My passion for meat, especially charcuterie, was born while working at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee. Tutelage with Michael SULLIVAN taught me how to transform and sublimate pork products. It sparked a desire to produce artisanal charcuterie that has never left me.
I continued my training with Daniel BOULUD in New York before crossing the Atlantic to join the crew of chef Alain DUCASSE in his most famous restaurant, Louis XV in Monaco. While holding on to my goal of creating my charcuterie, I trained myself in all culinary positions to understand the basics of cookery. My time there allowed me to work with high-quality seasonal ingredients to create refined Mediterranean cuisine for our clients.
With Gilles VEROT in Paris, I was finally able to master the subtleties of charcuterie production. As a sous chef, I acquired the techniques to master this fine art of meat processing. My quest to learn more brought me to work in a high-end butcher shop, Dierendonk, in Belgium. While there I worked with his team to familiarize myself with cutting whole pigs, beef, and lamb.
Finally, I traveled to Tenuta di Spannocchia, perched in the hills of Italy’s Tuscany, where I observed the breeding, feeding, slaughtering, and finally the manufacturing of Italian charcuterie using ancestral traditions. I owe my utmost gratitude to Maestro RICCIO, who passed on to me his vast knowledge of traditional Tuscan charcuterie.
To gain maximum experience in the art of charcuterie, I took the time to learn, observe, taste, and work long hours with brigades formed around the world. The techniques, the different approaches that I have been able to study, have allowed me to refine my knowledge and confirm my desire to bring all these achievements back to my country of origin.
I chose to move to Sonoma County, an area I had discovered many years ago during an internship I did in San Francisco. Here I found a European mentality of respect for the environment and traditional agriculture practices. After over ten years of culinary experience with French, Italian, and American influences, I have created Maison Porcella to showcase my exceptional charcuterie products for our esteemed clientele.