P
Italian · Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Tagliatelle con Prosciutto di San Daniele e Burro Friulano
Fresh egg tagliatelle tossed with sliced Prosciutto di San Daniele DOP and mountain butter from the Carnia valleys — a preparation of extreme simplicity where the quality of the prosciutto is the entire dish. The prosciutto is added raw to the hot buttered pasta so that the heat barely warms it, preserving its delicate sweetness and the texture of its fat. A pinch of fresh thyme or marjoram is the only additional seasoning.
I
The Market List
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400 g
fresh egg tagliatelle
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
200 g
Prosciutto di San Daniele DOP
sliced 1.5–2 mm; brought to room temperature 20 minutes before use
Origin · ItalyBosa Foods · Vancouver →
80 g
mountain butter from the Carnia valleys
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2–3 sprigs
fresh thyme or marjoram
leaves picked
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 pinch
fine sea salt
Your own market
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II
The Method
1
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil. Cook the fresh egg tagliatelle until just al dente. Reserve a small measure of pasta water — no more than two tablespoons — before draining. The pasta should be ready to dress immediately; it must not sit.
From the canon — Pasta cooking water contains dissolved starch (released from the pasta surface during boiling) at a concentration that increases with pasta-to-water ratio an… Pasta Water: Starch Concentration and Sauce Binding →
2
While the pasta cooks, melt the mountain butter in a wide pan over medium heat. Continue cooking, swirling the pan, until the butter passes through foam and reaches a light hazelnut colour with a distinctly nutty aroma. This is the beurre noisette stage. Pale butter lacks the depth the dish requires; butter that darkens beyond hazelnut is discarded and begun again.
3
Remove the pan from the heat entirely. Add the drained tagliatelle and toss to coat in the brown butter, adding the reserved pasta water only if needed to achieve a light, even coating — not a sauce. The dish lives or dies here: the prosciutto goes in now, off all heat, and is folded through the pasta with the thyme or marjoram leaves. Thirty seconds of residual heat is sufficient to barely warm the prosciutto through. Any further cooking toughens the meat and destroys its sweetness.
4
Divide immediately among four warmed plates. The prosciutto should lie in loose folds among the pasta, its fat translucent and glistening, its colour unchanged from raw. Serve at once.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Prosciutto di San Daniele DOP at 13 months' stagionatura, sliced to order at 1.5–2 mm; mountain butter from the Carnia valleys, cultured and high-fat; tagliatelle made the same day from estate eggs.
02
Estate — San Daniele DOP from a named producer, pre-sliced the morning of use; good-quality mountain or European-style cultured butter; fresh tagliatelle from a reliable pasta shop.
03
Market — San Daniele DOP from a supermarket deli counter, sliced at 1.5–2 mm on request; unsalted butter of reasonable fat content; fresh egg tagliatelle from a chilled counter.
04
House — San Daniele DOP in vacuum-packed pre-sliced format — acceptable only if the slices are separated carefully and brought fully to room temperature; standard unsalted butter; dried egg tagliatelle of good provenance.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Smell. The browning butter emits a clean, nutty hazelnut aroma — the signal that it has reached the correct depth without tipping into bitterness.
◇Sight. The finished pasta is lightly and evenly coated in butter; the prosciutto lies in loose folds, its fat translucent and glistening, its colour unaltered from raw.
◇Touch. The prosciutto yields softly to the fork — warm throughout but not firm or contracted; any resistance indicates it has been over-exposed to heat.
◇Where it lives or dies. The prosciutto is added off heat and folded through for thirty seconds only — cook it a moment longer and it toughens, curls, and the sweetness that is the entire point of the dish is gone.
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Sparkling wine
From British Columbia
Wine
Without alcohol
GT's Synergy Organic Kombucha — Gingerade
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Non-alcoholic
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The whole pairingPillar VII
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Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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Sourced through Provenance