A chefs' visit to an authentically Czech pig slaughter, or zabijačka
It's not just a feast. Slaughtering a pig is considered a social – sometimes even ritualistic – event that has historical context and cultural overlap. The seasonal affair (December to March) once marked a period of food scarcity, but also showed respect for the life of the animal in exchange for good living conditions – rural families received good quality meat, lard and sausages, which significantly enriched their scarce winter supplies.
The folk tradition of the slaughter does not follow strict rules – each region has slightly different customs, and the approach of butchers varies as well. Different experiences were encountered among the brutarians in Oldřichov in Háje, where the two-day To the Roots seminar for restaurant professionals was held – headed by Josef Price, a butcher who has devoted his life to butchery and respects the original meaning of slaughter.
Death and the cycle of life
The organisation of slaughterhouses brings society and gastronomy back to its roots – to understanding the cycles of nature and food. Integral to this is the death of an animal that nourished the whole family once a year. Today, they are killed several times a season, provided all the legal conditions are met. The seminar participants therefore went through the whole process, both the killing and the processing of the pig from snout to tail, plus a shot of slivovitz, to celebrate the abundance.
After arriving in Oldřichov and enjoying a welcome coffee together, the chefs set about the preparatory work and were then introduced to the process of how to properly slaughter a pig. The animal was stunned with a stun gun to make it lose consciousness and sensitivity as quickly as possible. The butcher stressed the importance of intervening only with the brain centre, while preserving the respiratory and cardiac centres throughout the bleeding process.
Within moments, the stunned pig's throat was slit and laid on its right side to keep the heart activity going – the still active heart pushes blood into the incision wound, and this makes the pig bleed well. The blood was collected in a container and stirred by hand to prevent clotting.
In the next step, the cooks learned how to remove the pig's skin and bristles. They tried the steaming technique, which is typical of the Bohemian region – the bled animal is transferred into wooden pots, sprinkled with rosin (pitch) and covered with hot water until it evaporates. The skin loosens and the bristles are pulled out with the roots, using bells – special funnels with a hook to make it easier to scrape off the bristles and scales.
A living tradition
The process was enriched by theoretical interpretations from one of the guests, butcher František Kšana, and the coming together of older and younger generations facilitated even more knowledge-sharing. The chefs were interested, among other things, in the cleaning and gutting of the animal – the cleaned and washed pig is hung on a hook and cut open at the belly to remove all the intestines.
The next step was the cleaning of the intestines, which serve as casing for many of the delicacies which are created from the meat. Here, too, the butchers' methods have not changed much over the centuries. The small intestine (without the remains of the digested food) was turned inside-out, soaked in warm water, and while Fanda Kšána explained that it was enough to use a little vinegar, the young butcher Míra Panuška demonstrated how the intestines are cleaned of mucus and thin connective tissue with a sharpened wood – just like in the old days.
The symbol of the butcher's craft is still the axe used to cut the pig in half. The inner fat was removed from both cheeks and the fat cover above the kidneys was gently cut to allow the fat to be shaved off. The fat was then stripped off the pig, and finally the pieces of meat were broken down into their individual parts.
From broth, to cutlets
Each butcher has his own style, but the schedule of the butchery is usually similar – meat, offal and various trimmings are put into containers, gradually cooked and made into meals and products. In Oldřichov, they managed to produce tlačenka (similar to brawn or headcheese, cased in the stomach and pressure cooked) and fresh sausages, but also cooked lard and pork scratchings from the back fat and the inner fat, which was partially cooked with onions as a filling for blood sausages.
In the meantime, the cutlets of still warm meat (in the phase between slaughter and rigor mortis) are sampled, and prejt is made from the remaining blood sausage mixture (the mixture is baked in a dish instead of being cased). Different habits, but also memories from childhood prompted discussions and compromises, whether it was salting cracklings or scalding the liver and seasoning the intestines. The result? Unique recipes, and an opportunity to test ancestral knowledge which relied mainly on intuition, without as much knowledge as we have today.
A different time, a different experience
One pig should feed as many people as possible, so the cooks from Oldřichov took home plenty for the next day, which they spent in UM on Národní street. Wednesday morning started with a lecture by Lucie Kubásková from the National Museum of Agriculture, about the butchers' guild, the essence of slaughter and the role of meat on Czech plates. The following programme took place in the training kitchen, and offered space for creative conception of the tradition.
The participants of the seminar divided into four teams and were given the task of assembling a tasting dinner for their families and loved ones – after a brainstorming session, an outline of the menu began to emerge on blank papers, including the products and typical techniques of the slaughter process. Twelve courses represented the intention of the two-day event, but also the art of the chefs to create food from raw materials and elevate a basic human need into a culinary experience.
To start, a spread of pork scratchings, onions and lard, pickles, Dijon and full-fat mustard, garnished with lardons and salt with dried sauerkraut, spread on toasted bread.
As an amuse bouche, the guests tasted potato chips with smoked pork tenderloin and unripe strawberries marinated in a sweet and salty brine, and moments later they cut into thin slices of tlačenka, seasoned with mustard mayonnaise, pieces of pickled smoked quince and a sauce made of leftover sweet and sour liquor, mustard seeds, currant oil and apple cider vinegar.
The first dish at traditional slaughters used to be brains and eggs, and at UM they served blanched celery and eggs, mixed with pork brains fried in lard and onions. To this a creamy Jerusalem artichoke espuma was added, as well as puffed buckwheat.
Soup should never be forgotten – the offal takes centre stage here. The third course of the evening was a kaldoun – a strong broth in which meat and other delicacies had been cooked on-site the previous day. The broth was thickened with a roux of lard and flour, cream, and chopped vegetables (carrots, parsley and celery), boiled pork leg, lungs and raw kidney, which was cooked seperately and stirred in at the table.
As the fourth course, jitrnice: roasted slices of fresh sausage covered with a sauce of potatoes cooked in milk, sauerkraut brine, cream and caraway seeds. Thyme flourished on the plate, and fried sauerkraut crunched in the guests' mouths.
Then, attention turned to pork blood, which once formed the basis of various dishes. Chef František Skopec made a dough from it (in a 1:2 ratio, 1 part blood to 2 parts flour) and prepared agnolotti stuffed with the mixture of Italian salami. The pasta was accompanied by a sauce of carrots, parsley and stock, flavoured with star anise, thyme and a few drops of cumin and pumpkin seed oil.
Originality was not spared in the recipe for pork in carrots – an onion base with cumin was combined with stewed carrots, which were partially blended, and the mixture was filled into casings.
The surprise was a croquette of blood sausage with truffle paste, garnished with pickled wild garlic shoots and mushrooms, cranberries and slices of black truffle.
Side dishes are not to be forgotten during a slaughter feast, most often those made of potatoes. The cooks confit them in lard, and offer them as potato fondant, with roast ribs and a creamy horseradish sauce flavoured with fresh and pickled sour horseradish.
The last main course was roast of a lean cut which was cooked whole and sous-vide, served sliced with kale cooked in beurre monté, fried pickled onions and a sweet sauce made from reduced bone broth, which was enhanced with spicy andouille salami and cream.
Lard has always been considered the most valuable product of the slaughter, and has often been used in sweet recipes. The guests greased their fingers with doughnuts filled with a "cuvée" of apple, pear and plum preserves and sprinkled with ground hazelnuts.
The applause at the end belonged to all those who want to educate themselves, dig down to their roots, and together take Czech gastronomy to the level it deserves.
