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Valle d’Aosta is a curious Italian region. Its official dialect, known as Patois, has Franco-Provençal origins, yet the Valley of Gressoney has a second dialect, Walser, whose origins stem back to archaic germanic. It’s safe to say that this northwestern region is quite unique, a melting pot of different cultures.
Let’s Dive
From a gastronomic standpoint, the Valley of Gressoney is rich of raw ingredients and traditional recipes, from Toma to ancient varieties of potatoes and mocetta, the subject of this Italy Deep Dive. Mocetta, simply put, is a type of cured meat, traditionally made with chamois meat, nowadays more commonly produced with beef meat of the highest quality. Although it is often considered to be a type of bresaola, the authentic game meat version is quite different, for a number of reasons.
Mocetta is produced by selecting the leanest part of a thigh (whether that be beef or chamois) and covering it in salt, bay leaves, sage, fresh garlic, pepper and cloves, leaving it to cure under a weight. The second step involves soaking the salted cut of meat in brine for roughly two weeks, then hanging it out to dry in an airy room for anything from 10 days to more than four months. The more time it is left out to dry, the tougher the meat becomes and the more concentrated flavours are.
Tasting tip: Bottega Rotes Kalb, in the small town of Issime, halfway up the Valley of Gressoney, makes an excellent mocetta, on the fresher side (pictured below, to the right). Buy a dozen slices to take home with you and enjoy the unique flavour all the spices give the meat, allowing for each bite to be slightly different from the next.