Frank Sinatra Loved Deli Meats And Was Especially Fond Of This Fancier Cut

Frank Sinatra was of Italian descent on both sides of his family (His mother was from the north, and his father was from Sicily), so it's only natural that he enjoyed Italian cuisine throughout his life. Sinatra had no patience for nouvelle cuisine, instead preferring traditional, old-school Italian dishes to anything too new and avant-garde. Theo Schoenegger, a chef who cooked for Sinatra on numerous occasions, told Tasting Table, "He was a simple eater." Before dining on a favorite classic Italian dish like veal Milanese or Schoenegger's spaghetti alla chitarra, Sinatra kicked things off with a packed-lunch staple, according to the chef, who recalled, "He always had to have cold cuts to start with." The one he liked best was prosciutto — specifically, prosciutto di Parma imported from Italy.

All prosciutto, whether it's the kind you buy at the supermarket or from a bespoke butcher, is made of cured meat from a pig's thigh and often sliced super-thin. What makes the "di Parma" variety so special, though, is the fact that it comes from Italian pigs and is produced in Italy's Emilia Romagna region. (This area requires but a day trip from Liguria, where Sinatra's mother was born.) It's also made without any additives, and can be aged twice as long as some other types of prosciutto.

Chef Theo Schoenegger didn't specify how Frank Sinatra liked to eat his prosciutto. But since the singer died before hipster charcuterie boards really took off, chances are he didn't insist on the proper plating of this crêpe paper-like meat. He may have enjoyed it on an antipasto platter, or perhaps he had it wrapped around melon wedges. (This effortless sweet-and-savory appetizer was popular in the 1960s.) Whichever way he liked it, his preference for prosciutto has inspired several restaurants to feature it in an entree called Chicken Sinatra, which was obviously named in his honor.

Brazzi Wood Fired Trattoria in Manahawkin, New Jersey, batters the chicken for its Chicken Sinatra, then layers it with eggplant, mozzarella, roasted peppers, and prosciutto. The dish is finished off with a lemon white wine sauce and served with a potato croquette. At Tomatoes Italian Grille & Bar in Sandwich, Massachusetts (a tasty town, by all accounts), the Chicken Sinatra is smothered in spinach, provolone, prosciutto, and lemon butter sage sauce, and accompanied by parmesan risotto. Delmonico's Italian Steakhouse — a mini chain with five locations in upstate New York, and one in Florida — envisions a spicier version of the dish. Its Chicken Sinatra is made with hot peppers, mushrooms, provolone, prosciutto, and marsala sauce and served on sautéed greens with a side of garlic mashed potatoes. While there's no evidence that the Chairman ever tasted any of these versions of Chicken Sinatra, they all seem like the kind of straightforward, not-too-fussy Italian American fare that he would have enjoyed. The inclusion of the prosciutto, however, may have sealed the deal.

Static Media owns and operates Tasting Table and The Takeout.