Linny's Kitchen: Hamming It Up...

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Hamming It Up...

Daniele Foods' Locally Produced Line
Photo Credit: East Side Monthly

Earlier this week I traveled down to Pascoag, RI to visit Daniele Foods. There I met with Davide Dukcevich and his brother Stefano to learn about their new line of cured meats that is 100% local. It all starts on small local farms, like Blackbird in Johnston, where the pigs are raised then the meat is cured and processed at the plant all right here in little Rhody

They brothers worked with Rhode Island School of Design to create the art for the packaging and worked with Johnson & Wales to develop recipes as well. The products can be found a local market in Rhode Island (soon to be on the cowtruck!)

Davide Dukcevich with prosciutto curing behind him
Photo Credit: Projo

The plant that hams currently hang in to cure was built in the earlier 1970's and is busting at the seams as Daniele Foods has grown with their products in the deli cases of markets all over the world.

Everything began in Triste, Italy in the 1940's. The grandfather, Stefano Dukcevich, and his wife Carolina were refugees from Croatia that escaped to Italy with their young son, Vlado. It was here that they began to make cured sausages with traditional croatian ingredients like smoked paprika. Stefano would pedal the charcuteries from his bicycle to the residents of the village.

Vlado Dukcevich

It was Vlado that brought the Daniele from Italy to Rhode Island and bringing with him the flavors of his family's recipes with him to be made at the facility in Pascoag in the 1970's.

Recently they broke ground to build a new operations facilty to better handle production and bring everything together. Right now they are operating out of three location that are three miles apart from each other. It will be a state of the art facility using robotics while also keeping tradition in the old world style of curing and producing the meats.

While the local prosciutto will not be ready until September the Daniele house brand made an amazing sandwich on Sour Dough from Olga's Bakery with Narragansett Creamery Fresh Mozzarella, Olivia's Organic Baby Arugula and a drizzle of D.E. Vine Balsamic Dressing to finish it off.

Looking forward to trying it out on the Top This! Pizza Crust... Just looking at the one from the Black Market Bistro makes my mouth water.

Black Market Restaurant

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Linny's Tip - Cooking and Storing Potatoes

Potatoes should be kept in a cool, dark place with good ventilation. The ideal storage temperature is 45 to 50ºF. At these temperatures, potatoes will keep for several
weeks. But don't store potatoes in the refrigerator! When kept below 40ºF, potatoes develop a sweet taste, due to the conversion of starch to sugar. This increased sugar causes potatoes to darken when cooked. If you store potatoes at room temperature, try to use them within a week or so.

Keep potatoes away from prolonged exposure to light, which causes them to turn green. This greening causes a bitter flavor. If potatoes develop green areas or start to sprout, just trim off these areas before using.

Always add potatoes to cold water to boil. This ensures that potatoes will cook evenly throughout.

Linny's Tip: Tomatoes

Did you know tomatoes are second in consumption to potatoes!

However, there is one important thing everyone should know about tomatoes and that is how to store them. Tomatoes do not like the cold at all. In fact when you keep them in the refrigerator they will become mealy and loose their robust flavor.

Instead store them in a cool dark place with their stem side down for ripe tomatoes. For those tomatoes that a not quite ripe leave them on a sunny window sill and soon they will turn bright red and juicy ready to honor any salad or BLT!