Former news reporter with The Scottish Farmer, Alison Mann (now Goldberger), moved to Austria, got married and is now a pig farmer. A big change in lifestyle for our pal, but one that she loves. Alison recently attended a course on processing your own pig meat and she has sent us a report on what she learned.

“A toast to the pigs soul,” we chimed as we knocked back a shot of honey schnapps. We then walked to a field where a hairy mangaliza pig was slaughtered in the herd before being brought back to the farm and processed. It’s unconventional, but that’s kind of the point.

Isabell and Christoph Wiesner of Arche De Wiskentale, Austria, have a deep respect for the animals they rear and are keen to help their visitors think more about where the food they eat comes from. At a time when ‘slow food’ and ‘nose to tail’ eating are buzzwords hanging off the mouths of every hipster restaurateur and trendy farmers’ market stallholder, a slaughter course is definitely on trend.

Looking around at my fellow participants, that was half the case. There were three farmers, three chefs and two city men looking to know where their food comes from. For Isabell and Christoph this isn’t anything new however, they’ve been touting slow food long before it was a hashtag on instagram, in fact, long before instagram was created.

They have been breeding mangaliza pigs since 1999 and curing the fatty meat that comes from them. It’s a special breed, originating in Hungary, which needs skill to process and curing suits it perfectly. Their rustic farmhouse has a roof full of Serrano ham and other dried meats. Some are reserved for patient people willing to wait three or more years for that special treat. That’s the way it should be, says Christoph, respect the meat you eat.

It’s an admirable sentiment at a time when large processors and supermarkets expect their meat cheap and abundant, whether that means a profit for the farmer or not. The Wiesner’s farm is a small one, producing a small amount of fatteners and quality breeding stock, which is in demand all over the world. They also have a small crowd-funded vineyard. It can take anywhere around 18 months until a pig is ready to slaughter so they decided to run courses on their farm to provide an extra income.

And that’s where I found myself after receiving two mangaliza pigs as a wedding gift. Home slaughter is perhaps out of reach for many people but seeing it could help consumers appreciate their food – well that’s the aim anyway.

The slaughter was done with the utmost respect for the animal and in an extremely calm way. About three seconds passed from the pig grazing in the field to death. In my opinion, it couldn’t be done any better, but of course animals slaughtered in this way are for home use only.

We brought the pig back to the farm house and watched as Isabell and Christoph processed it to end up with two halves. They saved every piece they could and brought it all back into their huge kitchen. The pig halves were hung up in their butchery room and we were shown the process of cutting a half carcase that had hung for a few days.

This is where many of those on the course were interested, as it’s achievable to do at home. We were also shown how to make the most of ‘offal’ with Isabell and Christoph constantly repeating, “there is no waste!” They had recipes for stomach soup, spleen on crackers, brain and eggs, the list goes on. Isabell even makes soap from the fat.

The pair have also produced a beautiful book, which shows their commitment to ‘slow food’ and really appreciating and using every part of an animal. “A fette sau” or “A fat pig” is the name and it explains their ethos and provides wonderful recipes using the parts of the pig many would throw away.

This sentiment is continued the following day during a course dedicated to sausage making. Something all participants were keen to try at home. They differed from the slaughter course. Three farmers remained but the other attendees were replaced by three bearded hipsters who had attended a previous slaughter course and were awaiting the delivery of their very own carcase to process and pop in the freezer. With no background in farming or butchery, they are just the type of people that are starting to take hold of the ‘nose to tail’ eating idea and, importantly, put their money where their mouth is.

We were shown how to make a traditional Austrian ‘Bratwurst’, which looked unlike any bratwurst I’d ever seen, which is normally made from what looks like white slime.

Then followed a frankfurter as well as ‘käsekrainer’, which is a mixture of meat and cheese. The main difference between the sausages produced here for eating in the home compared to those you’d buy in the supermarket is the colour. They are all grey because of the lack of pickling salt which is one of the ingredients that makes meat pink and has received some flack in the press for cancer causing properties.

Whether or not that’s an issue for those on the course, it was good to see how to make a sausage without using it. Smoking the sausages gives them a bit of colour too, and the couple has a home smoker. Christoph also demonstrated how to make Kulen which is an eastern European cured meat packed into part of the intestine. It really is a thing of beauty and won’t be ready for at least a year.

And that’s the point. Food doesn’t always have to be fast, agree the pair, laughing as Isabell says: “Live fast, eat slow”. They are showing a method of self-sufficiency and relentlessly questioning food production norms.

“Just because the supermarket sells it, it doesn’t mean you should buy it,” said Christoph. It’s certain everyone on the course won’t be processing their own meat but they’ll certainly think when they next pick up a packet of bacon.