Fiocco – Ready to eat

The poor brother of the Culatello is ready! As described in the Culatello post, the Fiocco is made from the small muscle of the hog leg. It’s cured in the exact same way as the Culatello is, but because its quite a bit smaller it takes a lot less to dry.
This piece was in the curing chamber for 4 months and lost about 40-42% of it’s weight.

Let's look at some interior pictures, shall we?

	The fiocco as a whole is nicely firm but not dry in any way. The slices are very supple and soft. The color is beautiful as you can see in this picture.
	You can see in this picture there is a small air pocket which is where the muscle was folded over itself before it was cured. I’m not sure if I cut the muscle incorrectly or if i just didn’t tie it up tightly enough. Either way, the air pocket, fortunately, did not seem to cause a problem.

Overall, I’m quite pleased. One interesting thing i noticed is that when i first cut into it the flavor was VERY mild, almost boring really. I wrapped it and put it in the fridge for sort of forgot about it for a couple weeks. When I tried it again it was MUCH better. The flavor had intensified and become much more pronounced. I can’t explain it. Funny thing is, Scott at Sausage Debauchery experienced the same thing!

Sliced thin it has a nice flavor. It’s a little prosciutto-like, but clearly recognizable as something else. It has a pleasant “funk” to it which I THINK is attributable to it being cased in a beef bung and molded, but I’m not certain.

I have a feeling this is a product in particular where the quality of the pork would make a detectible flavor difference. I used a commercial ham as I wanted to learn how to butcher it before spending a lot more on a pasture raised pig. The very simple curing (just salt really) really would allow the pork to shine on its own as there are no strong flavors or spices to cover up the pork flavor. I think the extra intramuscular fat on pastured pigs would make the texture even better.

It’s a good meat for sandwiches, for sure, and I'll enjoy eating it. I am looking forward to the Culatello to see if the extra 6+ months of aging develop more flavor.