Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Mosefund Krauternschinken/Prosciutto alle erbe

Yes, I found yet another obscure salume from South Tyrol.  This one called prosciutto alle erbe or krauternschinken.  For this exercise, I used top rounds.  The top rounds were cast off as a result of speck butchery.  Just as fiocco is a result of culatello butchery, I decided to come up with something to do with the scraps created from cutting speck.  Turns out, this particular salume actually uses a leaner cut, which is exactly what the top round is.  I managed to find this while looking through a multitude of sources, mostly Italian language books and websites.  I happened upon a prosciutto disciplinary which listed every region in Italy and the prosciutti specific to each region.  Impossible to find any type of recipe, aside from "erbe," I made up my own.  This was dry cured(as opposed to brine) with salt, pepper, fresh rosemary and sage for 3 weeks as it was being pressed.  After the 3 weeks, it was smoked for 5 days with beechwood, and then cooked.  This was done sous vide to 155 farenheit.  However, it can be poached or steamed as well.  It tastes only gently smoked and nice and fragrantly herby.  Quite nice on a sandwich with crusty bread and a slice of emmentaler.