One of the biggests wastes of TV is Martha Stewart's
Everyday Food show. It's always the most mundane
stuff, like Sloppy Joes, lettuce and tomato salad
with dressing, sugar cookies, etc. It's not like
Lidia Bastianich or Jacques Pepin where I'm being
shown stuff I've never done or don't know how to do.
If there's nothing else food-related on TV, I'll
turn on Everyday Food while doing something else.

So I was surprised when I saw something very
interesting. One of their people made a BLT
sandwich, but substituted fried prosciutto for
the bacon. I'd never thought of frying prosciutto
before. It sure looked good on TV.

At Trader Joe's, I bought a package of a cheap
prosciutto (Stockmeyer's, from Germany). I've
eaten this prosciutto often, and while not the
best, it's a very good value. You get a lot
for your money.

I fried two batches, one on moderate-low and
another on moderate. They were okay, but not
really exciting. I saved the rest of the
prosciutto to eat in the usual way.

However, something unexpected developed later
in the day. I noticed an unpleasant odor.
At first, I couldn't say what it was. I was
thinking it might be dead animal, but it didn't
really smell like a dead animal.

Then, I hit on what it really smelled like.
It smelled exactly like fried fish. The last
fish I made was in soup a few days earlier,
but fish soup never stinks up the kitchen.
It's probably been 10 or 15 years since I
fried a fish.

Bingo! I know what it is. It's the prosciutto.
That must be why Stockmeyer's is so cheap.
They must be feeding fish waste (heads, tails,
etc.) to the pigs. I've never noticed a fishy
flavor in their prosciutto when eaten fresh
out of the package. But frying it released
these odors.

That's not to say there's anything wrong with
feeding fish waste to pigs. It might even be
healthful because of the omega-3 fatty acids.
And I've never noticed any off-flavors in the
prosciutto. Still, it came as a surprise that
such a strong and unpleasant odor would be
released.