Bologna - Part Two (Parma Karma)

As promised, we continue our food extravaganza series - this time with a behind the scenes look at the curing of Parma prosciutto.

Just after leaving the small farm where we saw parmagiano-reggiano being made, we made way to Langhirano, a small village outside of Parma, Italy.  This is the true birthplace of Parma ham, but in a nod to marketing savvy the locals decided some time ago that it would be easier to pronounce and remember Parma prosciutto rather than calling their special delicacy Langhirano prosciutto.

We arrived at a small, family run curing house called La Perla.  The daughter of the owner was kind enough to take us on a tour of her family's business.  Before we get into the various stages of curing the ham, there are a couple of things to know.  The pork that is used to make Parma prosciutto comes from only certain local pigs (no jokes please) that have been designated DOC which is an abbreviation in Italian for 'denomination of controlled origin.'  It is only the hind legs of these particular pigs that can be used in the making of Parma prosciutto.  God only knows what they do with all those front legs that are left over.

First step in the process is a salting machine that coats each leg to begin the curing process.  It is in this machine that the legs get 'massaged' first to help ensure that the salt adheres well.  These legs are first placed in different industrial size refrigerators - at specific temperatures and humidity - over several weeks to ensure that the salt (Sicilian sea salt, of course) starts to get absorbed into the meat.

Stage 1...

Stage 2...

Stage 3...Now we wait!

Once that process is completed, the legs are moved to a hanging position in different refrigerators - again at very specific temperatures and humidity - to begin the lengthy process of fully curing the ham.  The portions of the leg that are covered in fat start getting hard to protect the meat inside.  But there are some exposed sections of meat that need to be covered by additional fat - by hand - to ensure that these sections remain protected from exposure to outside elements during the curing process.  Is it any wonder why this stuff tastes so good?

Our tour guide...

....and me!

The horse bone tester...

...& the official finished project!

Over many months, each leg cures into the prosciutto that we all know and love.  But it is not until the inspector comes that a leg can be branded (literally with a hot brand) as being Parma prosciutto.  It's a 5 point inspection in which the inspector sticks a small piece of horse bone (I kid you not) into specific sections of the leg and smells the horse bone to determine if the leg has the right smell to be considered 'perfect Parma.'  Just like with the making of parmagiano-reggiano, there are many stamps and codes that you can find on each piece.  These stamps indicated the specific curing house that cured the prosciutto, as well as the farm the pig came from.  If you got a close look at one of these legs in your local deli, you could conceivably trace Porky back to his birth place and the route he took to your dinner table.



The best deli counter ever...

...we'll take these!



Tom & the hooch...

After the tour, we Ron and I were treated to a delicious lunch in the La Perla dining room where we enjoyed different kinds of prosciutto and other assorted salami.  Between that, some homemade pasta, a bottle of wine and some homemade after-dinner hooch that the owner brought out for us, we were all fired up to buy an assortment of prosciutto and salami in their 'gift shop.'  It was hardly a gift shop, really, more like a large deli counter from which you could purchase some of the things you had just tasted - and we did.  We had been particularly fascinated with the hooch (I assume you all know what I mean -but just in case - it was a homemade dessert wine like moscato - but infinitely more interesting by virtue of it being served in an unlabeled bottle) that we asked if would be possible to purchase a bottle.  The lady at the cash register (the owner's wife and our tour guide's mother) gave us a knowing look, smiled and slipped back into the kitchen to emerge a few moments later with our very own bottle to take home.  Just try that trick at a Bennigans or Cheesecake Factory and see what it gets ya.

(Stamping the hams!

Just a little video...wish it was smell-a-vision...yum!)

Blissfully full, we settled back into the car and the driver headed towards Modena for our final stop of the day - a small estate that ages traditional balsamic vinegar.  But that, dear friends and family, is a story for another day.  So, until next time, Buon Appetito!

Lastly, since this blog is being posted today, we would like to send Extra Speacial Love to a fabulous person and a fabulous friend on his birthday! Happt Birthday/Buon Compleanno James! Enjoy your day and have a great year!

Bologna - An Introduction (part 1)

In a country noted for its food, where even the simplest dish at any local trattoria would satisfy a condemned man's request for an extraordinary last meal, it's hard to imagine a place that all the Italians tell you to go to "if you really want to eat well."  Does foodie heaven have a VIP section ?  Yes.  The Emilia Romagna region of Italy is such a place.

Emilia Romagna is the home to Bologna, Parma, Modena and many other smaller, less known places.  The most remarkable thing is that each of these tiny cities, villages and farms is an epicenter of a perfect food.  Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese.  Prosciutto crudo (Parma ham for those of you reading this at the deli counter).  Traditional aceto balsamico.  You may think that you've tasted these before and that they were very good.  Trust me, you've never really tasted them before and you have no idea how good good can be.  But if words and pictures can explain even 10% of what we saw, smelled and tasted, we'll do our best in these upcoming blog entries to tease your tastebuds into a frenzy.

Ron and I took a 4 day weekend (thanks to All Saints' Day being a national holiday here) to explore this region in Northern Italy.  Home base was Bologna and the Majestic Hotel.  We were situated right in the historic center, just off the main piazza and across the street from a beautiful basilica.
After checking in, we took a little stroll (or passeggiata as they call it here) to see the sights before dinner. We stopped in several churches/basilicas, one of which was actually a combination of 7 interconnected churches built over hundreds of years (Saint Stefano's).

We also stopped in a few shops, the most tantalizing being a chocolate shop that had more kinds of chocolate truffles than you can imagine.  One of the more unique things about Bologna is that most of the sidewalks are covered.  These covered porticos allow you to wander the city protected from the elements.  After a lovely dinner, we returned to the hotel to get a good night's sleep before our food adventures that were scheduled for the next day.

We had arranged through the hotel to see how the various specialty foods of the area were made.  We didn't know exactly what we were going to see (a big factory, a small farmhouse or something in between).  A driver picked us up at 8AM and we were off.

First stop was a small farm, just outside of Parma where the owner (who was the only person in the family that spoke English) greeted us.  The Agrizoo Farm was a real working dairy farm with over 100 cows.  We got a chance to see the cows that produced the milk that was going to be made into Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese and even some of the off-spring that had been born just the day before. The milk is collected twice daily, at 5AM and 5PM.

Heat & mix milk...

...separate & test...

...& lastly taste!

Each day's milk is transported just a few hundred feet into a small building where it's made into cheese.  We were told that the short distance improved the taste of the cheese because the milk did not have a chance to be 'bruised' before it arrived into the big copper vats where the transformation would take place.  Stepping inside, we saw just 2 men actually making the cheese, an older Italian dairy farmer and his younger apprentice.  At just the right moment, they took a cheesecloth like material to capture the just forming cheese to shape it into an enormous ball.  Cutting this cheese ball in half would yield 2 of those giant, delicious wheels of cheese.  Before the lengthy aging process can begin, these wheels must go into a salt bath for 28 days.

Capturing the curd...

...wrapping in cheese cloth...

...sliced into two wheels...

...placed in a mold & on to salting...

Each day the dairy farmer comes in to check their progress and to rotate the giant wheels in the huge salt water bath.  After that, they are transported just a few feet away into 'the vault.'  The vault is a large room with wooden shelving where each cheese wheel ages for typically 2 years or more.  The sight and smell of all these wheels of cheese is remarkable, as is the automated rotating machine that goes up and down the aisles every day to lift each wheel off of its perch, 'dusting' the shelf clean and returning the cheese wheel upside down to ensure uniform aging over time.

Salting bathes...

...on to storage..

...then on to heaven!

Each cheese wheel bears numerous markings.  Some indicated the day it was made.  Others indicate the ID number of the farm (yes, you can find out exactly which farm the hunk of cheese you buy in Kroger comes from by looking up its ID number).  Most importantly, though, is the Parmagiano-Reggiano seal that only gets applied when a 'judge' from the local consortium comes to verify whether the wheel is good enough to be called Parmagiano-Reggiano.  As you can imagine, we took home a few hunks of cheese with us to Rome to enjoy over the coming months.  And, yes, we did both fantasize about buying a whole wheel to bring back.  There's an almost sweet creaminess to this cheese that I've never tasted before, without the very sharp bite that you typically associate with it.  It's insanely delicious.

(Entering the sacred cheese vault & the cleaning of the cheese)

That's it for this episode of Ron & Tom jack up their cholesterol.  Tune in next time for the aging of the ham (and no that's not a reference to my upcoming birthday).  Ciao for now!

(Note: This installment was brought to you by, my honey, Tom. I thought our readers would prefer some class for once...)