Charcuterie Company Gets Slice Of The Action With Godfather Of Modern Cooking
An independent charcuterie business from Penge in South East London has teamed up with the godfather of modern cooking to supply his chain of restaurants with a range of specialised salamis.
Giuseppe Perinelli and his wife Becky Owens, who founded their business Perinelli Salami in 2017, will now provide their ‘Classic’ and Fennel salamis and Coppa to Marco Pierre White’s Bardolino, New York Italian and Steakhouse chain of restaurants.
Under an endorsement deal through Marco Pierre White and the chef’s Black and White Hospitality business, the product range will go to market with new branding under the name of Perinelli and Mr White’s Salami Co.
Originally from Rome, Giuseppe’s passion for the Italian culinary favourite was born in his father’s home village Acuto – about 60km south of the eternal city - where he and his family would cure pigs ready for the winter.
It was during a visit to a local shop in Babdown near Tetbury that Pierre White happened to taste some of Giuseppe’s salami that was on the counter on the shop for customers to try and so impressed was the famed chef he asked where it was from.
The woman in the antiques shop was the mother of a friend of Giuseppe’s wife and her daughter had brought the salami with her when she came to stay. It was a couple of days later that, out of the blue, Marco then called Giuseppe and Becky to see if they could meet up.
Giuseppe said: “I’ve always made salami and make it at home. The skill has been passed down from generation to generation so I like to think there’s real heritage behind what I make.
“It’s been something I’ve always wanted to do professionally and having worked in restaurants in both Rome and London I decided to set up my salami business and found a unit near Crystal Palace. I’ve since adapted it into a fully-functioning charcuterie.”
Combining Mediterranean methods of fermenting and air-drying meat alongside what he describes as quality British meat, Giuseppe will continue to use his own suppliers, including Blythburgh pork (Gloucester Old Spot breed) from the Rare Breed Meat Company as well as pigs from Marco’s farm.
Giuseppe added: “The call from Marco was really out of the blue, and at first we thought it was someone having a joke. He said it was the best salami he’s ever tasted and we’ve since met up a number of times. We’re now going to start off by supplying the ‘Classic’ Salami, which includes garlic, black pepper and some mace, the Fennel Salami, and the Coppa, which is cured pork collar sliced a bit like a prosciutto so it’s really thin and delicious to eat.
“We have to pinch ourselves, but I suppose it’s a case of the salami just being in the right place at the right time!
“We’ll still supply our local stockists, but an opportunity like this only ever comes around once in a blue moon.”
Marco’s business partner, Nick Taplin, Chairman and CEO of Black and White Hospitality has joined the new venture, supplying woodland pigs from his country home in North Somerset.
He added: “It has been great fun rearing our first Tamworth pigs with all of our family and it brings a whole new dimension of field-to-fork.”
Having received his Salsa accreditation in September 2018, Giuseppe also won a silver medal for his Nduja in August last year at the British Charcuterie Awards which is run in conjunction with BBC Countryfile.
For further information, please visit www.mpwrestaurants.co.uk
