Culatello – the best cut of dry-cured ham. You come across Zibello almost by accident in that area of the Bassa Parmense region (the lower part of the province of Parma) lying along the great Po river and shrouded in mist.
Zibello belongs to the Pallavicino branch of the ancient marquis domain - its name guarantees the provenance of the culatello from a territory which the DOP (made official in 1996) also extends to the towns of Busseto, Polesine Parmense, Soragna, Roccabianca, San Secondo, Sissa and Colorno.
The craftsman’s production of the ‘culatello’ encompasses a historical heritage and traditions, but is also strongly influenced by the particular climate of the area. Cold, long, foggy winters and torrid, sunny summers: the alternation between periods of dry and damp allows for the slow maturing of the cured meats, during which time those now world famous, ‘air-dried’ flavours can develop. The pride for a unique gastronomic culture and its authenticity are the secret ingredients of a product that people from the area manage to jealously guard, keeping it far from an industrialisation of the process.
The Culatellos are made completely by hand, in the months from October to February only, when the Bassa region is enveloped in fog and cold, and they are matured without any need for artificial refrigeration.
To make a culatello you need to “ruin” a Prosciutto: take the hind thigh of an Italian adult pig, raised according to traditional methods, and choose the best cut, separated by means of an incision which begins a few centimetres above the thigh, shin and knee joint and which reaches to the base of the leg. Once it has been skinned, the fat and bone removed, so separating it from the cut of meat called the “fiocchetto”, the characteristic ‘pear’ shape of the culatello cut is obtained.
After this is the salting – the meat is covered in salt and massaged vigorously, then it is set to rest – and then there is the ‘bagging’ of the meat in a pig’s bladder and finally the hand-tying with cord which, after the period of maturing, should look like an irregular, very loose-knit cover. The maturing of the culatello takes place in cellars during the winter fogs and the humid summer heat so that it is ready for eating the next winter. To prepare the culatello for eating remove the cord which covers it and take away the bladder bag; where this is dried on hard it can be immersed in water at room temperature for about an hour to make its removal easier. Rinse the culatello under running water and dry it carefully with a clean cloth (without any fabric dressing or perfumed fabric conditioner); to soften it further it can be kept wrapped in a cloth dampened with white wine. Once the external impurities have been removed with a sharp knife and the culatello has been sliced thinly, it can be enjoyed with good, home-made bread and the freshest of butter.
