Caseiro e Bom in Newark Sells Some of the Country’s Most Luxurious Hams | Eater NY
"In Newark’s Ironbound, I visited Caseiro e Bom Gourmet House (70 Pacific Street, at Nichols Street), a butcher and specialty market that Don Rodrigo Duarte opened in 2006 to bring the pork dishes of his homeland to the neighborhood. The shop smells of ham throughout and displays dozens of Alentejano legs dangling from hooks, with another batch of nearly a hundred presunto (16–18 pounds) aging in controlled conditions; Duarte points to a particular leg that has been aging since 2021. He uses traditional Portuguese curing techniques—salting, resting, and using wine and natural farm ingredients—then hangs meats to age for years, producing sought-after items like Iberico presa or secretos, sarrabulho (blood-based dish), leitão da bairrada (roast suckling pig), Portuguese chorizo and blood sausage, and other lamb, goat, and rabbit offerings. The shop emphasizes antibiotic-free, corn-free, pasture-raised practices, and Duarte tries to keep prices fair for the immigrant community despite brutal inflation; his top-tier Alentejano ham is the result of a long process (five years to perfect the renowned flavor) and can sell for as much as $499 per pound. Weekly foot traffic includes longtime Portuguese patrons who appreciate the nostalgia and camaraderie of the store, and Duarte’s pink throne—gifted after he was dubbed the “King of Hams”—hangs beneath one of his first cured Alentejano hams as a reminder of a decade of work and negotiations to bring these pigs to America." - Nicholas Hernandez
