Between Hands

Prosciutto . . . or an imposter?

Living in San Francisco, one can get rather jaded. Foodies abound, as do their love for "charcuterie"--smoked and cured meats--of all origins. While I do have a penchant for prosciutto di Parma (with such little fat and a delicate taste, I still haven't found anything to top it), I could really care less about the multitude of house-name salumi made in the region. OK, that's a partial lie. I enjoy eating all kinds of salumi: salame, prosciutto and bresaola, to name a few, but I don't necessarily feel better about eating Fra'Mani (or, directly translated into English: Between Hands--doesn't sound so tasty now!) than eating Butcher Joe's (or Trader Joe's), or whoever else may go to the trouble of producing their own house-cured meats. It's kind of like it would be with jeans. You may like the feel and fit of a designer brand, but are you really going to brag to your friends that you just LOVE Guess? jeans? I mean, after a certain age, like 17, you kind of have to stop doing that.

But up here in San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Napa, wherever, it's totally uncool to be over 25 and not have heard of the Berkeley-based Fra'Mani. So in the spirit of diversification and sharing the publicity wealth of salumi--let me give you a glimpse of some American grade A country smoked ham. Not quite the buttery-rich, easy-to-get stuff 'round here--this thing is mail ordered straight from the Heartland--but it's interesting to see what others outside of the Bay Area and other big cities consider a quality cured ham. (For those interested in how the other other third live, check out the Country Ham Association's website--who knew??!) It should keep us in check as to our foodie preferences and at least force us to recognize our snobbery. After that, fine, go back to eating the superior quality Fra'Mani if you want. Just please call it something else. Like "Between Hands." It'll give you the status of one who loves prosciutto while making it sound like you support a non-profit. OK, I guess that's a bit pretentious, too.

*Country Ham from Burgers' Smokehouse.