Mocetta di Camoscio con Pane di Segale Valdostano
I
Origin
Valle d'Aosta
II
Description
Air-dried leg of chamois (or, more commonly today, beef or goat) cured with salt, juniper berries, rosemary and mountain herbs — the most ancient preserved meat of the Aosta Valley, made by shepherds and hunters to sustain themselves through winter. Sliced paper-thin and served with rye bread and Fontina, it is the definitive Valdostano antipasto. The chamois version has a deeper, more gamey flavour than the bovine substitute.
III
The Thread
—Air-dried mountain beef rubbed with salt and herbs — the Swiss Graubünden version; virtually identical production method with slight spice variation Swiss
—Air-dried cured beef leg from the mountains — the Castilian version, smoked rather than air-dried, same large-muscle cure-and-hang technique Spanish
—Air-dried mountain ungulate — same extreme-altitude air-drying technique; the Tibetan yak version of the same mountain-culture preservation approach Tibetan
IV
Flavour Context
Intensely concentrated, gamey and juniper-perfumed; herb-scented fat gives richness; the texture is dense but yielding at room temperature; rye bread and Fontina complete the mountain table — ancient winter sustenance of extraordinary flavour
Pillars V — VII
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