In 1973 Alan Benton, (the hog smoker) realized he’d made the wrong career choice as a college guidance counselor. He heard that his neighbor was selling his ham curing business, so he sat with him under a maple tree to see if he could take it over. Today he produces the best ham and bacon in the United States, an intoxicating combination of pork, salt, smoke, brown sugar, and time. […]
The Salami Maker from Bielle, Ugo Buzzio, came to New York City in 1930 from Piedmont, Italy with a knack for sausage making. His corner deli on 8th Avenue in New York City looks just like any other until you look a little closer and notice the men in white coats bustling in the back. The shop works in small batches, crafting products out of pure-bred heritage pork, tying by […]
Barbara Lake (the clotted butter lady) lives on a modest farm in Launceston, Cornwall with her mother in the 300-year-old house in which she was born. She keeps eleven cows, half Jerseys and half Guernseys, that produce milk with an exceptionally high fat content. A one-woman show, Lake milks her herd morning and evening, separates the cream from the milk and produces a warm yellow clotted cream, all from the […]
It’s 4:30am. I’m scarfing down banana, cereal and black coffee in preparation for turkey hunting. Freddie Black is on his way to pick me up. He’s the chairman of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, which down here is bigger than the President of the United States. Within a few minutes we’re riding along the levy of the Mississippi river in the pitch black, the truck stereo is crooning country […]