After picking up the guys, we drove up into the mountains to a pig farm. That's right: our big Friday night would happen at a pig farm. Upon arrival at a very swiss house, I was introduced to several of Gordon's coworkers and also to the owner of the farm. The owner is a man who used to work closely with Gordon's group at work, but has since left the corporate world to focus on his passion: ham.
Introductions finished, we got back in the cars and drove farther up the mountain to the actual farm. This was unlike any farm I have ever seen. The pigs were kept in an enormous fenced-in area, perched on the mountainside, overlooking lake Neuchatel and the Swiss Alps.
The pigs themselves were also very unusual. They were very wooly, black pigs which I had only previously seen in the zoo in Switzerland.
The farmer took his time describing to us the way that the pigs are raised. They are fed only locally-grown foods. They are never fed corn or soy, for fear that they will fatten too quickly and their fat will be on the periphery as opposed to in the muscle. A normal pig in Switzerland is ready to be slaughtered after only 4 months because of the amount of corn and soy that they are fed, but these pigs are not ready until they are 18 months old. Clearly, these pigs are a huge investment.
After seeing the pigs and their homes, we drove back to the house and we watched a small presentation on how the pigs become ham. This was bit strange to watch after having just seen the pigs enjoying themselves in the mud. It was also extremely impressive. The amount of pride that these farmers take in their pigs and then their ham is enormous. They have considered every detail, down to using locally produced salt to cure the ham.
After the presentation, we went down to the cellar, where the ham hangs for 18 months to 3 years, aging like a fine wine or cheese.
And finally, after seeing the hams hanging in the cellar, it was time to taste the ham. It was hard for me to get the image of those cute pigs out of my head, but I managed to do just that. The ham was delicious! The way that it was cut and served was what we think of as prosciutto. We tried it all different ways: more and less aged, more and less dried, cut very thin (chiffonade) and cut thick.
And of course, like all Swiss meals, there was an abundance of cheese and wine to be consumed. We tried more and less aged Gruyere as well as some very strong Roquefort (blue cheese), all locally produced. It turned about to be a very interesting and delicious evening with great company.
After finishing the evening with espressos, we headed back to Vevey, where our baby-sitters reported that Claire had had a lot of fun and had gone to bed without a fuss. The apartment was tidy, the dishes were washed, and they asked if they could please baby-sit Claire again some time. Of course we said yes!
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