#23 - Traditional Slovakian Pig Butchery (& *all* the food!)

Slovak food is comfort food. It’s not light, it’s not summery, but in the winter – it’s peasant food. Food that sticks to your bones and gives you a lot of energy to work in the fields. It’s simple; there’s a limited repertoire of spices. A lot of them involve just very ordinary ingredients. – NaomiGet your marjoram and paprika ready, because the long-anticipated pig butchery interview is here! In this episode, Alison sits down with Naomi, a Canadian-born photographer and home cook who has lived in, immersed in and documented Slovakia for the past 17 years. Naomi shares about the experience of traditional Slovakian pig butchery including unique recipes, the secret to non-liver-tasting-paté (!!!) and more. To indulge in Naomi's incredible food photography and to find the recipes she mentions, check out the links in Resources!Soup is a staple here. Traditionally, they had it every day for lunch. NaomiLove what we're doing?Our podcast is sponsored by our patrons and listeners! We'd love you to be part of our Patreon community!For $9 a month (or equivalent in your currency) you'll be helping us with the costs of recording, editing and putting this work into the world. And you'll get to be part of our world on a deeper level - we've got a monthly intimate patron-exclusive podcast called Kitchen Table Chats and we're also going to share cooking classes, extra interviews and much more.Check out www.patreon.com/ancestralkitchenpodcast for all the details!Going and living in a place is really the only way you get to learn that every place has it's bonuses, but also every place has its frustrations as well. Alison Time StampsYou don’t actually need a lot of fancy equipment – a table, lots of knives, big things for mixing in. Naomi01:17 What Naomi Ate13:18 What Alison Ate17:11 Introducing Naomi17:25 How Alison met Naomi18:43 Growing up in Canada22:06 Life in Slovakia23:50 Food in Slovakia and how it has changed29:00 Do you miss Canada?31:18 Let’s talk about Slovakian pig butchering!34:04 The season for pig butcheringA fair amount of fruit schnapps is also consumed during this process, it’s an integral part of it! Naomi36:25 Starting the pig butchering39:40 The cutting41:45 Lunch on butchering day41:59 The organs: creating a traditional sausage44:40 The underchin!I absolutely heartily recommend having a go at those lard biscuit things! Alison46:38 The lard and pagac (cracklin biscuits)It’s a great winter food – it’s really full of energy and will keep you full for a long time. Naomi53:25 The pig’s blood: black pudding and blood sausages55:30 The taste of bloodThis is something that doesn’t keep very well and it doesn’t freeze very well; so, they put it into bowls and share it with the neighbors. Naomi, sharing about black pudding47:35 Headcheese01:00:20 Nightfall01:01:40 Dinner01:02:50 The muscle meat01:03:30 The secret to non-liver-tasting pate01:04:30 Canned meat01:04:44 The skin01:07:00 Naomi’s favorite dish from the butchering01:09:05 Cleaning up01:10:41 Memories and looking to the future01:21:00 If we want to make these recipes … where do we look?01:22:25 An eBook on...