts from the department of Gers and slices of chilled Granny Smith apples flavored with ginger.

Kadaïf is a pastry with both savory and sweet versions that were brought to France with North African cuisine, though it is found all over the Middle East as well as in Turkey, Greece, and Albania.  Kadaïf is made from pasta-like vermicelli in very thin angels’ hair strands made from wheat flour, corn starch, salt, and water. Kadaïf may be on menus as Knafeh, Knofa, and Kadaïfia.
 
 Assiette de Charcuterie: Jambon de Porc Noire de Bigorre, Rillet des d’oie, Saucisson sec, Pate de Campagne - A platter of Jambon Noir de Bigorre served with goose rillets accompanied by, a small salami type pork sausage and a country pate. (Goose rillets are goose meat that has been slowly cooked in goose fat until the meat can be made into a paste to spread on toast or bread).
   
Porc Noire Saucisson
The Black Pig of Bigorre’s salami type sausage.

The Black Pig of Bigorre live freely for 70% of the year in small herds in natural settings in open forest where they feed on wild herbs and flowers, acorns, chestnuts, and locally cultivated vegetable additions. The piglets are raised freely by their mothers until they are weaned and no antibiotics or growth hormones are permitted.

In the countryside of the old province of Bigorre:

The whole areais very much into fine foods:


The Porc Noir de Bigorre AOP will not be on every menu, so look out for it and do not pass it you by.

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman 
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2019, 2023


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