Posted on 09/30/2016 11:03:03 AM PDT by Sean_Anthony
Do the terms Prosciutto or Speck have any meaning to you? They should!
True prosciutto is one of many Italian delicacies, especially that from Parma region, a kind of air-dried bacon that melts on your tongue. As common for bacon, it has small parts of fat. In the context here, “Speck” is the German term for the fat in cured bacon that makes the delicacy even smoother. You can buy the original prosciutto at high-end deli shops in the U.S., including the west coast (nothing but the finest for them, ever). IMHO, even steadfast vegetarians would savor it.
Now, horror of horrors, a “veggie version” prosciutto may be coming to your local deli soon. This novel delicacy is not to excite your taste buds with new impressions, oh no, not at all. Its sole raison d’etre is to save the world from the climate Armageddon (supposedly) approaching at a meteoric speed and its (claimed) cause: rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere resulting from mankind’s meat consumption, etc.
Either it isn't smoked or it just has "smoke flavoring".
What is the world coming to?
It’s like smoking fish - the biggest problem is keeping those suckers lit!
In Italy, Speck is smoked prosciutto. Please, don’t get me going on obtaining proper ingredients for my dishes. I’d kill to get a proper Guanciale but it can’t be done.
Same here. Nearly impossible to find caciocavallo.
Can’t find Guanciale around here (Delaware). Have to use a good Pancetta instead.
Nobody ever concocts veggie flavored meat...
Hmmm, it doesn’t say - but I can get something similar here that’s made in Canada. You can’t get real Guanciale from Italy here.
Veggie prozhoot or gabagoo?
HERESY!
“You can’t get real Guanciale from Italy here”
Why? Can’t ship into NJ?
No, it’s an FDA thing - like how you can’t buy unpasteurized cheese. The only guanciale I can get is a “domestic” one made in Canada. I don’t know what the precise difference is, but at the specialty store where I shop, if they could get Guanciale from Italy, they would.
I’m 3hrs west in York, PA. If I was closer, I’d get a package for you and meet you at the state lines.
When I was in the navy, my ship stopped in Brindisi Italy for liberty call. Instead of following the crowd to McDonalds, my friend and I went down a side street and found a tiny restaurant with about four tables and hand written menus. We ordered Spaghetti Carbonara. It was absolutely delicious. My mouth is watering just from the memory. It also spoiled me. I have found nothing like it in the USA. Nothing. Even when I have found it on the menu in the US, it is nothing like what I had in Italy. Why do Americans have to Americanize everything?
+1
I just got this back from the igourmet sales staff:
“The Guanciale we carry is not imported. It is made in the traditional way but it is a product of the United States.”
Yeah. I figured. The domestic ones are ok, but if you’ve ever has Carbonara or Amatriciana in Rome, forget it. :)
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