It's the most extraordinary name for a cut of meat! Berkshire is where I come from in England, coupled with Italy, found in America LOL. I imagine that Berksire is the cut, and Milanese is the way you cook them?

With the cost of that meat, I'm appalled that anyway would pay it. Thank heavens I eat only 3 oz of meat on the days it's on the menu.

Holy crap, I just bought pork tenderloin on sale for $2.79/lb. It was delicious, and tender. No way would I pay $33/lb for *anything*.

I am disgusted by any retailer who sells foise gras, as well.

D'Artignan products are becoming more varied and common in my local supermarkets. Very pricey but from what I've read their quality is exceptional. I've never bought any of their products, but have been tempted occasionally. At $12/lb I'd be interested in trying the pork chops to see what the fuss is about what pork "used to" and "is supposed to" taste like. But I've not seen those locally.

I'm impressed that you can be organized and stock up for 5 months! I just "inventoried" my freezer, now I'm trying to make meal plans using what I have. Unfortunately, my buying has been more of a willy-nilly style.

I've been wanting to try Berkshire pork for a few years. Grocery store pork is, frankly, not really worth the effort to cook, IMO. I'd much rather buy Berkshire than Kobe beef.

We eat small servings of meat so one chop should feed us dinner and a sandwich the next day. I'm going to order the 4-pack of individually wrapped porterhouse chops. Website says they are 1 lb. for each chop.

FOAS, I've not seen the brand locally. You have a much larger variety of available foods. I'm envious.

Jasdip, the tenderloin isn't $33/lb. You're getting 1.5-2 lbs. for that price. Still pricey but not $33/lb. :) Berkshire pork is a heritage breed of hog and they really are good. Just like what I grew up with.

Paul, I'll let you know how we like the chops. Thanks for the recommendation and link. We have locally raised pork available from a farm right here in town but, unfortunately, they raise the same pathetic breeds with no marbling or flavor. I'm really looking forward to trying the Berkshire. That's saying a lot 'cause I'm sick and hardly eating much at all these days. You've inspired my appetite!

/tricia

Here's a description and history of the Berkshire hog.

/tricia

Here is a link that might be useful: Berkshire Black Hogs

Oh, I didn't associate the name Berkshire with the breed of pig Tricia. Thanks for the clarification.
I've always like the black, and black and white pigs, they are so cute!

Triciae Hi,

I can only recommend what I have tried and that is the milanese cut. A couple of years ago I had dinner at Mike Ditkas restaurant here in Chicago.. I ordered the porterhouse chop and it was not very good. As I remember he stuffed his chop with something. Although they sent me a gift certificate for another dinner I never used it and have never returned to his restaurant. I did not find out if he was using the berkshire pork or not.

I was concerned enough when I saw that you were ordering the porterhouse cut that I called d'artagnan and asked them about the cut. They assured me that you would be pleased with the porterhouse.

I will keep my fingers crossed that you enjoy them.

I am a lucky guy. A good friend she raises Berkshire pigs. So i get to enjoy delicious pork often.

dcarch

Good pork is such a delicious meat - we get a lot of bad pork over here, too; It's such a treat to get hold of good stuff. Here, you still find old people who keep a pig for themselves who are happy to sell some of it off. Don't like it when you find a eye in with the lot too!

Triciae, thanks for the introduction to Berkshire Pork. I found some at a local upscale market and purchased two chops. Last night I rubbed them with seasoning and threw them on the grill. They were fantastic! It wasn't the preparations, but it was the juicy flavor of the meat. Regular pork chops from the market or Costco are dry and somewhat flavorless. I have enjoyed good pork chops at finer restaurants, but am unsuccessful at home. Now I know the secret andI have been won over to Berkshire chops!

Triciae, thanks for the lesson about Berkshire Pork. I found some at a local upscale market and purchased two chops. Last night I rubbed them with seasoning and threw them on the grill. They were fantastic! It wasn't the preparations, but it was the juicy flavor of the meat. Regular pork chops from the market or Costco are dry and somewhat flavorless. I have enjoyed good pork chops at finer restaurants, but am unsuccessful at home. Now I know the secret and I have been convinced to only buy Berkshire chops!

Actually, Berkshire pork is not technically a heritage brand, by strict definition. Something I didn't know until Food Republic did one of their always-informative "10 Things That Might Surprise You About.....", on the subject of heritage pork.

We do like Berkshire, though, and have also had very good Duroc.

The D'Artagnan products we encounter most widely out here are the sausages, which sadly we are not fans of. We especially do not like D'Artagnan's merguez, which is widely used in restaurants. We find it much too mild/homogenized compared to authentic merguez. Artisanal sausages are everywhere in the SF Bay Area so we have very good local sources we prefer.

Have not tried D'Artgagnan's meats, however. Again, there's a lot of decent butcher shops here although in general the quality of beef in CA is abysmal compared to growing up in the Midwest. The new "nose-to-tail" butchery/charcuterie shops are a slow but growing trend here in the San Francisco Bay Area.

We happen to love foie gras, but there are other vendors to purchase it from besides D'Artagnan. One side effect of the foie gras ban has been the boost it has given to sweetbreads, also one of our favs. One French bistro has even put lamb sweetbreads on the menu, which were really interesting to try. A little too gamy for my DH, but I enjoyed them a lot.

Here is a link that might be useful: The 10 American heritage pig breeds