Prosciutto
Sus scrofa domesticus · Meat
Top 10 pairings
Italian ham made from a pig's raw hind leg, cured with only salt and air-dried for 12 to 36 months. Sliced tissue-thin and eaten cold, it is rosy-red with a rim of ivory fat, and tastes sweet, nutty and deeply savoury.
Picking a good onedrag
Freshly cut: rosy lean, ivory fat, sweet and nuttyOff: grey-green, slimy, sour or rancid
Sound packBuy itWhite flecks in the lean are ageing crystals, not mould. Faint funk is the cure at work.
Colour of the leanDeeper red where it met the air
The fatIvory to faint cream, still soft
Feel of a sliceSupple, barely moist, not tacky
Smell, once openedSavoury, faint funk, never smoky