La Boccia al Finocchio

Boccia translates to “ball”, and the reason for this name should be obvious given its shape. This isn’t a salame that’s classic of anywhere, as far as I know.  The round shape is from the fact that it’s stuffed in a hog bladder. I’m guessing any salame paste can be put in it, I chose to use a fennel based one.

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Culatello - The King of Cured Meats

If there is a King of salumi, it's definitely Culatello di Zibello. Many might think that honor belongs to Prosciutto di Parma, with it's 5 pointed crown branded onto it's skin, but in reality, those in the know, understand that Culatello is the true King.

Culatello is made from the large muscle mass in the rear leg of the pig. Creating it means destroying the possibility of  making a prosciutto. That, combined with it being a relatively small part of the whole leg, its tremendous aging time, the fact that it's the best part of the leg, and the expertise required to make it, make it one of the most expensive salumi in Italy, particularly if it adheres to the DOP regulations to be a Zibello culatello.

The flavor of culatello is indescribably delicious, but I'll try. It has a soft, supple texture similar to prosciutto, but a tiny bit dryer. The flavor is robust, and redolent of the 500 year old, humid, caves where they spend their 12 months drying. The pork flavor is the main thing you can taste (which is delicious because to adhere to the DOP certain criteria for raising the pigs have to be adhered to, and they must be pigs from either Lombardia or Emilia-Romagna), followed by the funk of the aging and the caves It's really something special. There is obviously no way I can recreate the flavor from the 500 year old caves and the native molds, but I'm hoping I can create something similar and delicious.

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Bresaola di Cervo - Deer Bresaola

Everyone knows beef bresaola.....it's a common salume that's generally a good starting place for people new to the hobby. In talking to Scott at Sausage Debauchery, I told him I was going to make a deer salame from a piece of deer roast a coworker gave me from a hunt. He intelligently suggested making a deer bresaola since I had such a nice piece and it would have been a waste to grind it up! I followed his advice, and this is what I ended up with. If you have a hunter friend who is willing to share his kill, I say give it a try!

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Violino di Capra - Goat prosciutto tasting

The Violino di Capra is ready! It didn't take that long to dry. I forgot to write down when it went into the curing chamber, but I estimate it it's been about 40 days. Not long, but it's a very lean meat, and not very thick, so I'm not surprised it didn't take long.

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Salame Gentile

If one were to translate Salame Gentile into English, it would be "Gentle Salame", but the direct translation is meaningless. The name derives from the use of the hog bung as the casing. In Italian the hog bung is called the "budello genile". A hog bung is the last piece of the intestine in the pig, and it has very thick walls and a lot of fat within the membrane layers. The hog bung being so thick and fatty keeps the salame very soft and allows for a long drying time without over hardening, often up to and over 90 days, which for a salame of this diameter (80mm or so) is a long time. It's also supposed to give the salame a particular flavor.

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Salam d'la Duja

I enjoy researching and making salami that are sort of obscure, maybe not to the region they're from in Italy, but certainly here in the US. This one qualifies as one for sure.

Piemonte is a region that is close to my heart in that that's where my Italian side of the family is from; my Dad, Nonna, Nonno, and Zii.  I like finding cured meats from that area as a way to stay connected to my family. This salume is from the eastern area of Piemonte.

Salam d'la Duja was born out of the necessity to cure meats in an area where the humidity is generally too high, not allowing for proper drying and preservation. Because of the high humidity the salami are dried for just a short while and then buried in liquid lard inside a clay pot, called a Duja. They're kept here for anywhere from 3 months to a year. They stay soft and age in the lard becoming spicier as they age. I've actually never eaten one in Italy, I can't explain why not, so I'll really have no idea how mine compares to the real stuff.

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Nasone and Cotechino Tasting

I'm a week late for the traditional Italian new years sausage, cotechino, but no big deal. Had some friends over for our 8th annual cotechino party and of course had to serve the Nasone too!

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