Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday, VP!
I owe you a birthday pint!
Happy Birthday Punk.
Happy belated! Seems I have a few to catch up on!
Okay, I've made two "wellington" recipes (meat and various things in a puff pastry, I've made chicken and now beef), and they've both called for prosciutto - they sort of line the pastry, as a barrier against juices from the meat, I suspect, so that the pastry won't get soggy. I'm also guessing that the reason it's used is because it's fairly dry, and doesn't have moisture of its own that will seep out in cooking. 3 out of the 4 times I've used it, it's been unbearably salty. The night we made the beef, it was so salty that I had to deconstruct it and take out the prosciutto before I could eat it. the weird thing is, we had leftovers the next night, and the saltiness seemed to have toned down a bit.
I have no clue about what kind of prosciutto to buy. I just walk up to the grocery store deli and ask for it, and it's probably a shitty quality. We don't have an Italian deli around here to get the good stuff. I was just wondering if you have any ideas - could the extreme saltiness be due to the quality of what I'm buying? Or is that normal for any prosciutto? Any idea of something I could substitute for it, or of any particular higher quality brand I should be shopping for?
Different brands have different levels of saltiness, although as a rule all prosciutto is salty. That's what gives it it's flavour, but some have a somewhat sweeter taste than others.
The best kind (and most expensive) kind you can get is Prosciutto di Parma. Also, a very good brand that's found in almost all delis is San Daniele - they're probably the best known brand amongst Italian-Canadians.
And remember, they must be sliced thin for the best result. I've seen people slice them thick and I walk away shaking my head.