Except for the occasional Southern-style country ham my father would lug home after a business trip that took him deep into Dixie, I was always envious of the Europeans and their superior pork products. The Italians had prosciutto. The Germans had Black Forrest Ham. And the Spanish, I would later learn, had Jamón Serrano. They also had Jamón Ibérico de Bellota, the caviar of hams, made from pigs raised on acorns. We Americans had flimsy, insipid cold-cuts and pork that looked and tasted like packed sawdust.
But recently my jealousy has subsided. American country ham is being rediscovered. La Quercia, an Iowa-based company, is producing amazing cured meats—including guanciale, pancetta, and proscuitto Americano. And now word comes from Heritage Foods USA that peanut-fed, pasture-raised, Berkshire pork has arrived. I can only guess how delicious it is since I haven't tried it but if it's anything like Bellota ham, we're in for a real treat. Perhaps it's even better—in my experience peanuts taste better than acorns.
Currently, the fresh pork is only available at the restaurants listed below. But in June 2008, cured peanut-fed bacon hits the market followed by cured and smoked peanut-fed hams in June 2009. The project, a collaboration between Heritage Foods USA, Newman Farm, and Paradise Locker Meats, is to be commended. Show your support by visiting one of these restaurants where you can try peanut-fed, pasture-raised Berkshire pork:
NYC:
Al Di La
Babbo
Cesca
Cafe Gray
Eli's
5 Ninth
Esposito's Sausage
Lupa
Tasting Room
Union Square Cafe
Bay Area:
Fatted Calf
Hotel Vitale
Cafe Rouge
Roli Roti
Evvia
Bi-Rite Market
Quince
T Rex BBQ
Lukas Tap Room
Other:
S. Wallace Edwards and Sons Inc.
Lidia's Pittsburgh
Justus Drugstore
Restaurant Eugene
Rancho Pinot
--Andrew Knowlton, restaurant editor
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