The flavor of ‘dry-aged’ beef was the norm until widespread refrigeration and the shift from rail-transport of whole carcasses to the boxed-beef revolution. This was fueled by the advent of the interstate system, cheap gas, and ubiquitous trucking which supplanted all previous methods of transport and distribution.

Niman Ranch pork is different; it truly is something else. I’ve cooked with it now several times, from shoulder to belly to loin. It’s not only that Niman Ranch pork has true pork flavor, it’s that that flavor is so richly deep that it shocks.

This past weekend I was fortunate to be presented with an opportunity to visit a hog farm in Iowa that uses the Niman Ranch methods I also got to attend the yearly Hog Farmer Awards dinner and ceremony. I was eager to see the practices being put into play and, quite honestly, to see if the hype was real or if it’s all just a great story.