Tried an experiment yesterday with our leftover prosciutto bone.
It has been sitting on the top shelf of the refrigerator for the last couple of weeks, and as you can see from the picture, it is DRY!
In the book “Salumi” the author suggests using the bone of the prosciutto as seasoning for soup, so we decided to try it. First, Evie tried to cut the bones in half.
She got about half way through, but wasn’t able to finish it, so Daddy did. (That bone saw has been in the family three generations, buy the way, and is much nicer than the one I got from Amazon).
Placed the bone ends in the pot with two bay leaves, a 2TBS or red wine vinegar, and a whole bunch of garlic, plus a dash of lamb rub #2, and we let it simmer for about 8 hours.
The bones have that clean, bleached appearance and all the cartilage is boiled off. We then added some rice, some of the last of last years carrots and parsnips, and about a pound of chopped lamb trim, seared in butter.
Results were okay, but not spectacular. The lamb broth was thick with high levels of collagen and tasted very strongly like lamb. If you don’t really like lamb, I don’t recommend it. About half the family liked it, the other half did not. The shreds of dried prosciutto on the bone that came off into the broth were actually the worst part. They did not reconstitute as I expected, and instead tasted like beef jerky with all the flavor boiled out. Edible, but not enticing. Finally, the rice was not a good choice. Lamb broth is a very strong flavored broth. It needs a strongly flavored starch to compliment it, in my opinion. Barley is the best option, potatoes also work, but rice just gets overwhelmed. Parsnips were delightful as always, and of course, carrots are never a bad call.
Little Farm in the Big City 