Raising a Mangalitsa pig can cost three times as much as a regular pig. It takes 15 months to raise one to market weight, compared to five months for conventional pigs. The feed is more expensive—"more like what they have in nature, which is 8 ½ percent protein as opposed to 16 percent protein"—and Andersen insists his pigs be processed by hand.  He's learned a thing or two, however, about marketing. For example, Andersen was trying to sell the neck steak for $8.25 a pound. He failed: "I'm saying, 'This is crazy,' it may be the best piece of meat I've ever had in my mouth, and people won't buy it."  Read MoreAn interactive map of dismal US snowpack levels  So he changed the name to "collar steak" and doubled the price. "I can now sell it for $17 a pound to white tablecloth restaurants," he said, "and I can't keep it in stock."  Andersen has secured a place to dry and cure his product in New Jersey, and he's working with the USDA to label that product for market. His website sells product direct to consumers, including bacon, bratwurst, tenderloin and ground pork. (This reporter sampled sausages and burger patties and didn't feel the need to eat for the rest of the day.)  "The goal is to get people to understand how absolutely, pardon the expression, screwed up our food chain is," he said. "I can sell you a Mangalitsa collar steak and get you a piece that's 5 to 6 ounces and you'll eat that, and you'll be full like you would if you had an 18-ounce beef steak."  Andersen said another goal is to network his contacts from Wall Street to scale up the operation to the next level. "If I can get this under your nose and into your mouth," he said, "you're hooked."
Former Wall Street financier Chris Andersen has spent a lifetime raising money on Wall Street. Now he's raising pigs.