Molto Gusto_ Easy Italian Cooking - Mario Batali [13]
LARDO is made from the fatback of pigs that weigh in at up to 500 pounds, to produce very thick and succulent, very fragrant and creamy lard. The D.O.P. version comes from Colonnata in the Apuan Alps of northern Toscana, where it is aged in marble-veined caves originally excavated for use in sculptures. We pack ours tightly in a wet “sand” of salt, pepper, ginger, rosemary, and allspice and let it rest, unexposed to light, for 6 to 8 months, then hang it for 60 to 120 days more before slicing it and serving it on hot bruschetta or pizza bianca.
GUANCIALE is made from the entire jowl and cheek of a large pig. We rub ours with marjoram, black and red pepper, and brown sugar and let it rest, away from light, for 42 days, then hang it for 30 days. We cook it or slice it and serve it raw. Guanciale is the base fat for much of Roman and Abruzzese cooking, especially pastas and many vegetable dishes.
FINOCCHIONA, originally from Toscana, is flavored with fennel seeds and an aggressive amount of salt and black pepper. At Otto, we add ground coriander and cayenne, stuff it into hog middles, and hang it for 45 days before slicing and serving it while it is still relatively soft.
PEPPERONI is the classic spicy salami known and appreciated by pizza lovers all over the world. We make ours with cayenne, red pepper flakes, a touch of vinegar, and fennel pollen and dry it for 60 days to achieve the customary firm texture that cooks up perfectly on a tomato and mozzarella pie.
SALAMI TOSCANO could actually be anything made by a butcher in Toscana, but it usually has whole black peppercorns, wine, and some form of fennel in a base of quite coarsely ground pork and fat. We hang ours for 90 days for a firm texture; a lot of butchers in Toscana hang it for much less, depending on local custom. We use a lactic starter to achieve the traditional flavor in this and the salami lardetto. SALAMI LARDETTO, which has much larger pieces of hand-cut cubed fat, not ground, is what many Italians consider salami toscana. We use pieces of cured lardo as well to tune up the intensity. SALAMI WITH CELERY is a variation on the toscano, with the addition of celery seeds and a touch of corn syrup solids for a pungent celery punch and a slightly sweeter mouthfeel. It is one of my all-time faves.
TESTA is an Italian head cheese. We brine a whole hog’s head with brown sugar, salt, bay leaf, and garlic for 3 days and then poach it with oranges and peppercorns. We remove all of the meat from the bones, add a little natural gelatin to some of the poaching liquid, and set the entire beautiful mess in cylindrical bain-maries to achieve the classic shape. We serve it sliced a bit thicker than traditional salami. In Panzano, in Toscana, our favorite Italian butcher in the world and pal Dario Cecchini makes something like this as big as a torpedo and calls it soppressata. To eat it served from his hands is one of the seven gastronomic wonders of the world and well worth a trip to Italy by itself.
MORTADELLA was born in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, and that is where our word for bologna the lunch meat got its name. In Italy, mortadella is considered one of the pinnacles of Emilian gastronomy, and it can be the defining point of a good party when served with proper abandon, sometimes with freshly grated horseradish and mustard. I am a big fan of a dry mortadella panino served with a tiny cold beer around 10 a.m. for a little breaky break when I am in Bologna—or Venezia, for that matter. It is essentially a smooth paste of finely ground and highly seasoned pork, often studded with cubes of fat and pistachios. It is always cooked, either in large steam ovens or poached slowly in giant vessels; it does not need aging.
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BRUSCHETTA & CHEESE
For many Italian kids at university these days, bruschetta is the new pizza and it can be thought of in the same way in terms of toppings, from simple to complex. Although the word