Tastes like Italy but made in Kentucky: Porchetta Primata gets national acclaim

By CHRIS ALDRIDGE, Kentucky Agricultural News

Connoisseurs of fine food can enjoy traditional Italian porchetta that is made in Kentucky, thanks to a zero-interest loan from the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund.

A Todd County hog producer, a Christian County slaughterhouse and two Louisville processors have joined forces to create a whole boneless pig and three different pork roasts for Porchetta Primata, an Alabama company .

The Kentucky Agricultural Development Board provided an $87,693 zero-interest loan, enabling Porchetta Primata to purchase the necessary cooking and packaging equipment. Todd County’s agriculture development council chipped in $3,000.

“The loan provided them with the necessary start-up capital,” said Mark Hutchison, vice president of Custom Food Solutions, one of the Louisville processors and a member of the Kentucky Proud marketing program. “We had to get an oven specifically designed to cook porchetta. It was actually made in Italy.

“Although it is a unique program, Custom Food Solutions has the capability to address a project this challenging,” Hutchinson said. “We are using some of the original Italian methods, and we have also incorporated numerous efficiencies established here in Louisville.”

Hutchison said sales results have been “pretty impressive” for a make-a-market product.

“It’s created an additional revenue stream for us,” he said. “It’s getting a lot of attention. It took center stage at the Fancy Food Show in New York City. It has a huge ‘wow’ factor.”

The unique Kentucky Proud pork product received kudos from award-winning food writer Florence Fabricant in the Aug. 6, 2008, edition of The New York Times.

“The finished product, Porchetta Primata, is beautifully bronzed, marbled with some fat and ready to slice and eat, needing only some exotic mustard or other condiment,” Fabricant wrote. “Unlike some imported porchetta products, it is produced without the preservative sodium nitrate.”

Sunrise Farms in Todd County raises hormone-free hybrid pigs carefully developed for the flavor of their meat. Owner/operator Allen Franks has received the prestigious Master Conservationist award, acknowledging him as one of the top “green” farmers in the state.

The animals, a cross between the Duroc and Yorkshire breeds, are fed a special mixture of soybeans and corn fortified with vitamins and minerals. The result is lean animals weighing 95-200 pounds at 2½-3 months of age, when they are harvested at Hampton Meats in Hopkinsville. Commercial pigs usually tip the scales around 300 pounds.

The pigs are delivered to Irish Hill Foods in Louisville, where they are carefully deboned by hand. Custom Food Solutions seasons the meat with rosemary and other spices, then sews and ropes the skin back together. The pork is slow roasted for more than four hours at temperatures in excess of 500 degrees in the custom Italian oven, located at its plant in Jeffersontown.

Porchetta Primata’s upscale pork products are served at Disney Properties, Pebble Beach Resorts, on cruise ships and in luxury boxes at sports arenas.

“It’s a very high-end item,” Hutchison said. “It’s really good stuff.”

The Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund was created by the Kentucky General Assembly in the 2000 session to invest half of Kentucky’s share of master tobacco settlement funds in agricultural development projects. The state had invested $279 million by the end of 2008. The Agricultural Development Board, which oversees the fund, is led by Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer and Gov. Steve Beshear.

Click here to read more about the success of the Agricultural Development Fund.