Three Questions with Tyler Potter

Will you share a bit about your culinary expertise and historical past, and what despatched you down this profession path?

Serendipity is admittedly what took me down this path, I by no means got down to be a chef! But, it discovered me and has since change into my calling, ardour and function. I discover it to be an honorable profession- we have now the obligation of feeding, offering and nourishing folks, all whereas taking part in with hearth and knives! How enjoyable! I fell into cooking in the direction of the top of faculty in Boston, merely as an element time job as I completed my diploma in graphic design. After I graduated faculty, I simply… stored cooking! I ended up discovering my place behind the road in a few of Boston’s greatest eating places, absorbing as a lot as I might from my cooks and friends. I cooked throughout the city- from Kenmore Square to Southie to Cambridge- working via the wonderful eating and informal wonderful eating circuit. I discovered quantity at Eastern Standard and Ward 8; wonderful eating at KO Prime and West Bridge; and Southern cookery at Southern Proper and Merrill & Co. After about fifteen years grinding my manner up from grunt line canine, to conceited Sous Chef, to (considerably) polished Executive Chef in Boston, I used to be given the chance to work as Production Manager at an artisanal charcuterie facility outdoors the town, producing 10,000 kilos per week of wagyu beef and heritage pork merchandise beneath USDA inspection. We produced basic German and smoked sausages, pates, mortadella, bologna, pastrami, meatballs, pulled pork, bacon, snack sticks, jerky and pepperoni, to not point out the 75,000 kilos of salami in our drying room I used to be accountable for. I used to be there till Covid reshaped all the things, and in July 2020 I moved to Martha’s Vineyard!

What made you need to construct your corporation across the smoker and that fashion of cooking?

The Swimming Pig is a real fruits of my experiences and direct results of my coaching beneath my cooks and mentors. Once I began to get acclimated to Martha’s Vineyard, I noticed that I had a singular expertise, ability set and technical capacity on this specialty craft that would fill a void within the culinary panorama. This all started as a cellular sausage and charcuterie manufacturing service crafting merchandise for native eating places, accommodations and farm stands. In 2021 alone, I produced over a metric ton of meat merchandise myself (whew!). As I had “mercenary” cooked with a variety of native caterers, cooks and colleagues, I noticed a chance to step into the ring with a smoked meat and BBQ idea that embodied the craft I had been practising for many of my profession via salting, brining, smoking and curing- all age previous preservation strategies and strategies. I fell in love with the primal, unpredictable nature of cooking with smoke and hearth. It’s daring and brash, but additionally communal—it invitations folks to assemble, rejoice, and share within the expertise. It has a way of theatricality too: smoke, hearth, metal, wooden, and massive cuts of meat slowly cooked for hours and hours that encourages a wonderment to this alchemy. Since its inception, The Swimming Pig has developed from cellular manufacturing to a New England fashion smoked meat catering operation and retail sausage model full with an attire line we’re actually pleased with!

What are you excited for about the way forward for The Swimming Pig?

I’m actually excited to only prepare dinner this fashion of meals and share it with my purchasers, schools and group. Cooking is my pure habitat, it’s the place I really feel most alive and carry out at my greatest and I’m at all times excited to share the love and keenness I’ve for this craft. Last season in 2025 we launched our retail sausage merchandise to Martha’s Vineyard retailers and grocers and couldn’t be extra grateful for the response- we bought over 2,500 items this season from May to October!. We hope to solidify our present providing within the native market, in addition to develop regionally to Nantucket, Cape, and coastal New England. We are at present excited a few retail sliced bacon product we’re engaged on for subsequent season to develop the catalog and maintain serving high quality meats! One day, if the actual property stars align, I’d like to make The Swimming Pig extra accessible with a quick informal brick and mortar location so we will serve the island residents and guests all of the meats and sides on a regular basis! At the second, I’m humbled by the momentum this little piggy has gained over the previous few years, so we’ll simply maintain pushing ahead and rising! “Lean into the storm” was recommendation I acquired from my mentor, so we’ll maintain doing simply that.