I did a stupid thing the week Elvis came to live with us. I left a package of Culatello di Zibello in my purse, and when I stepped away for a second to take a phone call, he dove in and quickly made it his dinner (side note: his foster parents chose his name. What are the odds that a girl from Tennessee would adopt a dog named Elvis in Italy?). Lucky guy that Elvis, since Culatello di Zibello is arguably the king of all cured meats, and he just so happened to get his greedy paws on some from one of the top producers, Massimo Spigaroli.
Chances are you have never heard of Culatello di Zibello since it is not sold in the United States and only produced in eight villages of Italy, but if you have ever tasted prosciutto, then you can begin to understand culatello. The word culatello actually means “little rump”, and that is exactly where the meat comes from – the pig’s bottom. Butchers begin with the entire hind leg, cut out the bone and carefully carve out the best cut of the meat that is then massaged with salt, garlic, pepper and red wine, tucked carefully into the pig’s well-washed bladder and snugly stitched up with cord. Unlike prosciutto which is generally industrially produced, Culatello di Zibello is produced entirely by hand, a process well worth the effort when you taste the buttery earthiness of the paper-thin slices. The culatelli are transferred to cellars where they’ll age from sixteen to thirty-six months, and this is what brought me to Massimo Spigaroli’s famous cantina at Antica Corte Pallavicina where I worked for the last year.
What makes Massimo’s cantina so renowned, apart from its being the oldest in the world – it dates back to 1320 – is that it is home to 6,000 culatelli. Enter and you find yourself enveloped in their intoxicating aroma, a literal maze of hand-perfected creations, reaching their pinnacle of excellence thanks to the effects of time and the heavy fog of the Po River basin. Massimo’s family has been in the business of culatello for hundreds of years, and the experience shows. In fact, Prince Charles of England received one of his culatelli as a gift a few years ago, and so impressed was he that he sought out Massimo himself and asked him to produce cured meats with his English pigs. And so with just a bit more time he too will have culatelli fit for a prince.
I can plug freely now that I no longer work there, right? There is also a 6-room relais in the castle as well as two delish restaurants right on the estate. You know, if you ever find yourself out in the Parma countryside.
why oh why is it stored in the pig's bladder? goodness gracious alive!
ReplyDeleteHaha, because that is how it has been produced for hundreds of years. The bladder protects the meat, but at the same time allows air and humidity to penetrate to age it. Lots of foods were traditionally stored in animal organs. That's how the first cheeses were "discovered".
ReplyDelete