Why chefs are curing their own meat
Paper-thin slices of prosciutto, stiff red slices of zesty chorizo, dried Italian salami. There’s some excellent charcuterie being made by American artisans – not to mention the wide variety imported from Europe.
So why are a growing number of local chefs choosing to cure their own meat?
“If you go to Italy and you go to those small mom-and-pop places, they have the best charcuterie I’ve ever tasted in my life,” said Robbie Felice, chef-partner of the new Viaggio Italian restaurant in Wayne. “They’re making their own” instead of shipping from “a town or country away.” Felice says that he, in turn, makes his own “in order to be more authentic and more real … that makes our Italian restaurant real, super Italian.”