Ingredient

Prosciutto

Prosciutto simply means ham in Italian, and the distinction that matters is between crudo — raw, salt-cured and air-dried — and cotto, which is cooked. What British shops usually mean by the word is prosciutto crudo, and how thinly and how recently it was sliced changes it more than the region it came from.

The main kinds

Prosciutto di Parma

From Emilia-Romagna, cured with sea salt and nothing else, aged at least a year. Sweet, delicate, the most familiar.

Prosciutto di San Daniele

From Friuli, pressed flat with the trotter left on, aged similarly. Slightly sweeter and softer than Parma.

Prosciutto Toscano

More heavily salted and often rubbed with herbs and pepper. Firmer and more assertive.

Prosciutto cotto

Cooked ham, brined and steamed. A different product entirely, mild and moist.

Speck

From Alto Adige — cured, lightly smoked and aged. Firmer and smokier, and it stands up to cooking better.

Why slicing to order matters

Cured ham oxidises quickly once cut. A slice exposed to air loses its aroma and its softness within hours, and pre-packed prosciutto has been sitting in that state, in modified atmosphere, for days or weeks.

It is also easy to slice badly. Too thick and it eats leathery and chewy; too thin and it tears and clings to the paper. A good slice is translucent but holds together, and a machine set properly does this far better than a knife.

The practical consequence is that buying a small quantity sliced to order from a counter is usually better than buying a larger packet, even when the packet names a more prestigious region.

How to use it

• On its own, at room temperature, which is the whole point. Cold prosciutto tastes of very little; twenty minutes out transforms it.
• With melon or figs, where the salt works against the sweetness.
• Draped over hot food at the last moment — pasta, risotto, a bowl of soup — so the residual heat softens the fat without cooking it.
• Wrapped around something and roasted — chicken breast, a piece of white fish, asparagus, a stuffed pork fillet.
• Crisped in a dry pan or oven until brittle, then crumbled over a salad or a soup.
• Saltimbocca, with veal and sage.
• The fat, which should be eaten rather than trimmed. It is where much of the flavour is and it melts at body temperature.

Buying and keeping

1. Buy from a counter and ask for it sliced thin but not shattered. Watch the first slice and say if you want it thinner.
2. Ask for it interleaved with paper. Slices stuck together tear when separated.
3. Buy only what you will eat within a day or two. This is not a store-cupboard item once cut.
4. Keep it wrapped in the paper it came in, in the fridge, in the least cold part.
5. Take it out at least twenty minutes before serving. Fridge-cold cured ham is a waste of money.
6. A whole unsliced piece keeps for far longer than sliced ham. Wrap the cut face and store it cool.

Common questions