James Martin shared another of his northern Tuscany stories about a Farm to Table homestyle pig butchering in Northern Tuscany with his friend Armando - in his mother's garage. Armando has since passed away but this story lives on as one of James's best!
We chatted about how Armando and a few other men took apart the pig and made all kinds of pork delicacies over the span of one morning in his mother's garage. We chatted about Armando, and the delicious pork products they made including luscious sausages, head cheese and Lardo colonnata. The lardo Armando made was equally delicious but not IGP certified so can’t carry the IGP name lardo colonnata. Nothing was left to go to waste and the final step was to cook up the remaining pork bones. The pork bones are typically served with another local dish, chestnut polenta.
Mortadella lunigianese is another delicious local product they made, but quite different from the famous mortadella from Bologna.
Here are some of the photographs James captured the morning of the Farm to Table homestyle pig butchering:
Once the pig was butchered Armando got busy making sausages and other pork products:
All the finished pork products are then stored for future use:
Pork is a mainstay of the Italian diet and not one part of the pig goes unused. Many areas of Italy are famous for Farm to Table homestyle pig butchering like in Tuscany, including Norcia.
Southern Italy also loves its pork products.
Ariccia just outside of Rome is famous for its porchetta, a rolled pork roast filled with flavorful herbs and spices.
Ariccia is a gorgeous town full of history and art. If you'd like to check it out you might be interested in a day trip to this town.
Join Flavor of Italy for a Culinary Walking Tour and you’ll have a chance to taste porchetta.
Contigliano is another charming town not far from Rome with the fabulous Osteria Le Fontanelle restaurant that serves many homemade pork products.
They raise their own pigs and here’s how they make porchetta:
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Here are some of Italy’s classic Italian pork products.
Many Italian pasta dishes feature pork products like Pasta amatriciana, and pasta alla carbonara so be sure to try out these scrumptious recipes!
‘Nduja is a spreadable spicy pork sausage from the Calabria region and it's delicious in this 'Nduja Spaghetti with Slivered Zucchini and Arugula.
A classic New Year’s dish throughout Italy is cotecchino and lenticchie - pork sausage and lentils. It’s delicious and well worth trying! This pork sausage is typical of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region and its history dates back centuries.
Be sure to listen to the podcast episode with James Martin talking about the Lunigiana area and its fabulous foods.
Here's the original episode:
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