What Heritage-Breed Pork Means
Most pork sold in American supermarkets comes from a handful of lean commodity breeds raised for low fat and fast growth, which is why it cooks dry and tastes mild. Heritage pork is a different animal, sometimes literally. The cuts on this page come from heritage breeds and acorn-fed pigs chosen for marbling, the fine threads of intramuscular fat that keep meat juicy and carry flavor the way marbling does in a good steak. Iberico, Berkshire, Kurobuta, and Duroc are the breed names worth knowing, and each one produces pork that is darker, richer, and more forgiving to cook than the pale supermarket version.
Marbling is the reason these breeds command higher prices and the reason they reward a cook. Fat distributed through the muscle bastes the meat from the inside as it cooks, so a Berkshire chop or an Iberico steak stays tender at a temperature that would leave leaner pork chalky. The flavor runs nuttier and more mineral, closer to beef than to the faint sweetness most Americans associate with pork. None of this requires special technique; it requires only that the cook stop short of well-done and let the fat do its work.
Iberico Pork: Pluma, Secreto, and the Acorn-Fed Cuts
Iberico pork comes from the Pata Negra, the black-hoofed Iberian pig that ranges across the dehesa, the oak savanna of southwestern Spain. The breed descends from the wild boar that once roamed the Mediterranean. The finest grade is bellota, fattened on acorns during the autumn montanera before slaughter, which gives the fat its distinctive nutty character and a high share of the same monounsaturated fat found in olive oil. This is the same pig behind Jamon Iberico, the long-cured ham, but the fresh cuts are a separate experience and have only become widely available in the United States in recent years.
The Spanish butcher them into cuts most Americans have never seen. Secreto is a marbled, skirt-like cut hidden behind the shoulder, so named because it was the butcher's "secret" to keep for himself. Pluma is the feather-shaped tip of the loin, lean but tender. Presa is the rich shoulder eye, the cut most often served as a steak. All three are grilled hot and fast and served medium, pink in the center, so the marbling stays juicy rather than rendering away. Alongside the fresh cuts, the page carries Iberico tenderloin and a bone-in rack for roasting. For the cured side of the same pig, the prosciutto, cured ham, and bacon collection includes Jamon Iberico and other long-aged hams. And if it was wild boar you came looking for, the ancestor of this whole line, the game and exotic meats collection carries wild boar alongside venison, elk, and bison.
Berkshire, Kurobuta, and American Heritage Pork
Berkshire and Kurobuta are the same breed under two names. Berkshire is the English name for the heritage black pig first prized in the English county of the same name; Kurobuta, meaning "black pig" in Japanese, is the name used when that breed is raised in the Japanese tradition, much as Wagyu denotes a breed-and-method rather than a place. Either way the meat is darker, more marbled, and sweeter than commodity pork, and it holds moisture through cooking far better. The page carries Berkshire bone-in chops, organic Berkshire from Amish farms in Wisconsin, and Kurobuta bacon.
The American specialty side of the page runs from organic ground pork, raised without hormones or antibiotics and good for everything from burgers to meatballs, to the cured and smoked end of the catalog. Nueske's applewood-smoked bacon, boudin noir from Fabrique Delices for cooks who want a true French blood sausage, and garlic sausage for cassoulet all sit here. These are the building blocks of serious home cooking, sourced from producers who name their farms and methods. For the cuts chosen specifically for the grill, the BBQ grilling meats collection gathers the steaks, chops, and sausages built for direct-fire cooking.
Also Worth Exploring
Pork is one corner of a larger butcher counter. Because Iberico is often called the Kobe beef of pork for its marbling, the comparison points naturally to the Wagyu beef collection, where the same intramuscular-fat principle reaches its peak in Japanese and American Wagyu. For the cured and sliced products built from pork, including Spanish chorizo made from Iberico pigs, the salami, chorizo, and jerky collection covers the dry-cured sausages that share this page's Spanish and Italian roots. Both are a short step from the fresh pork here, and both reward the same eye for breed and provenance.
Premium Pork: Frequently Asked Questions
Wild boar is sold in the game and exotic meats collection rather than with the fresh pork, since boar is classified as game rather than farmed pork. There you will find ground wild boar, boar racks, and other cuts, most of it sourced from free-range animals in the Texas hill country that forage on acorns and roots, which gives the meat a nutty, slightly sweet flavor leaner than farmed pork. Wild boar and farmed pork are closely related: the Iberico pig of Spain descends from the same wild boar lineage, which is part of why Iberico carries such a deep, nutty flavor. If you are cooking wild boar, treat it like a lean, flavorful pork, braising the tougher cuts low and slow and grilling the tender ones hot and fast. Ground boar should be cooked to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, the same as ground pork.
Iberico pork comes from the Pata Negra, the black-hoofed Iberian pig native to Spain and Portugal, a breed descended from wild boar that ranges across the oak savanna known as the dehesa. The most prized Iberico is bellota, meaning the pigs are fattened on acorns during the autumn before slaughter, which produces deeply marbled meat with a nutty flavor and a high share of the same healthy monounsaturated fat found in olive oil. It is the same breed used to make Jamon Iberico, the famous long-cured Spanish ham, but the fresh cuts are eaten like steak. Its marbling is dense enough that the raw meat looks almost like beef, and it is prized accordingly. The signature cuts are pluma, secreto, and presa, all from the shoulder and loin, traditionally grilled and served medium with a pink center.
Pluma, secreto, and presa are three Iberico pork cuts from the shoulder and loin that come from the Spanish way of butchering the pig, and most Americans have never seen them at a conventional butcher. Secreto is a thin, heavily marbled cut hidden behind the shoulder, named because it was the butcher's "secret" cut to keep for himself; it is sometimes sold as Iberico skirt steak and resembles a marbled flank in shape. Pluma is the feather-shaped tip of the loin, leaner but tender, named for its shape. Presa is the rich, well-marbled eye of the shoulder, the cut most often served as a steak and considered by many the best of the three. All three are cooked the same way: seasoned simply, seared hot and fast on a grill or in a pan, and served medium with a pink center to let the marbling stay juicy. Overcooking them past medium wastes what makes the cut special.
Yes. The USDA lowered its recommended safe temperature for whole cuts of pork to 145 degrees Fahrenheit followed by a three-minute rest, the same standard it uses for beef and lamb, back in 2011. At that temperature the pork will still show a hint of pink in the center, and that is exactly right for a well-marbled cut. Trichinosis, the parasite that drove the old well-done rule, is effectively absent from modern pork, so there is no food-safety reason to cook a good chop to gray. With heritage and Iberico pork the case for pink is even stronger, because the marbling that makes these cuts worth buying renders best at medium and turns dry and chalky if pushed to well-done. The exceptions are ground pork and ground boar, which should be cooked to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. For whole cuts, pull the meat at 145, rest it three minutes, and slice.