If the Lord's Prayer had been written in Emilia-Romagna, it would read "Give us this day our daily pork". It is well-nigh impossible to find a meal without at least one cured meat element, so of course we knew this study trip would be meat heavy. Let's just say my love affair with cured meat is still very much on hiatus.
Proscuitto di Parma
Slaughtered between 9 - 15 months of age at a weight no less than 160 kilograms, traditional pigs from the 11 designated regions in Parma donate their legs for the cause of proscuitto. These legs are massaged, salted, cleaned and aged whole for 1 week to 3 months in cellars and fridges with strictly regulated degrees of humidity and temperature. The Consortium tests the legs with a sharpened horse bone to ensure quality, stamps each with producer information and the official Proscuitto di Parma label and they are cellared for continued aging.
Cotechino
Created originally in the 1500s in Gavello to preserve meat while under siege, cotechino is a boiled sausage of secondary cuts of meat (aka the parts no one in North America likes to eat), pig skin and fat with an almost raw texture. Interesting history, but needless to say, not a favourite. Even when served in a church basement by fiesty nonnas.
Culatello
When the iron-stomached Asian of the group gags and begs for aromatherapy oil upon entering the facility, you know there's no hope for the rest of us. Culatello is the top part of the pig leg, which is salted, washed and cured. But the aroma? Well, it's cured in pig's bladder. And according to my stage roommate Liz in a fit of disgust at 7am the next morning "my clothes still stink like pig urine!". Let's just say it's a rather unique ammonia scent, only added to by the white mould that grows in the traditional cellar, fueled by breezes from the open windows. Seeing as it sells as a delicacy in the US for upwards of 80 euros per kilo, it must be a (very expensive) acquired taste.
Hmmmm. I think I like my pig better au naturel.
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