Meat and sausage products (Italy)

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Three types of Italian salami

Italian meat and sausage products are based on an independent butchery tradition thatgoes back to ancient times . It is supplemented by influences from French cuisine ( Aosta Valley ), Austrian cuisine ( South Tyrol ) and population minorities such as Ladins , Albanians and the home kitchens of migrants.

Sausages

  • Soppressa and Soppressata : The Soppressa or Soppressata, which means something like “Presswurst”, has a similar taste to salami, but is much thicker and larger. After the minced meat and bacon have been filled into the intestines, the sausage is squeezed into a rectangle, mainly to squeeze out any remaining air. Incidentally, the name comes from the Provencal word "saupressado". The Soppressa or Soppressata are produced in many varieties in the northern Italian regions of Friuli , Veneto and Julien and in southern Italy . Because they are quite thick, they have to mature in the open air for 10 to 15 months. At the end they weigh 2 to 3 kg and are served, cut into slices, with fresh fruit or slightly heated with polenta cookies as a starter or snack. The Soppressa Veneta comes from Veneto and is characterized by its particular tenderness and strong aroma.
It is composed of 70 percent lean pork and 30 percent bacon made with brisket. Everything is just roughly chopped up and mixed with pepper, crushed garlic and white wine or grappa , then stuffed into pig intestines and pressed. At a slightly higher temperature, it is pre-ripened and then air-dried. The Soppressata di Fabriano is very similar, but is lightly smoked. The Soppressata della Basilicata comes from the southern Apennine Mountains , which is only seasoned with pepper and consists of 80 percent lean pork and 20 percent smoked bacon. The Soppressa Coppata is a specialty. It is very thick and contains a thick piece of pork leg inside. When cut, it looks like a slice of ham with a salami border.
  • Finocchiona : In Tuscany , where the Finocchiona comes from, a delicate dry sausage that is related to the salami is made. It takes its name from "finocchio", from the fennel , the seeds of which are used for this sausage. In the past, wild fennel was used for this. Finocchiona is made in two ways: one is 50 percent lean pork and 50 percent pork cheek (including the salivary gland ). The other variant consists of a quarter each of pork and beef and half of pork cheek (the pig's cheek).
The meat , freed from tendons and nerves, is cooled as usual and minced with the meat grinder and its 16–18 mm perforated disk , then again with the 8 mm disk. To this mass are added per kg: 35 to 40 g of salt, 0.3 to 0.4 g of saltpeter, four grams of crushed black pepper, three to five grams of fennel seeds and some garlic pickled in white wine. When everything is completely mixed, the mass is filled into 50 cm long beef intestines, tied tightly with sausage cord and hung for two to three days at a temperature that increases from 20 to 22 ° C and a humidity of 65 to 70 percent. Maturation, which lasts 60 to 90 days, takes place first at 16 to 17 ° C and then at 14 to 15 ° C. The humidity is 80 percent. In the end, the mature Finocchiona weighs 2.5 to 4 kg.
The taste habits in Tuscany require this sausage to have a slightly sour taste, which only sets in after at least two months. You can recognize this Tuscan specialty by the greenish mold. In Tuscany, the finocchiona is served in thin slices with a strong Chianti wine and the " sciocco ", an unsalted white bread , as a starter.
  • Cacciatore : Il Cacciatore - which actually means “ hunter ” - is a small salami-like sausage with a weight that can vary from 60 to 180 g. The production is similar to that of Salame Milano or Felino. Only the ripening time is much shorter with 15 days, because these sausages are much smaller. The medium-grain, air-dried and mold-coated cacciatori have been produced on the farms for ages. In this way it can be explained that there is great diversity in their composition. Many cacciatori are made from 35 percent pork, 15 percent bacon, and 50 percent beef, but the beef content can go all the way down to zero. As the name of this sausage suggests, it used to have a snack or snack function for hunters, shepherds or hermits .
  • Mortadella di Bologna : cooked sausage with bacon and pistachios
  • Mortadella di Prato
  • Salsiccia : cooked sausage
  • Salami : mostly air-dried raw sausages

Meat products