You want a piece of me? And by me, I mean one of these Mangalitsa legs (Recipe Challenge)

Unless you are an elite chef or you live in Seattle you probably haven’t cooked with Mangalitsa Pork.  Might I have the pleasure of taking your Mangalitsa virginity? 

Still a very small production in the US, Mangalitsa pork is extremely popular in Europe and apparently considered by many European gastronomes to be the pinnacle of cured hams. But better than Iberico? You can tell me. If it wasn’t abundantly clear from my dull knife hack job of a few mangalitsa cured products, I am the first to tell you that I am not an expert on this product.

Let me also be the first to tell you that eating this stuff is like eating pure umami.

Katy’s face is telling. She’s not here today so I can’t ask her whether she thought that I was going to impale myself or she was terrified by me mangling the mangalitsa. In any event, I carved up some nice chunks of cured mangalitsa pork hams, cured mangalitsa pork shoulder and mangalitsa pork slab bacon into approx. 1 lb. pieces.

In you want some cured mangalitsa pork to test-drive and develop a recipe, email me at justin (at) marxfoods dot com.  I will send you my choice of the mangalitsa ham, mangalitsa shoulder or mangalitsa bacon.  There will be a goodie for our favorite recipe(s) and it will be delicious.  Plus, the author of our favorite recipe will be eligible to compete in the Ridiculously Delicious Challenge next month.

Update: Katy is back to work and said: “I do look worried. That’s my skeptical face. And I was sure you were going to impale yourself.”