Nose to tail the Italian way

As every year around this time the neighbours had their pig brought to their house to cut it up and transform it into salumi, sausages, capocollo, pancetta, ribs and chops. Not because they jumped on the nose-to-tail bandwagon but because the family has done so for ages.

Head butcher as always is the referred ‘Uncle Tonino’, a masterbutcher who dished out the orders on cutting day, in the small wine cantine. Lots of boasting, bit of politics but mainly hard work made lighter by the occasional plastic cup of pretty good homemade wine. Tonino is one of those guys who proves that Italians are not lazy, he soldiered on like a 30 year old combatting low temperature, sour knee, stiff shoulders and other bodily discomforts that come with age. It is his strategy to stay fit, keep moving till the day comes you have to give up.

It is custom to have a special dinner afterwards which consists of pasta with a very rich meatsauce, it contains goose, pig and beef. After that roasted ribs, porchops and porkliver wrapped in bacon bayleaf. At the far end of the room the huge flatscreen TV kept trying to overshout us with its stupid Italian quizshows, Italian custom. All in all a very pleasant day and we managed to sneak home without bags full of ribs and sausages this time.