(1.) Salumeria Biellese hot soppressata
Spicy and intensely flavored sausage dry-cured and aged in the traditional Italian fashion. ($9.95 a pound; 376-378 Eighth Ave., at 29th St.; 212-736-7376.)
(2.) Kurowycky Meat Products kabanosy
A pungent little snacking sausage smoked on premises at this venerable third-generation sausage-maker’s. ($5.99 a pound; 124 First Ave., nr. 7th St.; 212-477-0344.)
(3.) Edwards of Surrey, Virginia Wigwam country ham
You can smell its succulent hammy aroma through the shipping box. Order it bone-in and uncooked, and eat it Yankee style—thinly sliced like prosciutto. Winston Churchill and William Styron were satisfied customers, and so is Momofuku’s Dave Chang. (A seventeen-pound ham, aged for just under a year, is $85.95; call 800-222-4267.)
(4.) Lomo Ibérico de Bellota
Until the superham Jamon Ibérico de Bellota arrives Stateside in 2008, this is the next best thing: air-dried pork loin from the same black-hoofed pigs that finish out their illustrious, forest-roaming careers feasting on acorns before “their sacrifice,” as the Spanish say. ($108 per pound at Despaña Brand Foods, 408 Broome St., nr. Lafayette St.; 212-219-5050.)
(5.) Flying Pigs Farm slab bacon
You’ll not only be giving the pork aficionado on your list some supremely tasty bacon, you’ll be helping to preserve three rare heritage breeds—Large Blacks, Gloucestershire Old Spots, and Tamworths. ($10.50 a pound at Union Square and Grand Army Plaza Greenmarkets; or call 518-854-3844).
(6.) Fra’ Mani salametto
Paul Bertolli, the former Oliveto and Chez Panisse chef turned curemaster, makes all his salumi from contented, hormone-and-antibiotic-free pigs. This salametto is long-aged, simply seasoned, and perfect for stocking stuffing; you could even hang it from the tree. (About $16 at Fairway.)