Saltimbocca alla Romana — thin veal scaloppine with fresh sage leaf and prosciutto, pan-cooked in butter and finished with white wine — requires the thin veal scaloppine to be pounded to even thinness, the sage-prosciutto combination held in place with a toothpick, and the cooking time of 2–3 minutes total. The prosciutto's fat renders against the butter-coated pan, providing both flavour and a natural basting mechanism.
- **The scaloppine:** Pounded to 3–4mm thickness — even throughout. Uneven thickness produces uneven cooking. - **Fresh sage only:** The volatile terpenes in fresh sage (thujone, camphor, cineole) that make it one of the most aromatic herbs in Italian cooking are entirely absent from dried sage. - **The fat side:** Prosciutto placed fat-side-down against the sage on the veal — the fat renders into the pan and self-bastes. - **The cook:** Prosciutto side first in hot butter — 60–90 seconds. Flip: veal side — 60 seconds. Remove. White wine deglaze of the pan, reduce, pour over.
Hazan