We usually have a proscuitto end or two in the fridge. I dice some up small and throw into my baked macaroni and cheese. It zings it up a bit.

Bill

Venetian, no. That pancetta sounds great, but it's definitely not Venetian. As for cooking with prosciutto crudo, this is an ingredient I'm VERY careful with. It's dangerous, in fact, since it can easily spoil the whole dish - most prosciutti crudi are too salty IMO, and if they are really good, it's a shame to cook with them... a bit like the problem with great wines used for cooking!
The cooking variant of prosciutto, if I may say so, is - nothing else than pancetta. If prosciutto is really necessary for a certain recipe, I often soak it in water for half an hour or so before using it, to eliminate the salt. It's not that I'm against salt in my dishes, it's just that I prefer to determine the amount of salt myself rather than letting the prosciutto producer decide...

...and while I can imagine that fish wrapped in prosciutto is tasty, I just want to suggest you try the same with lardo di Colonnata... maybe you'll want to report here what the difference was!

Thanks for all the great info! I'm reading while salivating and can't wait to eat in Italy!

OOOH, lardo. I LOVE that fat! I think we can even get it here in the US now..I have never brought it home from Italy because I was never sure how to use it except sliced on bread. I first ate this a long way from Colonnata, in Venice, on the tasting menu at Ai Gondolieri. I swooned so much that they brought me an entire plate with little lard bruschetti...I MUST do some investigating on the monkfish/lardo front..do you happen to have a recipe, Franco...

Hi ek

>Ira I would tend to agree. The trouble is that I have always relied on the under $12 bottles for cooking....

Those are my mainstay for drinking. :)

((I))

I love pizza with italian sausage, carmalized onion, kalamata olives and proscuitto or pancetta (which ever is in the frig).

Also, try to recreate a dish we had in Rome. Pasta topping with a "sauce" made from cooking pancetta until is it crunchy, then cooking baby zucchini and flowers until crisp in the pancetta drippings. Add a few pinches of red pepper flakes and LOTS of parm...YUMMY!

Well that sounds scrumptious! Those zucchini flowers are so expensive at the market here, though! But for those who have gardens...!!

Ira, I usually drink in that range at home as well...right now I am committed to finishing a case of Greco (white) from Sicily that I ordered after admiring it in a wonderful restaurant here in NYC (L'Impero) where it was one of their house wines. Unfortunately it does not taste as well a few blocks north of the restaurant!! That reminds me..it IS 5:09....

Never mind..the bottle is not even opened and I made a mistake. The wine is not Greco but Grillo from Feudo Arancio, 2004... Now, where is that corkscrew...??

http://www.wineloverspage.com/wines/tn.phtml?id=448

I loved the Pecorino in Pienza. I brought back both the stuff aged 4 years and 1 year, which is delicious just sliced and grilled on each side. Wish it wasn't all gone!

ek, my favourite lardo di Colonnata dish is, oh yes, a fish dish: mazzancolle al lardo di Colonnata, and the recipe is to be found on "favourite Venetian food", posted 06/02/2006, 05:15 pm - would you be so kind to look it up there?

Wow, this thread is going strong indeed. Almost every time another post comes in while I'm typing mine! SusanP, very good point - pecorino di Pienza is among the very best, and no, it's not at all salty!!

Yes, yes, I found the recipe. I will try it with shrimp which of course will not be nearly as tasty but even so...it sounds absolutely wonderful. Now I have to get my hands on some lardo!!

Susan..did you grill the pecorino on bread or just in a grill pan? I remember a very early post here where I was musing about a smoked, grilled scamorza that I had at an Italian restaurant in Bronx, New York. (Served with roasted peppers and olives) When I tried to replicate it at home (in the oven) it turned into a gloppy mess! But the version I ate in Rome at Armando was amazing..I need to try this (again) as well as the pecorino. Will use the grill pan next time..

franco,

When we have finished pecorino, may we start on burrata???? Maybe it will bring Eloise to this post as I read she wanted to try it on her next trip to Italy.

All this food talk is making me very hungry. Too bad I can't eat my laptop screen.

ek, I just grilled the Pecorino in a frying pan. You could do it on an outside grill as well. Just a few minutes per side with a fairly thick slice (maybe 1/4-1/2"). After having it in two different restaurants in Pienza, when I went to buy some, I asked the guy which I should buy to cook it that way. He said the fresh Pecorino would be too soft and melt too much, so I should use the 1-year stuff. Soooo good!

Comfy, just try and wrap your laptop screen in lardo di Colonnata...

Traviata, hello, it's nice that you're joining us. We might start out on burrata immediately, it's just that I'm afraid you're not asking the right person - I haven't much to say on burrata, and nothing that you, Traviata, don't know yet. For everybody else who might not know: burrata is a special kind of mozzarella di bufala, stuffed with either butter or cream; the stuffing would adopt a delicate mozzarella flavour, and Traviata has had one in Florence that was obviously reason enough to go back to Florence asap just to savour this cheese again. Was this correct, more or less?

franco,

Definitely correct! Has anyone else had this marvelous treat??? I have actually had it twice..once in a very special caprese and the second time in Florence served with several condiments...honey with pine nuts, fig preserves,and tart, pink grapefruit. The texture is very different...runny almost and very, very buttery.

ekscrunchy,

We not only buy direct from them when in town, but we also order from them. Here is the website and they will ship whatever you want.

http://www.salumicuredmeats.com/

Their lardo is DEEEEElicicious BTW!

-Bill

Franco, Very funny :) I read your first sentence, then read traviata endorsing "it", and then iamg providing a source. That's it, Lardo di Colonnata da Dell it is then.

ekscrunchy, Would you care to try it? It is very crunchy :)

Have fun, guys.