Chef and restauranteur Rafel Sammut is no stranger to the world of meat. As the owner of The Pulled Meat Company, which started as a pulled pork ftira takeout, Rafel has nurtured his business into a bonafide brand!

The Pulled Meat Company franchise has grown to two outlets - Valletta and Gzira - plus a stall in Merchant’s Street’s Suq Tal-Belt. Nowadays, the menu consists of a much wider variety than just tasty sandwiches. We had a chat with Rafel to get the lowdown on his latest steps to expand his specialities, and got familiar with three hearty pork dishes he loves to cook!

“Back in 2016 I started to question the pork industry. I began working on increasing the quality of the local pork or majjal ta' Malta together with a vet friend of mine, Dr Andrew Cachia. A lot of the time the pork is not ideal for its cooking purpose, and this has put many people off trying to cook pork. To add to this, many local farmers have been struggling to make ends meet and the industry has suffered massively. We genuinely want to help, so we pinpointed the main things we thought needed to be improved and we've started a long and slow journey towards better local pork. Today, two years down the line, we are awaiting our very first yield of our 'farm to fork' piggies," he says. 

1. Agnolotti

“Consisting of liquid Reggiano, rosemary and pork stock, this is one of my favourite pasta dishes to date. The first time I tried it was at home amongst friends. The initial feedback was amazing and we just knew it had to be on the menu!”

2. Carbonara

"To me, our carbonara is unique, mainly because we cure and age the guanciale ourselves, using only local pork. I find the flavour from our guanciale to be a lot better than the imported stuff. This is something we are very proud of. The eggs and pecorino in our carbonara are also locally sourced and the flavour we get when combining all three ingredients is fantastic."

3. Pork Flank

"I've never come across this cut before in any butcher or restaurant. We first tested this cut while butchering a 150kg pig which we raised in our 'farm to fork' project. It was 2am and we were getting hungry, and I happened to have a cut of pork handy that I thought would be great grilled, so we marinated it in lime and salt for 20 minutes and grilled it, leaving it pink in the middle. We were blown away. I started serving it the very next day and it will never leave my menu!"

Thanks Rafel! They look delicious!