TUSCAN SALUMI

Carlo Pieri is a Tuscan butcher who has a small shop in Sant Angelo Scalo close to Montalcino. Over the past 25 years he has built up a reputation that has customers coming from miles around to shop with him. As well as his fresh meat he sells garlic and rosemary stuffed porchetta that he roasts in the old wood fired oven that belongs to the village and a range of salumi that he makes himself using the meat of his own pigs. He is proud of his herd: they are raised extensively, fed on cereal from his smallholding and then driven (very slowly!) to the slaughterhouse by Carlo himself to minimize stress at the end of their lives. We are his only wholesale customer and we take his Tuscan classics: finocchiona, salame toscano, pancetta, prosciutto and guanciale
Carlo refuses to use cultivated herbs and seasons his finocchiona salami with fennel seeds and pollen that his mother collects from the hedgerows around the village every September. Using both the seeds and the pollen gives Carlo’s unique finocchiona a flavour that evokes curry as well as fennel. His salame toscano is seasoned with whole black peppercorns, garlic and red wine and is studded with cubes of back fat.
Pancetta Arrotolata is the belly of the pig rolled up and cured with black pepper, fennel and garlic for 3 months. Don’t confuse it with pancetta stesa, the flat one, which is cured for no more than a couple of weeks and is only good for cooking. Pancetta arrotolata with its careful curing and ageing, is used primarily for eating as charcuterie – try it on hot toast.