I Porci Comodi
Free-range pigs

"I remember, in the winter, when the day of pig slaughtering approached: everything on the farmstead was buzzing with activity and preparations, the kitchen was intoxicated with the scent of cooked wine mixed with spices, and on the hearth the pots of lard simmered. Each courtyard, then, had its own butcher, and all men flocked, that day, to help.
It was a choral work, among men, while the women worked on the preparation of the dinner, the pig feast ... because those pigs raised free and naturally, in the barnyard or outdoors, were capable of giving genuine and unparalleled meat-a feast that everyone, young and old, looked forward to all year round."

Salumificio Brizio | Liberi di muoversi e respirare

Farming tradition returns

The idea of creating a line of premium cured meats was born in 2012 from the Brizio family's desire to have the highest quality raw material through free-range farming. In the rural and valley areas of Piedmont, in fact, the memory of the pork butchering tradition linked to the peasant world and the raising of pigs on the farmstead remains strong.
The slaughtering of the pig raised in the farmyard was a great event, a real feast: during the winter, the men most skilled in the art of pork butchery would take turns going to the farmyards to perform that ritual, now almost extinct.
From this custom comes the I Porci Comodi line of cured meats, made from pigs that come exclusively from farms owned by the Brizio family, located in green wooded areas of the Valle Varaita.

Free to move and breathe

It is no coincidence that the first two I Porci Comodi farms are located at an altitude of about 900 m asl, followed by new breeding sites in the countryside of Cuneo.
The areas designated for the settlements have been chosen so as to take advantage of marginal lands that are not very suitable for other agricultural production, but are particularly suited to this type of breeding. In fact, forests and pastures are the ideal natural habitat for pigs, which can thus express their temperament, benefit from pure air, root on the ground and in the mud, and feed on what the undergrowth offers them: roots, mushrooms, leaves, acorns, chestnuts and grass.
However, in order to ensure full animal welfare and ensure the right nutritional intake, the feed is supplemented with UNI ISO EN 22005/08, DTP030 "no GMOs," DTP042 "no animal fats" certified vegetable feeds.

Welfare first

Inside the farms there are several paddocks with structures that act as shelter, not far away are the watering and feeding areas specifically designed to guarantee their well-being. But that's not all: at the two mountain sites thanks to the presence of the woods, in the summertime the pigs have the opportunity to find shade and natural coolness, in addition to the numerous wetlands where they can take mud baths, which are essential to protect themselves from the sun's rays, heat and possible parasites.
Freedom, mobility and well-being thus guarantee a raw material of extraordinary quality, especially mature and firm meat, ideal for the production of excellent cured meats.

The “I Porci Comodi” line is available in:
- 3 sizes of salami: Filzetta, Cresponetto, Gentile
- Cutechin d’na Volta and Zampun d’na Volta
- Pre-sliced ATM trays.

CSQA Certifications

The value of the charcuterie brand I Porci Comodi Brizio lies precisely in the free-range farming regime, which ensures animal welfare and high quality of the raw material from which the eponymous line of charcuterie and fresh meats of excellence is produced.

Making sure the pigs can enjoy nature and allowing them freedom of movement, along with caring for the environment in which they grow and their diet, are the conditions that have contributed to achieving important CSQA certifications referring to the last four months of the pigs' lives:
- animal welfare - DTP130
- NON-GMO feeding - DTP030
- no antibiotics in breeding - DTP109

A great achievement for Brizio and a guarantee of goodness, authenticity and safety of the cured meats.

Salumificio Brizio | Il benessere prima di tutto

Without antibiotics
on the farm
DTP109 - cert. n. 57128*

ANIMAL
WELFARE
DTP130 - cert. n. 63097*

Non GMO
food
DTP030 - cert. n. 57127*

* CSQA certifications referred to the last 4 months of life.

The wisdom of the butcher and ancient recipes

In the late 1980s the Brizio plant in Regione San Bartolomeo was expanded, and in 1987 the private slaughterhouse for internal use was dismantled. This was a turning point from the point of view of evolution in the production phase of cured meats. If in fact, before, the processing of raw material was differentiated according to the type of cured meat, now the transformation of fresh meat into finished product is a single process within the company. This has allowed the mechanical conversion of many processes, such as the grinding and mixing of the mixture, and at the same time a clear growth in quality standards related to hygiene and safety at work.

However, the excellence of the final product also depends on certain factors that Brizio preserves precisely because they are able to give the added value to its cured meats.

1) The strict adherence to Nonno Materìn's recipes.
2) Most of the processes are still manual
3) The use of natural gut for all the salamis (except for the Crespone)
4) a long maturation period

Salumificio Brizio | Salame Cotto Materìn

Nonno Materìn’s recipes

The history of the brand Brizio Salumi is based on Nonno Materìn’s recipes.A heritage of high value that needs to be guarded and preserved over the generations so that the products maintain the authenticity, taste and fragrance of the past. For this reason, today as then, the preparation of the recipes is directed only by members of the Brizio family. Other operators may share some parts of it to ensure control and monitoring, but the dosages remain a knowledge reserved for the keepers of this precious heritage.

Salame Cotto Materìn was undoubtedly the product that supported the growth and success of Matteo Brizio's workshop. His intuition was to make a salami that was somewhat "alternative" to raw salami, but still traditional and full-flavored, personalizing the recipe and making it an identifying salami of Brizio's.
Materìn is also one of the products whose production has undergone fewer changes over the decades than in the days when they worked in the backroom.
Today, as then, shoulder cuts, after being carefully trimmed by hand, are minced and mixed with fat cubes and tanning. The mixture is stuffed into the natural casing known as "bondeana" (or tascone), tied and put into a bain-marie cooker. The most important innovations include the introduction of the kneading machine, post-baking procedures and vacuum packing, but respect for the original process remains unchanged and with it the end result: the Materìn.

Materìn ready for bain-marie boiling

Materìn cooked salami hanging to dry, 2008

Salumificio Brizio | L'insacco e l'uso del budello naturale

The stuffing process and the gut casing

The use of casing, which can be natural or synthetic, is essential for stuffing. The use of natural one is prescribed by some PDO or PGI salami production specifications, but not by all. Once again, Brizio, in order to ensure a high level of quality and to keep faith with the tradition and recipes of Nonno Materìn, uses almost exclusively natural gut purchased from selected suppliers. For raw salami, the most commonly used are: - gentile gut, used for stuffing long-aged salami. Its thickness allows for better preservation and makes the salami soft; - bagette and torte, used for smaller caliber salami; - punta di rosa (or tail) and filzetta, which allow for medium maturation.

Trimming and tying

Business growth, expansion of the range and requirements related to hygiene and food safety, such as occupational safety, have necessarily gone hand in hand with technological innovation and mechanization of some phases of cured meat production to eliminate the risk of potential contamination and danger to the operators themselves.
However, some key operations, such as initial trimming and tying, remain artisanal. Two phases in which the manual skill, experience and empirical knowledge of the charcuterie worker emerge clearly, giving the dimension of how crucial the human factor remains in norcine production.

Meat trimming

and lard preparation

1995

Tying in 2006

Tying today

Salumificio Brizio | Asciugatura e Stagionatura

Drying and curing

Salami drying and curing are the last steps before sale: last only in a temporal sense, but not in terms of importance. Respect for timing and the right steps without forcing are in fact the indispensable conditions for obtaining excellent results.
If at one time salamis were dried with the help of a wood-burning stove, today modern conditioned cells are used in order to fully manage and monitor the microbiotic processes that take place inside and outside the bag, along with the conditions that determine them.
However, there is no shortage of old underground stone and brick cells, reconverted for use and renovated, where the longest phase takes place: the actual curing process-after stewing and drying-which can last up to several weeks. At this stage, white molds belonging to the genus Penicillium produce a thick veil on the surface of the sausage that slows and hinders air movement in this area. This creates a kind of film that protects the product from excessive dehydration.

When the curing process is over, Brizio salamis show themselves in all their visual and olfactory splendor: on the outside they are moldy and evenly colored, and the mycelium is dry and white or white-gray in color, as the most authentic butchery tradition requires.

I Porci Comodi Free-range pigs