It’s been a long wait, but we are thrilled to announce the first California-raised Cintas are hitting the Oliveto menu and the results are spectacular.

If you’ll recall, back in 2012 we giddily reported sprinkler-side on the momentous occasion of their arrival and since then, we’ve been patiently waiting to get our hands on the some of these animals for our house-cured meat program. Finally, this past April, we received two whole animals; one was roasted whole in the Caja China (delicious) and the other was broken down for curing. Prized for their back fat in particular, the Cinta Senese is famous in Italy for the prosciutto it produces. With Front Porch Farms taking such care in the raising of these pigs and providing them an environment in which to roam and forage on a wide variety of feed these NorCal Cintas are truly the first of their kind and in turn so is the salumi they produce with a softer, richer fat that is incredibly flavorful.

Currently on the menu featured on the Oliveto House-cured meat platter:

pancetta stecatta – in this method, instead of hanging flat, the pancetta is folded in half and clamped between two boards, which slows down the drying process & reduces the chances of the the exposed fat oxidizing.

and lonza

 both from these California-raised cintas.