Loin of ibérico de bellota pork cooks on the grill.

Dish of the Week: Ibérico de Bellota Pork

To hear restaurateur José Andrés talk about Spain’s ibérico pigs—calling them “sexy” and “stylized, like models”—is to listen to a man whose love for pork seemingly knows no bounds. To taste the fresh ibérico de bellota pork loin from those pigs is to develop a bit of a crush yourself. The prime cuts of pork had their U.S. debut this week, thanks to Andrés and his partner, Wagshal’s Markets proprietor Bill Fuchs, and are now available at Andrés’s restaurants and Wagshal’s markets in Northwest D.C. While Spanish farmers started exporting the cured ham from the pigs, jamón ibérico, to the U.S. last summer, this is the first time the meat is being shipped fresh to the United States.

The pork is cut from pigs that roam free-range in the rural village of La Alberca in Spain, living on a diet made up almost entirely of acorns and wild herbs. This singular diet and life of luxury results in a ridiculously tender, juicy pork loin marbled through and through with fat—but not in a bad way, if that makes any sense. Andrés and Fuchs recently provided reporters with a taste of the pork, known as ibérico de bellota, fired over hot coals in Andrés’s own backyard, all the while gushing like two teenagers in love about the meat’s unique “nutty” flavor and smooth texture.

“I fought all my life to try to make this happen, to bring the ibérico to the U.S.,” Andrés said. “It’s no easy thing. You have to have a real belief in and love for meat. When I thought, ‘who would be crazy enough to try to do this?’ I immediately thought of Wagshal’s.” Fuchs said that while he ordered just 1,100 pounds for this year—half of which will be sold for $24-30 per pound at Wagshal’s—he’s hoping to import more, with a greater diversity of cuts, next year.