The first food piece I wrote for our fine hyperlocal blog was Prosciutto de Baristaville, wherein I bemoaned the failure of my first prosciutto.

Shortly after the article ran, I was contacted by Montclair foodie and author, Laura Schenone. She suggested I contact the pork curing maestro, Lou Palma. I immediately emailed Lou, and the rest is Baristanet history – ravioli, Christmas Peppers, and now, Prosciutto di “Palma”.

On Decmeber 8, 2010, I took a trip with my favorite sidekick to Nicolosi Foods in Union City to procure what Lou calls, “the finest pork known to man,” the Berkshire pig.

Rob Nicolosi, owner of Nicolosi Foods, gave us a tour of his pork plant, including the cutting room – which was, for me, like walking into Santa’s Workshop filled with minions of hair net clad elves hard at work, wearing three finger mesh gloves, trimming what will one day be delicious pork product.

So, with apology to my vegetarian friends and family who will certainly give me nothing but coal this Christmas, I offer Part 1 of Prosciutto di Palma:

Want to know what we did next? You’ll have to wait until next week. If you want a clue, click here.