Cooked salami

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The art of preserving meat goes way back in written history. The Romans, for one, were very knowledgeable in this art. There are two ways of preserving meats. One is salt and spices added to the meats, then it is encased and hung to let the moisture slowly dry. Another way is to add salt and spices to the meat, then encase it and cook it fully. Thus, one type of salami is raw and dry, and the other is cooked and juicy.

Salumi

Italian: Salumi is any of many types of products which come from pork meat. The meat is finely ground, salted and mixed, which is the first step of the curing method, then it is hung to dry. "Sal" in salumi means salt in Latin. Salami, Sausages , Prosciutto, Mortadella, are all different types of Salumi.

Cooked Salami

Salami is made in two types: raw and cooked. The meat is finely ground, salt and spices are added, wine and water are also mixed in. One type is hung to cure in open fresh air, the other type is cooked for a few hours then also hung to dry in open fresh air. The raw salami becomes dry and hard, the cooked salami stays moist and softer. People have learned the art of preserving most edible items from the land and from the sea. Salt is the main preservative which was used since ancient times all over the world. Spices are also used to preserve meats. Cooking was yet another way to preserve any food. Cooked salami, which comes in many varieties, is an Italian delicacy type of salumi. Italian: Zampino is one Italian: Salumi type of the cooked salami family. Some Salumi are made from fine and coarse ground pork meats, fat and skin. By adding and mixing salt, herbs, wine and water to the ground meat, then encasing the mixture to keep a form. Some are cooked for several hours, and finally hung to cure in open circulating air. Other types of meat are also used, such as goats, mules, horse and cows. Some of the Salumi items are called;salami, sausages, mortadella, baloney. Some of the Salumi which are not cooked are, Prosciutto, bacon, speck, fresh sausages, capocollo and many more. Zampino is a word which comes from Italian: Zampa which is a small paw of an animal's leg and which has claws and pads and walks on all four legs. It is in the Salumi family of cured meats. In the word Zampino Italian: ino is a diminutive adjective such as Italian: piccolino which means small or tiny. Italian: one is an augmentative adjective such as Italian: ballone which is a large ball. Zampino means a small paw. Zampone means a large paw.

Charcuterie

French: Charcuterie is the art of preparing, smoking, curing and cooking salted pork. Salumi Among European countries, the Italians have many salumi such as; mortadella, head cheese, prosciutto, dry and fresh sausage, capocollo, and many others. Since before refrigeration, when meat, fish, fruit and other edible products were cured to be preserved to prevent spoilage and diseases, milk was made into cheese, grapes were made into wine, so that these fresh items were preserved to be used when needed.

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Sausage

The Sausage is the most common salted cured pork meat to be categorized as Salumi. The ground pork is mixed with salt and herbs, wine and water. The meat is then encased in small intestine and sold as fresh sausage and had to be used before it spoiled. The other way it is prepared is after it is encased, it is cooked and cured for a certain amount of time in open circulating fresh air. A variety of sausages are made the same way and called by various names. One of these is called Salami. There are two types of salami made, cooked and cured, and raw and dry cured. Cooked salami varieties are named depending on which casing is used and where they are made. Large intestine casing, pork skin or rind casing, and other artificial casings are used.

Zampino

One type of cooked salami is called Zampino because it is encased in the leg skin or rind of the pork meat. is made with various cuts of finely ground pork meat mixed with salt and herbs, white wine and water to help the meat mixture stabilize, then it is encased in pork rind (skin) casing or natural casing and sewn on the sides with butcher twine and a needle to seal it. The use of large intestine casing, or artificial casings is another method of holding the meat mixture in a casing. After it is filled, it is cooked for several hours and then it is hung to cure in open circulating air for a few months. When the Zampino finishes curing, it is refrigerated and becomes a deli cold cut item to be cut very thinly for sandwiches and other ways to be eaten. File:Zampino.jpg

Zampone

Another type of cooked salumi is called Zampone is made with finely ground pork meat mixed with salt and herbs and encased in a whole empty and deboned front leg including the paw of the pig called trotters. When finished, the Zampone is cooked for several hours and is used steaming hot as one of the main meal items at Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve dinners and served with lentils, white beans, and polenta.

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Cotechino

A third type of cooked salami is called Cotechino. The name derives from the Italian name of the casing called Cotenna and Cotica which is the skin or rind of the pig which is also used as fill. The fill is ground very fine and it is also cooked for a few hours then hung to air dry to season. This one is often called by either name depending on the area.

See also

• Salami,
• Sausage,
• Salumi,

Categories

Salumi, Pork, Cooked meat

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