Big Ol' Italian Words

So my roommate works at The Smoking Goose in Indianapolis as their production manager. Since I am so privileged, I get to try some really awesome -and also strange- cuts of cured and smoked meats.

He is making Wild Boar Soppressata. I have never had wild boar before, but the really special thing about this salami is that it is fermented. I never usually think of salamis as being fermented, so that kind of blew my mind. I also got to try a cured salami called Ciauscolo which is also fermented.

The strange thing that I noticed about both of these were that they had a hint of the room in which they were cured in the flavor profile. It didn't taste odd, or sterile or really anything identifiable, but it did have a sort of funk to it. A funk like a blue cheese funk, or a sour beer funk. It tasted interesting.

This got me thinking. I wonder about some of the foods and spirits we consume, and about how they are aged. Take bourbon, for example. Though manufacturing bourbon is done fairly uniformly, they still vary pretty wildly. This is because they are aged in different ways. Last year I visited Buffalo Trace and Woodford distilleries, and I could taste the rooms they were aged in in their respective products. It was a kind of confusing experience in that my smell was giving me sensory information I thought my tongue should - if that makes sense.

I feel like the metaphor for ourselves at this point should be obvious. We are a product of our environments where we are allowed to 'ferment'.

Here is a recipe for Soppressata and Penne pasta. Simple. Rustic. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Olive oil

4 ounces soppressata or other hard sausage, cut into 1/4 inch dice

6 ounces pancetta, cut into 1/4 inch slices (your deli counter will do this for you) and then cut into 1/4 inch dice

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

5 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 cup basil leaves, chopped

Two 28 ounce cans whole tomatoes, drained

Salt and pepper

1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained

1 pound of ziti, penne or other small tube pasta

14 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into one inch dice

Directions:

1. Coat the bottom of a 12 inch frying pan with olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add sausage, pancetta and pepper and cook until lightly browned, adding the parsley near the end.

2. Raise the heat to medium high and add garlic and basil and cook for one more minute.

3. Pour the whole tomatoes into a bowl and crush them with your hands. Add them to the pan and boil them uncovered for about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Stir in diced tomatoes and cook one more minute. Remove from heat and cover the pan.

5. Cook the pasta until it is two minutes from being done. Drain and add it to the skillet with the tomato sauce. Stir over medium heat for a few minutes until pasta is done.

6. Fold in mozzarella and serve at once on your favorite plate.