In keeping with the Salumi Artisan Cured Meats family plan, (that of advancing the art of meat curing to some new directions whilst maintaining the traditions of the past), we some time ago decided to develop a cured lamb product -- albeit we loved the flavor of lamb - barbequed, grilled, roasted, burgers, shanks, leg, shoulder, tongue, sweetbreads. Perhaps our love goes back to our childhood - when we were only able to get lamb infrequently and thus it was saved for very special occasions or perhaps our love was nourished while living in Europe where lamb is so much more a highly respected food, or perhaps even while picnicking in Spain with the locals in some field on a grand and glorious day grilling lamb chuletas over an open fire of olive branches. Whatever it is/was we loved lamb and the whole family shared that love.

Anyway when we started dry curing products, I often asked why there were so few dry cured lamb products. Even in history there are few and those there are so limited. When one reads SALT (a great book studying the history and culture of Salt), the Scandinavians continue today with maybe two or three, or in Greek History you may read about one or two, same with the Icelanders. Even in the Middle East where salt was so prevalent for so many years for preserving foods and even bodies, very few lamb products were created that came down the time of history to become traditional or available as dry cured products. Even more so here in the United States. Certainly we are aware of the history of lamb and its back burner status in American Ranching, from western movies if not anywhere else.

I was fortunate after retirement to work with a couple of butchers in Tuscany along with Faith Willinger to slaughter, butcher, and make various forms of Salumi, both Salami type ground and stuffed products as well as muscle products like Coppa, Lonza, Lardo. Marilyn and I were as well fortunate while living in Spain to attend the Matanza, the butchering and preparing of the family pigs in Southern Spain. What an experience! This was a great opportunity for me to see again and participate first hand in the whole process. When we were children in the Yakima Valley, our whole family gathered together for many years to slaughter the pigs we had grown and to all participate in the pigs destiny of feeding us during the winter months. We made or cured all wonderful pieces, from snout to tail and including everything in between and in. This effort and joy from this annual affair and which we so fondly remember as children, truly enhanced our feelings and memories of the values of the family together, around the fire, cleaning scraping, grinding and salting. We learned in real time the appreciation of togetherness focused, both on our stomachs and for each other. And we loved it.

Certainly the tradition came from our families fathers and mothers from the "old country" and even further back. From this tradition we, perhaps unknowingly, learned and yearned to somehow carry the traditions forward because of the joy and fun we had while doing it. Well anyway while working with the Butchers in Italy - young men in their 30's and 40, professional and dedicated beyond belief to the same traditions we had learned and participated in, we frequently brought up the issue of why not lamb, they have lots of lamb in Italy.

Most frequently we were shot down by comments that lamb did not have a "tradition" of curing and besides it was a wee bit funky when curing as the fat did not enhance the flavor. I am sure they had other reasons, but I had to tread softly when I brought it up. A side note: the Butchers in Italy, especially as the population on the small family farms is getting older, are hired by the family in more frequency, to come and do what had been previously done by the farmers and family. The Macellao slaughter the pigs, which still live in the same house as the family, and then are given in some cases guarded recipes of the family in order for the butcher to preserve that family's likes and flavors. This is a profession and a wonderful one. These butchers not only care about the preservation of family traditions in their work but are able to carry forward a lifestyle of the Maccellai and Maccelleria by becoming a deeply involved vital cog in the lives of those in the community. They are vital as a business and of course are a very happy lot as they go about taking care both of the past traditions of there elders as well as developing there own products and starting their own families.

Back to the lamb - when we returned from Tuscany we were more determined to open our own curing facility, as our retirement dream, tied to a simple sandwich shop where we could sell our work. We started working with lamb and found in many instances the butchers in Italy were right. However we really put forth the effort driven by taste and stomach, to produce a product that we thought could make a new impact in achieving our goal of advancing the art of meat curing whilst still maintaining the traditions of Curing: in this case expanding them. We find a great deal of joy in our business of Curing, in challenging flavors and creating new flavors in a very historical traditional Salami Industry.

By tweaking the curing systems we used and by getting better and fresher lamb - and by just plain diligence - we developed cured lamb legs and boneless legs that we now offer to our customers. We our proud to say we have quite a series of customers and ethnic groups who love lamb as we do, and appreciate what we are doing with this product. We continually run out - but that's ok too. The curing process differs from that of pork legs - the resultant cured lamb is indeed lamb flavored - and not subtle. The moisture content must be properly balanced to assure the proper drying while at the same time maintaining the softness that the customer wants as freshness.

Our cured lamb goes wonderfully well alone sliced thin with a deep bodied red wine or even a slightly bubbly dry white. Try it with cheeses, marinated baby artichokes, cured black olives, and various melons and fruits or just plain good bread and olive oil.