As president of Volpi Foods, she continues to refine her great-uncle’s craft, while adhering to his age-old techniques. Quality control is paramount to maintaining the brand’s superior quality, which is where the aforementioned horse bone comes into play. Created from a horse femur, the bone is crucial, especially when making prosciutto. It’s porous in such a way that it absorbs odors but rapidly releases them. So, during the curing process – after the blood is drained from the pig thigh – the pointed tip of the bone is inserted into the flesh and then smelled. Each piece of meat is tested at a few key points, corresponding to areas where blood is drained from the ham during the “fresh” stage. When Lorenza tests in these areas, if the horse bone comes out smelling foul, she knows something’s wrong – maybe all the blood wasn’t drained and it has started to rot, ruining the prosciutto and nullifying the 18-month curing process. Growing up, prosciutto was one of Lorenza’s favorites. As an adult, she’s learned to appreciate all its intricacies, describing the process as simple but delicate. “If you screw it up, you’ve screwed up a year and a half of work,” she says. The prosciutto is aged a minimum of 12 months to deliver unparalleled flavor, pairing distinct earthy notes with a tender, melt-in-your-mouth texture.
In Europe, salami was traditionally made from grinding miscellaneous parts of the pig together. The mixture was then stuffed in a casing and hung in people’s homes and barns. Animals were typically harvested in the fall, so that the cold winter weather could provide natural refrigeration for the curing meats, and by summertime, the products would be dry and safe to eat. Although Volpi Foods uses refrigeration and advanced technology – which Lorenza says make the process more predictable – its salami is still made the same way. “I think every link in the chain has gotten better,” she says. “The process itself has gotten more dependable and consistent because of the advances in technology.” Volpi’s proprietary process is broken down into four phases: preparing the meat, fermenting it, drying it and cultivating the mold. The early stages are the most pivotal, explains Lorenza, because fresh meat has a lot of moisture and must be kept cold to prevent bacterial growth. The meat is hand-rubbed with salt – an antimicrobial – which penetrates the protein, and then hung in cavernous drying rooms beneath Volpi Foods’ store on The Hill.
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PICTURED ABOVE: Lorenza Pasetti with her father, Armando; a horse bone is used to test the quality of each leg of prosciutto as it cures