Holding Ranch

«$ 70? For pork??! You dumb bunny!» This, I suspect, is what my grandmother would have told me, had she witnessed the scene. I stopped by the Holding Ranch (
) booth at the market and came away $ 70 poorer, but rich beyond my wildest dreams in smoked maple bacon (cured nitrate-​free with salt, brown sugar, dried maple syrup, & a concentrate of lemon, green tea, and celery), pork tenderloin, and Canadian-​style back bacon (more on this later).
So, if my grandmother were alive to judge, all I could do is invite her to dine with us this week, so that we could demonstrate the wonders of cooking with humanely-​butchered farm-​to-​table products raised with supreme care, love, and attention. Does it solve all the ethical dilemmas of eating meat? Hardly. But I drive a car, too, even if I feel guilty for leaving behind a carbon footprint in my wake. At times like these, I feel the need for some pop cultural wisdom that only a Pig and a Rat engaged in Waiting for Godot style dialog can provide. I call, in other words, on Stephan P. of Santa Rosa, CA, for help.
Here’s the rat-​pig exchange* in question, with the accompanying illustration here (
):
Pig: Were you ever thrown out of a club?
Rat: Plenty, why?
Pig: Because that «Society of Cultured Pigs» group just booted me.
Rat: They got word of the bacon thing, huh?
Pig: … But B.L.T.‘s taste so darn good.
Rat: They’re too judgmental.
I agree, Rat, I agree. That’s the issue. Taste! Don’t judge!
It is San Mateo on a Saturday. It’s only a few minutes after 9 AM, but already the farmers’ market is in full swing. Crowds line up by their favorite vendors, hoping to score something delicious and nutritious for their next week’s worth of meals.
We hadn’t been to this particular market for several months, so I made a beeline for the Holding Ranch stand. They are from Shasta, and they raise some of the best cattle, lambs, chickens, and pigs in the world. But because they are a relatively modest-​sized operation, and because their products are in such demand, they sell out fast. Especially the bacon and tenderloin, which they only bring to market after the Berkshire Hogs have lived a full life outdoors and are ready to be slaughtered (
).
So I was shocked — shocked! — to discover that both bacon (in 2 styles) and tenderloin (a 2.5 lb. piece) were available. Price played second fiddle to a chance to indulge using a porkish palate to provide protein and taste variation in our largely vegetarian diet.
Grandma, all I can say is that it was worth it. I’m with the Pig on this one! They DO taste so darn good. I present to you exhibits A (i), A (ii), B, & C:
A (i): Grilled pork tenderloin dry rubbed with applewood smoked sea salt, cracked multicolor peppercorns, and fresh cinnamon, basted with pumpkin oil, apple cider and tarragon vinegars, lemon juice, Canadian Grade B maple syrup, and blue agave nectar;
A (ii): Sourdough asiago cheese and rosemary corn-​kernel biscuits sliced in two and filled up with thin-​sliced cold tenderloin, fresh horseradish, Dijon mustard, radicchio, and frisée (eat your dirty sauce little heart out, Ike’s!);
B: Farmers’ market BLTs with sprouted wheat whole grain toast, red, green, and yellow heirloom tomatoes, and microgreen mesclun;
C: Winter wheat penne pasta with diced Canadian bacon «pancetta,» baby spinach, rainbow chard, chopped tomato, garlic, Madeira cooking wine (from CA), Sonoma chevre, and grated Italian Parmesan.
Mr. Pastis, I rest my case. Holding Ranch is guilty. Guilty of being so darn GOOD! That’s some pig you’ve got there, my friend.
Dedicated to Wilhelm Y., for his love of pork, and of 21^st century Californian small farm culture, in all its many forms.
(*) From the 2003 anthology, «Pearls Before Swine: BLTs Taste So Darn Good,» Andrews McMeel Publishing, page 13.

I purchased ¼ beef from Holding Ranch about two months ago. I couldn’t find anyone else to go in with me on a full carcass.
I selected them after comparing prices at the four closest ranches and talking to each of them on email to find out about their operation.
Prices for a quarter are $ 5.99/lb cut and wrapped. For a half, the cost is $ 5.49/lb cut and wrapped and, for a whole, the cost is $ 4.99/lb.
There was a complete selection of cuts, all wrapped, vacuum sealed, and frozen. The only bones were the shanks, soup bones and ribs. No others. There was no porterhouse with a bone, instead it was cut and packaged separately as the New York and the fillet.
I think it was about 350 lbs in total, with about a third being ground beef. Took up almost exactly a top freezer space.
I’m very happy with the cuts, quality and taste, although you really do need to learn how to cook grass fed beef differently than corn fed.
They also sell into farmer’s markets in the bay area. They are good people!
If you want to find others to go in with on locally grown, humanely and sustainably raised beef and other products join this:
Culinary Hatchet