Ingredients: Meaty Matters

For a charcuterie plate or stuffing, there's a delicious new array of cured meats. D'Artagnan will be packaging nicely gamy and lean Canadian wild boar prosciutto ($32 a pound; 800-327-8246). California's Niman Ranch is producing two meats that were hard to find outside Italy: lardo, spice-cured pork fat that can be sliced paper thin for bruschetta; and guanciale, dry-cured pork jowl that tastes like pancetta (from $16 for 13/4 pound; 510-808-0340). Kentucky's Broadbent Hams is selling country-ham pieces, terrific for flavoring stock ($15 for 4 pounds; 800-841-2202).

—Carla Ranicki

Published November 2003