Corporations seldom have the best idea in foods. When the American big boys and their scientists set out to make "the other white meat" they seem to have left the flavor on the cutting room floor. I beg you (especially if you're a pork lover) to get to Portugal and order a bit of grilled Pata Negra, or black pork, a local, dark-skinned pig fattened on acorns. I mean it, this is serious food of the type you can no longer get in the US. It's juicy, succulent, and everything American pork is not. Vote with your fork. It's the only way to preserve edible food that's good for the soul.
Pata Negra is raised in the Alentejo, and you'll have trouble finding it ouside the region. The Alentejo is is a large region a short drive east and south of Lisbon, known for its fine wines, cork production, Roman ruins, cheeses and castles. It's a rich and fascinating region of Portugal that I'll be writing more about in the following months. But if you're hungry for Pata Negra now, head on over to the Adega do Isaías Restaurant in Estremoz.
Travel Resources: Alentejo Region Travel
Just read your article on Portuguese Black Pork. Have to agree with every word, it’s tasty and succulent, though a little fatty which might not be to everyone’s taste. I loved it.
As well as the Alentejoregion, it is also available in the Algarve – I found it in a restaurant at Vilamoura Marina.
Also found on the Spanish Algarve. Wonderfully cooked black pork at Basil’s Bodega in Jalaraque near Huelva
It is expensive, but one of the cheapest cuts is the shoulder and I have barbecued many times, a quick searing and then approximately one and a half hours, depending on the size of the shoulder, BQ indirect, it is magnificent!
Portuguese black pork can also be found in restaurants just on the outskirts of Tavira on the old road towards Spain,
it is the most wonderful meat you will ever have, if you like pork The Barrida Restuarant is the finest in the Algarve.