LIKE desert wildflowers after a rain, a thousand charcuterie plates have bloomed this summer. A few crimson hunks of pungent dried \o7salame\f7, a pale slice of unctuous mortadella -- here a silky prosciutto, there a rustic \o7jamon\f7, everywhere some smoky speck.
Who could have predicted it? Southern California, where even great restaurants need to have a big green salad on the menu, has suddenly gone crazy for pork fat.
You can find these sliced meats at established favorites such as AOC and La Terza, and at new hot spots BLD and Cube, as well as at all of those wine bars that seem to be popping up on every corner, such as Lou, at Melrose Avenue and Vine Street, or Bin 8945, in West Hollywood.
And when the most eagerly awaited restaurant of the season finally opens this fall -- Nancy Silverton and Mario Batali's Mozza, a mix of pizzeria and casual \o7osteria \f7 (scheduled to open in late September or October) -- sliced cold cuts will play a major role. After all, Batali's dad Armandino is practically the patron saint of salami.
Ironically, though many menus still label these meats with the French word "charcuterie," \o7saucissons\f7 \o7secs \f7are pretty rare in L.A. Southern California's love affair with all things Italian means that prosciutto and \o7salumi \f7predominate. But there is also a healthy sampling of Spanish meats, mainly because La Espanola Meats, a great producer and importer, is located nearby in Harbor City.
Like Eskimos with "snow," the Italians have many words to describe cured meats. As a matter of definition, \o7salame \f7is a cured sausage made from finely ground meat (usually pork); salami is the plural. \o7Salumi \f7is a category of cured meats that includes salami but also other products such as coppacolla and soppressata.
In Italian, the whole bunch -- hams and all -- are generally referred to as \o7affettati\f7, the Italian equivalent of charcuterie, and that just about exactly translates as cold cuts. It wasn't so long ago that the only way we ate any of these cured meats was piled on a sandwich. Now they've got artisanal pedigrees, and partly due to the regulations on importing meat products from Europe, some of the most interesting ones are made in the United States.
In fact, a new American cottage industry has developed making and supplying high-quality \o7salumi\f7. First wine, then beer, cheese and bread -- now there's one more handmade product to become obsessed with.
