Prosciutto Cotto Spalla 250g

TAST­ING NOTES FROM THE CURATOR

From the his­toric Emil­ia-Romagna region of north­ern Italy, this bright pink ver­sion of Ital­ian ham is cooked at care­ful­ly cal­i­brat­ed tem­per­a­tures for that per­fect blush of col­or and ten­der, moist cuts of meat. It retains a faint, nat­ur­al sweet­ness from the com­bined char­ac­ter­is­tics of the meat and the steam­ing cook­ing process. This par­tic­u­lar cot­to is from the shoul­der part of pork.

Some­times brined or sea­soned with herbs and spices, it’s easy to tell high qual­i­ty pro­sciut­to cot­to on sight. Each round slice must have a clear lay­er of fat around the edge, with that healthy pink­ness vis­i­ble in every com­pact, mus­cled sec­tion. It’s lean and sat­is­fy­ing­ly fla­vor­ful, a rev­e­la­tion to those accus­tomed to its dark­er crudo cousin!

PREPA­RA­TION OR PAIRINGS

With its light fla­vor, pro­sciut­to cot­to is a delight in sand­wich­es — even to the pick­i­est chil­dren. Grab a crusty cia­bat­ta for an after­noon pani­no and lay a few rib­bony slices of this pro­sciut­to and a basil leaf or two over a bed of fresh moz­zarel­la — delizioso! 

On a cheese and char­cu­terie board, pro­sciut­to cot­to pairs best with bold cheeses like Gor­gonzo­la and fresh berries or mel­on slices. Try it with fresh pineap­ple cubes too! Your drink selec­tion goes from white wines to beers — a crisp Pinot Gri­gio, a Berlin­er Weisse, or per­haps even a sour beer.

A PRO­SCIUT­TO INTERVENTION

Pro­sciut­to is, sim­ply put, Ital­ian ham — but that doesn’t mean that it is in any way like thick slices of Amer­i­can-style ham. Espe­cial­ly the arti­fi­cial­ly sweet­ened vari­eties. Pro­sciut­to comes in ​“crudo” or ​“cot­to” form. Both types come from a love­ly pork part and fat lay­er left on dur­ing cur­ing. After the cur­ing process, what you’re left with is the begin­ning of pro­sciut­to crudo, with a love­ly deep red shade to the meat. Pro­sciut­to cot­to, on the oth­er hand, it’s one more step to steamed ten­der­ness. At Sega­ta, they use only the best pork to yield the high­est qual­i­ty prod­ucts possible.

Storage Instructions

Keep in your fridge espe­cial­ly after opening.