Some close friends/relations gave us a wonderful, delicious and extremely generous gift – a whole boneless Prosciutto di Parma sent airfreight from Italy!!! I LOVE prosciutto. In the same manner that I adore jamon ibericos and the many variations on that theme. The love affair with prosciutto is so ingrained in our psyche that we invested in a small electric slicer for home use (not as heavy duty as one in a deli) many years ago. We can slice the hams (or salamis, mortadellas, pepperonis, etc.) as we need them and to the desired thickness.
What is supposed to be a one-man slicer is actually a bit tricky to operate unless you have two people around… One person to hold the light slicer steady and keep the “on” button pressed, while the other person slides the ham against the turning blade. With a whole prosciutto, the first 10-15 slices can be made up entirely of fat, but gloriously tasty fat, until you get to the meat. I find that the first few slices need to be a little thicker and then at that point you can carefully attempt to get the ideal “paper thin” slices…
For this maiden cut into the ham, we took off barely 5% of the weight of the ham, and nearly half of it was fat. But thinking something so good couldn’t possibly just be chucked out with the garbage, I stored the fat in the fridge until I could figure out a good use for it. It wasn’t long, the next day actually, before the fat would come in handy… YUM. The prosciutto was delicious… Grazie. :)
37 Responses
MM, the prosciutto looks really good and I’ll bet it was really delicious. I could almost taste it. Yum, yum yum….
I am environmentally green with envy! I love prosciutto and various dried pork products as well. The fat? Rendered for chowder and whole bunch of other stuff. Yum!
Wow! I’m jealous. Now I have to go to AG Ferrari to get some prosciutto. They always do one slice and ask if it’s thin enough. I always say “thinner, please”. Half the time they end up giving me the first, not-thin-enough, slice for free, to munch on while I await the rest of my order. :)
salivating here….. wonder what you made with the fat.:)
They all look awesome!!! What to do with the unwanted cuts?…send them over to me!! hehehehe
Wow! I would love to have a whole Prosciutto! I will have melon wrapped in prosciutto……pasta in truffle cream sauce and prosciutto…… prosciutto sandwich….prosciutto with garlic fried rice….and….OMG, I have to stop – – – have to wipe the drool off the floor now, hehehe. Yummy,yummy,yummy.
MM, if you ever run out of ideas for the rest of the prosciutto – you know my email address ….. hahaha!
any chance i could be related to your friends/relations, MM? :-)
MM, what does “dissosato” mean? Boneless? Thnx
chrisb, yes, boneless, the easier to slice with a slicer… :)
wow yummy! your friends are really sweet to be sending this to you all the ways from italy…….
That looks delicious…is there an address we can order from? I am here in the East Coast, USA..Belated Easter greetings to you marketman…
You might want to try cutting the prosciutto just a tad thicker, to mimic a hand sliced prosciutto, which is what you get in Italian restaurants in Italy. Better mouth feel, slightly chewier, nice with fruit or fresh mozzarella. So when are you going to start making mozarella de buffala now that you have located a source for fresh carabal milk?
Prosciutto, queso de bola, hot pandesal… heaven!
OMG! I’m so jealous! I will have to include one in my bridal registry. Thanks MM :-)
MM, I have a source for the mozzarella culture in manila.
i would have to agree with you, bong. that’s how i would make my pandesal sandwich!
Prosciutto is one of my all-time favorite snacks! Almost anything tastes good with prosciutto, especially fruit.
i think my hypertension is a direct result of eating too much of these delectable goodies.
i brought some prosciutto from the grocery and not sure what i should do with it..
i’ve tried it plain before but i want to try it with something else..
any ideas, guys?
thanks and happy eating….
We eat the fat, too! In tapas or meze, as is, or with a sprinkling of hot paprika and a tad drizzle of olive oil.
makes me want to buy some later… lucky you MarketMan!
i hate to admit this . . . but i am simply ENVIOUS!!!!! a whole leg of prosciutto to slice as you want it? how much better can it get? please — if you even get a whole leg of jamon serrano or iberico, just be quiet about it so less people commit the sin of envy.
enjoy the treat!
sonia, sorry, didn’t realize this was going to elicit such unbridled admissions of envy… :) I do have the stand for a whole iberico but as of yet, have never acquired a whole iberico leg yet… maybe something to aspire to for my 50th birthday in a few years. Cecilia, that’s outrageously over the top, the fat with olive oil and paprika… OMG, that is a deathwish for me… chizzy, with fruit like melons chicos or pears. You can also fry it and place it on salads. In a sandwich. Artisan, NO… please don’t take me down the homemade mozzarella route… then again, it might help reduce flab in the arms – all that stirring, I mean. Ging, that is TOO FUNNY… I would have put this on our bridal registry as well if I had thought of it! Bong, yum. I also tried it with a nice chunk of gorgonzola (prosciutto and ciabatta) and it was fantastic! sister, actually, the home slicer isn’t good enough to do it REALLY thin so we do get it rather thicker than usual. albenia, there is good prosciutto at several U.S. gourmet stores/outlets, just google it…
I’m craving… where can you get good prosciutto here in Manila?
hi chizzy_mama Wrap the prosciutto on a slice of a melon. on top of a very thin pizza crust with baby spinach leaves, slices of prociutto and mozzarella cheese and drizzle it with a good virgin olive oil. Also I’m sure you it will definitely taste nice on our local salad such as Pako (Fern) Salad. My favorite is just a prosciutto ham on top of a nice toasted bread drizzle with a good quality balsamic vinegar and olive oil….pair it with nice champagne :) you can forget all your worries
wonder how it would pair w/ philippine mangoes at their peak in May? winner, i bet!
mm
You know what you can do with the fat, put them in a food processor, just pulse it with some slices of prosciuto,heat a pan with a little olive oil saute the fat for 30 sec.add cherry tomatoes cut in half cooked them for 2 minutes and then add fresh pasta(cooked previously) (I’m sure you can get them at salcedo market)toss them for another minute add fresh chopped basil and sprinkle a handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese………..ummm que buono!!!!!!
MM
and you know what? I hate you!!!!!!!!!!! for having that prosciuto..
just joking… can I have some?
I enjoy prosciutto with sundried tomato cream cheese on toasted bagel, it is a fabulous weekend breakfast paired with hot chocolate. A sure way to start up my hectic day.
thanks, MM and Junb… i had it for dinner along with ceasar salad… yummy..
i should get some cantaloupe tomorrow for the leftover prosciutto… I’m salivating over those platters of prosciutto and antaloupe… To be honest, it sounded weird to me when i read that it can be paired with fruits…
i bet it tastes like summer.. refreshing…. will update you guys on my first try… yummmy…
thanks and happy eating…
JunB; do you make your own thin pizza crust? If you don’t and care to try mine…I posted it sometime ago on MM’s post on pizza. it is nice and chewy…not airy. We are NOT TOMATO SAUCE PEOPLE so my family prefers pizza brushed with olive oil too smushed roasted garlic…no pizza stone? inverted cookie sheet preheated on high oven heat will do. You will get a pizza that can compare to those restaurants.
I ALWAYS have this pizza dough on hand for neighbours. My dearest friend, Nadine lives miles away so I just taught her to make her own dough. Now,she supplies her fiends and kapitbahays with the pizza dough as well.
Marisse…have you tried the pizza dough yet?
this goes perfectly with my gin and tonic…. soon we will cruise to italy but I might as be off and take a train to Genova for break and enjoy prosciutto over there.
Betty Q, Thanks will try your dough…Yeah I’m not on tomato based pizza too. I love plain one with just olive oil, baby spinach with pancetta or jamon iberico.
I mean parma ham instead of pancetta but I’m sure pancetta will also taste great.
Yum! Where can I get Parma ham here in Manila???
Hello,
We have a small collection of imported cured meats and cheeses imported straight from Italy.
All our selections are hand picked by our associate in Italy.
https://www.facebook.com/meatlocker.inc ~ “like” us and try us out :)
@ Meatlocker – How much usually is the price of prosciutto?