il miglior amico dell'uomo

so appropriately, and necessarily, after our two days on pig farms, production facilities and learning about the full circle meat-making process, we had two days of afternoon classes focused on cured meat tastings. the morning classes for those two days were cheese tasting. phew, what a week!

Cheese: we learned the proper way to evaluate them from a professional cheese taster, cristiano de riccardis. it is very, very important to touch the cheese with your fingers, lift it away from the plate to smell directly under your nose, then bring it away to allow your nose to breathand take in the smell completely. then do it again. when tasting it is ob-lig-a-tor-y to keep your mouth closed and chew a couple times.

evaluate first externally:

• rind - present, rough/brushed, flowering mould or plastic
• undercrust - present (color stronger), uniform distribution, soft or hard
• colors - milk white, greyish white, ivory white, straw yellow, yellowish-gold, orangish, grey-ish green
• eyes - absent (very, very important parmesan reggiano), round (dot->nut size aka Swiss), lengthened partridge (teardropish) , irregular (Roquefort) -> take into account # and distribution

then by smell and then by aroma: lactic, vegetable, floral, fruity, toasted,animal, spicy, and fermented/other family sensations.

they had smells that were described with words such as: rendered butter, boiled milk, fresh cream, humus, leather, cooked cauliflower, fermented hay, toasted hazelnut, pineapple, dried apricot,honey, bread, yeast, banana, mushroom, animal sensations, brioche.

the aroma was what you tasted and included words like: garlic, sage, toffee, white chocolate, yogurt, yellow apple, boiled potato, white pepper, clove, green onion, nutmeg, white flowers - chamomile, violet, rose, chestnut honey, animal hair, acacia honey, olive oil, green peas, amaretto,white asparagus, meat broth. yes, hearing someone say a descriptive word out loud generally means that you automatically can taste that flavor too. it's hard.

then by taste: sweet, umami, a little acidic, bitter - never spicy or salty.

it is very, very important to identify them from the strongest to lowest levels. ob-lig-a-tor-y.

the first four cheeses we tasted were brie de meaux, asiago pressato, pecorino marzolino and pecorino sardo. then on the second day we had pecorino toscano, bra duro, castelmagno bresidio alpeggio and formaggi di malga.

they were made with raw milk instead of pasteurized which creates a superficial, "perfect" look under a controlled environment, but because all of them were of the highest quality, the natural results from the raw milk were still perfectly uniform in color and had perfect distribution of eyes/holes with present undercrusts.

i like cheese.

Cured Meat: the first day was 23 different products. here are some facts on cured meat:

• there were more pigs than humans in italy during the 1970's and 1980's
• 3 breeds to make proscuitto di parma: large white from england, landrace from denmark, durac from the usa -> hybrid pigs account for 50% of pigs reared in italy b/c they gain weight faster
• today there are only 5 traditional breeds: mora romagnola (1,000 pigs), cinta senese (only indigenous tuscan breed not extinct), casertana (500 pigs) calabrese (600) and nero dei nebrodi (1300).
• prosciutto di parma was only started with the introduction of the english white during the british invastion of the 1900's.
• nothing of the pig is thrown out: hind leg (proscuitto, culatello) loin (lomo) nape (coppa) shoulder (spalla crudo or spalla cotta) cheek/throat (mix into salamis) belly (pancetta) lard (lard smear) skin (mortadella) sunga/kidney fat (used to cover exposed ham meat while curing)
• tuscan hams are generally saltier because they don't add salt to their bread, so compliments well
• goose is typical in jewish communities
• spiced, smokey meats are typical of northern italy because of the weather its harder to cure naturally so they smoke them
  

the meats we had included: prosciutto di parma 16 months, prosciutto di parma stagionatura naturale 24 months, prosciutto di cinta senese 30 months, prosciutto bazzone from n. tuscany, jamon iberico belotta (top quality - others are recepo or campo), culatell di zibello, capicollo azze anca grecanico, spall cotta/cooked shoulder, pindule della carnia/cured loin, speck alto adige, coppa, coppa al ginepro/juniper berries, carne salada, bresaola/beef rump, speck d'oca/smoked

goose chest, motzetta de cerf/salted deer meat, prosciutto di pecora/sheep ham, lardo di colonnata/strip of chewy fat, lardo di pata negra/melt in your mouth lard, ciccioli friolli/fried fat aka pork chip, pestat di fagagna/tube of lard with minced vegs and sassaka/bacon and lard from pig minced with goose lardons.

so greasy. i think everyone went for a run that afternoon.

the next day, after cheese tasting in the morning and lunch, we had round two of cured meats, this time different types of salami's.

here are some facts:

• salami -> sal - > salt: the main agent in preserving meat
• south of italy use fennel & chili powder, the north of italy uses fennel & black pepper
• industrial salami doesn't grow mould - the white is just rice flour but moulds break down the proteins, develop the flavor, eat the lactic acid and prevent spoilage. white, grey or green moulds are ok - orange and black are not!
• halein, hallstatt, salzburg, halle, halych, salt lake city -> all linked with salt
• filling is stuffed into natural guts which allow meat to breathe - the type of gut depends on the size of the meat product: small intestine=small salamis, colon=milano,felino,varzi, retum-fabriano, felino >1kg, bovine bladder=mortadella, pig bladder=culatello, pig blind gut=crespone, finocchiono >3kg
• the amount of minicing depends on the type of salami (whether you see big or small chunks of white fat) but is generally 70-80% lean meat and 30-20% fat porportions
• salamis are fermented cured meats so their curing process is different than prosciutto and culatello - need to dry in a warm/wet/humid environment to develop moulds and then age in a cool area.

the salamis that we tried (yes, i admit some were chewed to experience the flavor and texture, and spit out into a napkin. good thing we were in the back row. gross.) included: salame puro d'oca/pure goose meat, salame milano/typical deli slice, salame di felino/town name not cat, salame firottino from reggio emilia, salame fabriano from marche, salame di maiale nero dei nebrodi from sicily, sopressa di fagagna from friuli, finocchiona di san miniata from tuscany/fennel seed, kaminwurst/smoked, mortandela val di non from trentino, pitina from friuli/sheep, testa in cassetta di gavi from piedmont/pig head & tongue, mustardela delle valli valdesi from piedmont/pig head & blood, biroldo della garfagnana from tuscany/pig head & blood, sopressata di calabria/fennel and chili, chorizo jabugo/spoked paprika, salsiccia rossa di castelpoto from campania/smoked chili, ventricina del vastese from abruzzo/fennel and chili, n'duja from calabria/strong chili spiced spread

the look of some of them was just too much - the huge chunks of pure white fat, the gelatin from the pigs head and some things that were just unexplainable to comprehend putting in your mouth. but you can't really experience the salami for the full effect of the flavor, texture if you try to pull out the little white bits. it ruins the point of it. some of them would have been better in a blind tasting, but some of them were chewey and chunky others really soft and creamy and then to think about what they were possibly cased in....i definitely like the fennel and chili combination though.