Salumi

Italian Cold Cuts

Culatello

Italian food in America sprung from poor immigrants from Southern Italy.  They took advantage of the bounty of East Coast city markets, resulting in an amalgam of Southern Italian traditions, which became the standard for Italian food in America.  Italian foods in America continue to evolve as demand for fresher and more authentic ingredients increases.  But what of the humble beginings?  Let's take a look a Salumi - Italian cold cut meats.

Ancient Romans didn't invent the technique of curing meats, they learned that from the Greeks.  But the Romans did raise it to an art form. Centuries before refrigeration, the Italians perfected salt-curing smoking, fermenting and air-drying techniques to deliciously preserve pork, beef, goat, wild boar and sheep.  The results are so tasty that they continue their art even after the meriad of available refrigeration today and no Italian kitchen would be complete without it's own meat slicer.  Enzo's brother in law Guilio, who slices his meats by hand, produces enough cold cuts to keep their household with a constant supply all year round.

Guilio's curing meats

Cured meat is called salumi in Italy, and the word refers to everything from prosciutto to sausage. Countless variations on salumi are made in Italy's 20 regions, but they fall into two basic categories.  First is incassati, or pieces of chopped meat stuffed into casing, such as pepproni and soppressata.  The second is cured whole meats like prosciutto and pancetta.  So let's see what's on the salumi menu:

	Pancetta

Pancetta:

Often called Italian bacon, pancetta is sweet-salty cured pork betty.  Pancetta for antipasti is usually sold in a rolled style. It is often added to the pan at the begining of cooking and crisped to release it's fats and flavour.  It's perfect for carbonaras or wrapped around fish and meat.

Salami Pumpernickel Bagel

Salami

Salami is the generic term for all Italian cured meats.  In America it generally refers to chopped cured pork that has been flavoured with garlic and pressed into a sausage casing.

Pepperoni

A salami spiced with black and red peppers that origniated in Southern Italy, pepperoni is a staple on many American pizzas.  In of the estimated 3.2 billion pizzas sold in 2008, 60% of them were topped with pepperoni.

Preparing salumi and soppressata

Soppressata

Soppressata is a pressed sausage made from coarse-ground pork and flavoured with spices.

Prosciutto

Prosciutto

Made from the hind leg of a pig, prosciutto is a type of uncooked but cured ham. Slightly sweet and a little salty, with complex earthy flavours, it's the key ingredient of the classic Roman dish Saltimbocca (sautéed veal cutlets with sage leaves and prosciutto).  More commonly it is wrapped around slices of honeydew melon and served as an appetiser.

Salting the pork and allowing it to mature

There are many types of cured meats that come under the heading of Prosciutto, the most prestigious of which is Culatello, meaning 'little backside' which is produced from free roaming pigs.

Culatello

• When the meat is cut from the pig it is rubbed with salt, pepper and herbs.

• Then it is placed into a pigs bladder, tied with butcher's string and hung in a chilled, darkened room.

• In order to claim its DOP (denomination of protected origin) from the European Union, Culatello should be aged over two winters and one summer in cellars with windows overlooking the Po River.  The mists that rise from the river help produce the cellar molds which are an essential part of the aging process.

• Over this time a spillo, or pin, made from  a horse bone is inserted into two specific points in the meat.  The bone is removed and smelled by experts to ensure that the Culatello is aging properly.

• The meat is also beaten with wooden mallets in order to check for hollow sounds.

• It's removed from the casing, wrapped in cloth and soaked in red wine

• Only then will it be sliced and presented for consumption

Serving antipasta

Mortadella

Mortadella originated in Bologna more than 500 years ago.  The traditional ingredients of an authentic mortadella include top-qualtiy cuts of pork, which are finely ground to produced a smooth, silky texture, as well as soalt, white and black pepper, mace, coriander, crushed garlic and other flavourings.  Cubes of pork fat are kneaded into the mixture as well as optional pistachios.  Then the mixture is stuffed into long, round casings and cooked in a special brick oven.

Mortadella

Like prosciutto, mortadella is a fundamental component of classic tortellini filling and adds a delicate spiciness to polpettone (meatloaf).  Potato dishes, savoury tortes and stuffed vegetables benefit from a handful of julienned mortadella strips.  It can also be cut into cutes and served with raw fruits, vegetables or as part of a salad.

Arthur Avenue, New York where it's difficult to choose

There are of course many more salumis to choose from and like a good wine, you may have to try a few before discovering your favourites.  Good luck and happy tasting!