A Day of Butchery at Casamonti – Part 1

Cinta Senese

During our first trip to Italy, we met Ray and Anna Rita, owners of Casamonti estates, an unbelievably beautiful property in the Chianti region of Tuscany. Their operation offers a triple threat of sensational wine, olive oil and prized Cinta Senese pigs. It was the Cintas that originally drew us to Casamonti, to sample the sublime taste of this historic animal that Raymond and a few others virtually saved from extinction back in the early nineties.

Unlike other pigs, the Cinta Senese breed is protected in Italy under a D.O.P. Which is strictly regulated by the Italian government. The pigs are raised under incredible scrutiny and inspected often, insuring that the noble line of this breed is kept clean and intact.

Norcino

Hidden at the back of the property, down behind the pool house, is the butchery or Norceria. A Norceria or Norcineria is a butchery that specializes in pork and a Norcino is a butcher who specializes in pork butchery. This is not any old Norceria, it’s equipped with state of the art kitchen equipment, aging rooms and refrigerators. The butchering room is not huge but provides enough space to properly break down and process up to a dozen pigs at a time, possibly more. Upstairs, a series of large walk in fridges hold finished product that are in various states of aging and have sophisticated controls for both humidity and temperature. Truly an amazing little facility that any butcher or chef would dream of working in, and that’s the dream I had.

Knife skills

Over the years I have honed my skills with a knife to what I would consider an above average level and have had the opportunity to butcher and process many animals for restaurants and kitchens I have worked in. However, it was always my desire, and I am sure the desire of many chefs out there, to stand in with a true master butcher, to learn first hand the secrets of his years of experience. To see how he economizes his motions to effect each cut, how he holds his knife, how he positions the animal, how he attacks each job to yield perfect cuts in the most efficient manner, in the least amount of time. To chefs, these are the skills we live to improve and in the daily life of a restaurant chef, the opportunity to experience these kind of mentoring sessions don’t come along too often. Especially in the legendary realm of Italian pork production, yielding some of the most famous salume and delicacies like Prosciutto, guanciale, pancetta and many more.

Made my dream a reality

So it was on this trip to Italy that I was determined to spend a couple of days in Casamonti’s Norceria to fulfill a dream. Raymond and Anna Rita, knowing full well my love and passion for Italian food, cooking and history, gladly made my dream a reality when a plan was made to spend two days processing five pigs alongside a master Nocino. Permission also had to be granted by the Inspectors who oversee the butchery because the processing of the pigs is serious business and again strictly monitored for quality.

Massimo

Finally the day arrived and we made the 2 hour drive up into Tuscany at 5:30 in the morning so that we could arrive in time to be in the butchery for 8:00 am. Pulling up to the back, we were greeted by Massimo who works as a farm hand and in the butchery, helping where needed and doing most of the shipping and receiving. A very personable guy, he spoke to us in rapid fire Italian as if we were old friends and let us know that Silvano would be along shortly to get us set up.

Silvano

Before long Silvano appeared and unlike Massimo was much more grumpy and gruff, with few words and complete lack of a smile. Nat and I looked at each other slightly intimidated at Silvano’s greeting but kept a smile on our face, with me barely containing my enthusiasm. We were instructed to put on some plastic boot covers, a lab coat and a dandy cap and then convene in the main butchery. Nat’s job was to be a fly on the wall (although no flies would ever be found in this, almost sterile, environment) and take as many pictures as possible while I would work my magic and become their new best friend.

Alvaro

Entering the butchery we were met by the master butcher and man of the hour Alvaro, unfortunately he fell into the Silvano camp, not the Massimo camp and barely lifted his head to say ciao. Friendship at this stage looking to be out of the question, I quickly realized that I was an outsider, a foreigner, with no right to be present. With a cold shoulder given, I stepped back and gave them both some space to get used to us being there and let them warm up to my interest and appreciation.

Over 60 years of experience

Alvaro is a man of fairly small stature with a kind face but his reputation preceded him, with over 60 years of experience as a Norcino. Now a young 73, he started butchering pigs and processing their meat with his father when he was ten years old. Silvano, a boyish 64, is Alvaro’s apprentice and although very skilled himself he bows to the master with respect to the pig.
No time was wasted getting started, in fact Alvaro had already broken down the five Cintas into large pieces the previous day. The most important parts of which would definitely be the legs, to be transformed into prosciutto, prized for its complex and rich flavours. The importance of removing the (hind) leg cleanly, keeping the skin and fat layer intact around the top part of the hip is the key to producing a perfect leg of prosciutto that will age well, sealing in the flavours over the coming months.

Trimmed and ready, the legs are sent to another location to be salted and start their transformation. A large machine will give each leg a thorough massage before being heavily salted and hung in their facility for a few months. Afterwards, they will return to Casamonti for the next phase of ageing and the application of the sugna ( a mixture of pork fat, pepper and salt) to the exposed flesh, sealing the entire leg, along with the skin to allow a slow, flavour developing ageing, hung in one of their climate-controlled ageing rooms.

At one end of the room was a small walk-in fridge that held all of the remaining pieces of meat from the five Cintas. The next order of business was to prepare the fresh cuts that would be sold to restaurants. The complete loins with bone-in are referred to as aristas. The ribs were cut off in a two-man process and sold fresh in complete sides. Working in tandem, Alvaro and Silvano swung each side slightly off the edge of the table so the ribs could be sawn off while the loin was held in place. With all the roasts (arista) and ribs processed, they were moved to another walk in where the ribs were hung and the roasts were shelved. Silvano later informed me that the ribs needed to hang for a good week to age a little in order to have the best flavour.

Work up the courage

Slowly, I started to work up the courage to interject a few questions, in broken Italian, so I could understand their methods and try to break the ice and get more involved. The answers were curt and short but I was determined to win them over and try to convey that I wasn’t wet behind the ears and had a deep respect for their skills.
No piece of trim or fat would go to waste and slowly a large pile of each started to grow at the end of the butcher’s table. The bellies were next and one by one trimmed down to leave behind the centre section of each belly, removing all the fat edges. This perfect rectangle of marbled belly would be transformed into pancetta and later receive a heavy dose of salt mixed with black pepper and then aged, stacked in a tub for a stint before being hung in the ageing room to finish. The trim from the pancetta was quickly stripped of its skin and any soft, outer fat and then pushed down to the end of the table to be added to the pieces that would end up in the grinder.

Hauling meat

With the boys a little more comfortable with my presence, I started to help out hauling meat from the fridge onto the table and leaning in a little closer to see what Alvaro was looking for as he pared down another belly. Finally, he gave in, realizing I was serious in my pursuit of knowledge and started to offer up morsels of information, showing me where the perfect piece of pancetta was hidden within the belly.

Pancetta or guanciale?

Stoked that I was starting to break the ice, my confidence rose and the newbie tension started to thaw. Silvano even started to perk up and with the radio playing some terrible eighties pop, a light banter picked up, asking me more about how we liked Italy and our favourite foods. My answer delighted Alvaro when he heard “All’ amatriciana” and “carbonara”, two simple pasta dishes that can be elevated to heavenly status if prepared perfectly and can define your level of purity in the understanding of true Italian simplicity. Alvaro abruptly stopped and put down his knife turning to face me and look me square in the eye, “what do you use in your All’ amatriciana, pancetta or guanciale?”, he asked in Italian. Quickly I responded with “guanciale!, and never any garlic.” A huge smile came over his face and he gave me a pat on the shoulder “Si, molto bene” pancetta is used in carbonara but never in a true All’ amatriciana he added firmly. “ I may be Canadian but I am not crazy!” I said half-joking and with that, I had passed his impromptu test and we stuck in with a new level of camaraderie achieved. Next up, guanciale and coppa.

Tune in next week for part two of this story when we finish off our two day adventure by making the best Italian sausage ever, along with Tuscan salami and a few other goodies.

To book a visit to Casamonti Estate contact Ray at tuscanray@gmail.com