salami

I can not tell you how much I love the taste of salami. The other day at one of our favorite sandwich shops my grand-son ordered a tasty little sandwich. His usual is ham and cheese but this time he also added a bit of flare. Salami was the addition and I was delighted. We shared a common likeness to salami. He had no idea where salami came from and the truth is that many do not. After you read this post you will not be one of the many that do not know. 

Salami is a cured sausage. It consists of fermented and air dried meat. Beef or pork are the meats that commonly make up salami. Salami was a food of the peasants in Southern and Central Europe. Salami does not need refrigeration for up to 40 days after being cut. Peasants were not able to keep foods cool and meat was hard for them to get so salami was something that could offer them fresh meat and great taste. 

Fermentation consists of smoking and drying foods.This technique is often used with meat and has been around for hundreds of years. Germany, Italy, Spain, France and Hungary all produce their own type of salami. Each year they create hundred millions kegs of salami. European settlers would bring their cultural and flavor profiles to the Americas when they arrived. Bologna and pepperoni were just two of the tasty recipes they brought along. 

The taste of salami is of large variation of tastes. Depending on the area of where it is prepared and by who. The salt context as well as type of meat makes the difference. The Middle East uses beef, lamb and mutton to create sausages similar to salami. Hungarian Salami is very popular and is a salami that has been intensively smoked and mold is added.

Salami is traditionally made up of pork or beef. Ingredients that are typically added to the meat include garlic, minced fat, salt, spices, herbs, vinegar, and wine.The meat mixture is fermented for a day or so. The meat will be piped into casings which have had edible mold added. The mold gives flavor as well as helps drying process and deters spoilage during curing.