Holy City Hogs is a family-run hog farm on Wadmalaw Island run by hog farmer and minister Tank Jackson. The farm supplies Charleston restaurants like Jackrabbit Filly, Chubby Fish, and Le Farfalle (as well as clients in New York, New Orleans, Nashville, and Savannah) with whole hogs, primal cuts, and sausages. We gave Jackson a call to chat about his work and philosophy on food.
For me, as a small producer, I’m always looking to get people to reinvigorate themselves into food and the joy that comes with it.”
The Local Palate: How did you get into hog farming?
Tank Jackson: Twelve years ago, as a fluke, my wife (a horse trainer) and I spent a large sum of money clearing land with a backhoe. And we were going to put horses out there, and then she got the opportunity to take over Rosebank Plantation, and so she took over the equestrian facilities out there. The property I had prepared for her, I had nothing to do with it. One of my clients was a chef—I had a landscaping service—he was like, Tank, I’ve never seen you upset a day in your life. What’s the problem? I was like, I spent all this f—ing money on a horse farm. He was like, man, you ought to raise pastured pork; it’s really hot right now. That’s how I got into it.
TLP: How did you develop relationships with restaurants over the years?
Tank Jackson: I’d say word of mouth. I started working with one chef, and maybe some chef working with that chef started his own restaurant, and he wanted to add my pork to their repertoire. Just me going out and cooking and being places. I’m on my way to New York right now to cook at Pig Beach in Queens. There’ll be people from all over the country there. You gotta be out there.
TLP: What’s the secret to cooking the perfect whole hog barbecue?
Tank Jackson: Like anything else, the more you do it, the better you get at it. I’ve seen people cook two hogs and they came out great, but when they cook that third one, it wasn’t that great. It’s just like riding a bike or playing tennis: You work hard at it, you keep grinding, and basically you’ll get pretty damn good at it.
TLP: Tell us about your whole hog cooking classes.
Tank Jackson: The most important ingredient is fun. We want people to enjoy cooking, and the whole point is getting people to think about where their food comes from. For me, as a small producer, I’m always looking to get people to reinvigorate themselves into food and the joy that comes with it. The celebration of a meal—every time you eat is a celebration, if you think about it. There’s so many people that aren’t as fortunate as you; you should be really appreciative and thankful. And the food made a sacrifice. Everything you eat was once living, and I think at some point we kind of forgot that and lost a lot of respect and reverence for our food.
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Tate Jacaruso
Tate Jacaruso loves celebrating Southern food, travel, and culture as associate editor at the Local Palate. She is based in Charleston and is currently making her way through every bowl of pasta and oyster on the half shell in town. Her work has appeared in Charleston Living Magazine and CHStoday.