[Sca-cooks] question of Italian meats

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Stefan li Rous wrote:

> Is there a good generic name for these kinds of things? In other words,
> if you were searching a big list of files :-) in what file would you
> expect to find info on such things? ham-msg for instance? Or, since that
> is a different part of the pig's anatomy, would you not look there?

Hmm. Italian-Americans would simply call these pork products, and the
French would probably lump it all under charcuterie. Cured.pork.msg?

> Last saturday at Sam's Warehouse, I bought an interesting appetizer for
> a belated Mother's Day get-together on Sunday, a jar of cherry peppers
> stuffed with provolone cheese wrapped in proscuitto marinated in oil.
> Quite good. Unfortunately, I really can't taste the proscuitto over
> the taste of the cheese and the pepper.

Ah, well, I suspect this is something that would be wonderful made
fresh, with less of an opportunity for the prosciutto to flavor the oil.
Not that I can object to flavored olive oil (I _almost_ bought a kilo
jar of anchovy fillets last night for that reason, but in the end I
realized that's a _lot_ of anchovies), but I think there's a difference
between blended flavors and total homogeneity. I think I'd use those
little bocconcini (fresh mozzarella balls), myself, instead of provolone.

> And to bring up a previous discussion, the jar was refrigerated and
> the label says to keep it refrigerated. I also looked again at the
> cheese cubes in the olive oil at my local grocery. They too, were in
> a refrigerated case and the label says to keep refrigerated. However,
> they looked so good, I bought a jar.

Good move. The stuff should keep okay for a short while without
refrigeration (until it begins to grow fur in a week or so), but since
it could last a year or more in the fridge, why worry over the decision?

> > niccolo difrancesco
> > (laridum dominari)
>
> Dominant lard? :-) No, you don't want Stefan translating things.

Actually, you're not that far off, and it's good to see people
acknowledging Rome their Master ;  ). I _think_ the good Fra Niccolo
(bearing in mind he's a good Southerner, unlike my Dam'Yankee self) is
trying to say that lard, or perhaps bacon, rules. He may also be using a
plural noun as a present-tense verb, but the jury on this question is
still out getting coffee.

Adamantius
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com