ITALIAN CURED MEAT

The Italia! taste team get their teeth into an extremely varied selection of the finest Italian salumi to help you find the perfect slice to add to your antipasti platters, panini and more...

Now, if there’s one thing that completes any antipasti selection, it’s a slice or two of delicious cured meat, and even if you can’t be in Italy all the time (we can dream...), you can still prepare an authentic Italian platter to transport your taste buds to "il bel paese" whenever you feel like it. Traditionally, making use of every part of an animal was a way of life, as well as ensuring a source of protein throughout the lean winter months.

Italy is famed for its variety of curing and preserving methods, and besides the various different recipes and processes that provide Italy’s wide selection of cold cuts, you can also expect to find tempting regional variations of all kinds. Our selection this month comes from all over the country, with savoury delights ranging from Alto Adige’s speck to Tuscan finocchiona and a peppy spianata romana from Lazio. Our search for the best salume includes some excellent fresh finds from online delis and other choices available in UK supermarkets, so you don’t have to look too far to create your own antipasti selection – just add olives, crusty bread and a glass of red...

LARDO AROMATIZZATO DI CINTA SENESE
From The Tuscan Farm

In case you haven’t come across it before, Italian lardo is nothing like those blocks of white rendered animal fat that you can buy from your local supermarket. Not that there’s anything wrong with lard, but lardo is altogether a more refined and flavoursome delicacy. It is the cured fat from the back of the Cinta Senese pig, a traditional Tuscan breed, often sold in a thick chunk or in fine slices like this. Cured in salt, pepper and a mixture of herbs which impart a subtle flavour, it can be made into tasty crostini, served as part of an antipasti platter in wafer-thin strips or as a topping to season hot dishes. Creamy and buttery in texture, this lardo has hints of hazelnut alongside its slightly sweet, herby flavour.
VERDICT ★★★★★
Get over the fact that this is fat, and enjoy it in moderation, because its savoury flavour really is a revelation. You’ll love the way it tastes in hot and cold dishes.

SAINSBURY’S FINOCCHIONA SALAMI
From Sainsbury’s

Finocchiona is a meaty Tuscan salame for the ‘Taste the Difference’ range – we loved its fine texture and the faintly aniseed flavour added by the fennel seeds which complemented the rich pork.
VERDICT ★★★★
Serve with a few leaves of crisply bitter radicchio, hazelnuts and slices of fresh apple and you’ve got a delicious winter salad.

BASTARDO AL VINO BIANCO
From Tuscan Farm Shop

So-called as it is not a ‘true’ salume, but it holds its own against the genuine article. Nicely flecked with fat, it has a satisfying meatiness and depth of flavour (we loved the hint of fennel) that you expect from a richly cured meat.
VERDICT ★★★★
Top your crostini with slices of this salume and serve alongside fresh tomatoes for a appetising pre-supper snack.

UNEARTHED ORGANIC PANCETTA
From Abel & Cole

From Unearthed and available from Abel & Cole, this organic pancetta has just the right fat-to-meat ratio to allow it to crisp up perfectly in the pan – and it doesn’t shrink! Not too salty, we liked the hints of mace and black pepper.
VERDICT ★★★★
Really fresh pancetta can be eaten raw, but a cooked slice or two will add texture and savoury flavour to your hot pasta dishes.

UNEARTHED PGI ALTO ADIGE SPECK
From Waitrose

From high in the Italian Alps, this lean dry-cured meat has the texture of smoked ham, but the flavour is deeper and spicier. There’s a defi nite smokiness, with aromatics like juniper, rosemary and bay coming through.
VERDICT ★★★★
Perfect for your panini and crostini, try a slice or two wrapped around asparagus in season or scallops with rosemary.

SPIANATA ROMANA
From Camisa Fine Foods

Spianata means ‘flattened’, and this salume is dry-cured in special metal cages to give it this distinctive shape. Made from minced pork with garlic, pepper and a good hit of chilli, its seasoning is well balanced and the meat tender.
VERDICT ★★★★
If you want a little heat to pep up your antipasti, this is the choice for you. Try with jarred artichokes or other preserved vegetables.

COPPA DI PARMA
From Camisa Fine Foods

Made from whole cuts of pork shoulder, this has a very meaty textured, nicely marbled with fat. Not too salty, it certainly delivers on flavour, which is rich and slightly tangy with just a hint of sweetness, and it melts in the mouth.

In "Italia! Magazine", UK, issue 144, November 2016, excerpts pp. 92-93, Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.

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