Awards

From Italy and back

One of my personal passions is European-style dry cured meats. In 2016, I traveled to Italy to learn how the finest of Prosciutto and Culatello hams were made. I not only studied how to make the hams, but also worked with the Italian farmers to learn about their pigs breeds, production practices ,and feed rations. I worked with the nocinos and butchers to learn European seam butchery and dry curing techniques. I toured small producers and large factories that produce thousands of hams a year.

I bundled up all of that knowledge and brought it back to Breakaway Farms in Pennsylvania. We changed our pig breeds and our feed ration, we raised the pigs longer than what is typical for a pig in the U.S. We implemented seam butchery techniques to maximize our dry curing yields and we entered what we produced in the 2017 and 2018 cured meats product show at the annual convention of the PA Association of Meat Processors

The results speak for themselves.

2017

Grand Champion
Cured Specialty Meat Products (Breakaway Farms Garlic Juniper Coopa)

Reserve Grand Champion
Specialty Products (Breakaway Farms Orange Fennel Lonza)

2018

Grand Champion
Cured Specialty Meat Products, Whole Muscle (Breakaway Farms Italian Style Prosciutto)

Reserve Grand Champion
Cured Specialty Meat Products, Whole Muscle (Breakaway Farms Garlic Juniper Coppa)

Champion
Featured Class, Old World Products (Breakaway Farms Spanish Style Jamon)

2019

I was elected to serve as President of this fine organization, whose mission is to support small and medium sized meat processing businesses that provide a critical link between the farmers who raise the meat animals and the consumers who are seeking better options for their families. I’m honored to have won several distinguished awards for our cured meats and honored to serve on the board and as President of the Pennsylvania Association of Meat Processors.

  • Additionally, 2019 included a trip to the dehesa in southwest Spain, where I was able to stay and learn from one of only two organic pig farmers in the whole region and participate in a traditional matanza, which is the on-farm annual ritual harvest and butchering of a rural family’s pigs.

    This is a very important time for the family and they traditionally throw a party that lasts for several days as the pigs are harvested and the Abuela (grandmother & family matriarch) directs the activities that will preserve the pork for the coming year. I earned the nickname, Hombre Grande (Big Man), due to my willingness to jump in and help anywhere that was needed; from lifting the 500 pound pigs up onto the table to cleaning the innards for use in chorizos and embutidos (sausages). The Spanish truly take pork butchery to the next level and in my opinion, produce the finest hams in the world. I bring all of this experience back to our community and offer it to you in the form of the finest meats and poultry products you can buy on this side of the world

Press

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