Alma Gourmet Speck Alto Adige IGP 5 lb

We are Germans and of course we like European food. The Südtiroler Schinken was it worth to try. The taste, the look have been really impressive to us. Even the packaging with silver ice bag was for the hot weather outside a good idea. We did right away, we call it a Brotzeit. Fresh baked bread and the bacon. That was heaven. The quality is awesome. We are pretty sure that was not our last order with that company. Would recommend to other. The Quality and the price are in a good balance.

Great product and very close to the flavor I have enjoyed for many many years. The hint of juniper comes through on the front end while followed by the robust aging flavors on the back end. Sliced ultra thin (on a proper slicer or with a proper meat slicing knife) and enjoyed as the perfect compliment to cream cheese on a bagel or wrapped around asparagus and grilled or sautéed it is delectably delicious. It is important to understand this IS NOT your regular ham product that most have become used to eating in our country.

Get a good meat slicer to cut it very thinn

Excellent product. Arrived in perfect condition.

There's A LOT more fat on this slab than shown in the picture. Outside the fat, there's a tough outside pig hide on one side and some sort of skin or coating on the other side. Of course, both these rinds must be removed. This itself is a bit of a chore.The meat is quite tough. And there are veins of completely inedible gristle throughout, so you have to keep spitting out pieces that can't be chewed or swallowed. (After 5 minutes of continuous chewing on a bite, you give up.) Unless you have a professional meat slicing machine, like at the deli, you'll have a hard time getting the meat sliced thin enough to chew, given its toughness and the veins of gristle.The meat's flavor isn't bad, though the flavor is a bit "smoky" for my taste (and, of course, it is very salty).This would be a far, far better product had it been cut into thin strips, like thin bacon, prior to vacuum packing. But even then, I wonder about the inedible veins of gristle.This is not a deli meat.

Excellent flavor, remember, if you order the amount of fat will vary. Has to be sliced very thin, served with good bread...

I like pretty much all smoked meats. I have been a fan of Speck for years, but was a bit skeptical buying it from Amazon. I will say shipping took a long time, the ice packs were liquid and the box was in terrible shape. It is fully cured meat and chamber vacuum packed, so this didn't really concern me. My, oh my, this is an absolutely great product. The last speck I bought from a well know Italian website, was good, but over smoked and very tough.For those of you unfamiliar with Speck, it comes with the skin on one side. I think this simply must be removed as I have no idea what to do with it. The skin is tough as, well, pigskin. The piece I got was 5.4#. I trimmed off the skin and some of the fat cap - all told 13 or 14 oz. I think that is fantastic. The meat is very dense. It has virtually no water in it. It is very hard to slice thin (my preference is less than 1/16"). A meat slicer would be great, but I used a nice knife with a very keen edge and sliced over 100 slices. I vacuum pack in about 1/2 pound packs and freeze for future use. Use it the way you would use prosciutto with melon, parmesan, balsamic, or wrap it around asparagus. Personally, I generally like it cooked slightly. This reduces the stringy nature of the meat. One of my favorite uses is like bacon. Sautee it and use as you would bacon. Way good.

I'll start by saying that the main reason I ordered this was for doing Beef Wellington, using it as the buffer layer between the Duxelles and the pastry dough. All of the commercially available pre-sliced stuff we could find just shredded coming out of the package. So I thought I would splurge and get a really good one to use and to have leftovers for our enjoyment.I won't hesitate to admit that this has a wonderful taste, and far exceeds virtually anything you're going to get in most stores. I have some very good chef knives, and was able to slice some thin enough that I could use it for my Wellington. But taking one bite told me I wouldn't be able to use it for this. Especially bad would be once it is layered to form the moisture barrier for the pastry dough. I did contact a friend who has a commercial grade meat slicer. I took some over there, but even the thinnest shave is still tough.I'm so disappointed that I won't be able to use this. And yes, I've had good Prosciutto from a small Italian market in the Metro Detroit area many times. (I unfortunately no longer live in that area, and they don't ship.) Another thing that surprised me was a pretty substantial fat layer. I know, by the nature of the meat there will be a generous amount of fat. But this was over 1/2 in an area that could easily be trimmed. I don't mind paying for whole cuts that have some scrap, but at $20 a pound, I like to minimize it.I wish I could recommend this. For your uses, it might be fine. But be warned that chewing becomes an experience in itself. Using it for something as sumptuous as Beef Wellington is flat out not possible.