Culatello, Salame, Mozzarella

The value of college is in what's learned inside and outside the lecture halls. My education in Italian sausages (Culatelli, Salami)began in this way.

Long before I set foot on Italian soil, I got my first, authentic taste of sausages and cheeses from my first "Italian deli". College is about "firsts" after all, isn't it? I guess now we would call Toscani's a "Salumeria." Back then, it was a deli. Just like coffee was large or small. Not grande or vente, and cost 50 cents not 3 bucks, and came in that familiar blue cup with the Greek key band...but, I digress.

Back to my beloved Salumeria and salami! Read about Culatello or Prosciuto with Pedigree. I got my first taste of fresh, homemade mozzarella there. I learned about house-made and imported sausages. The huge variety of cheeses available were a revelation to me. As any good college student, I was eager to share what I had learned. "Mom, what do you think you're buying?! Throw away that stuff in the green can. I've got the real thing!"

Reading Dry-Cured Sausages: Kissed by Air, Never by Fire I recalled Ernie's shop and the grounding it gave me in good Italian food. My friends said the shop was like the places their fathers described when talking about the old neighborhood (the Bronx.) Their fathers' fathers had described this or that shop in the Bronx as being just like the ones back home. This was all the authority I needed.