Salamis presentation picture: in the tray above left you see strolghino and salsiccia passita, in the wooden tray below right spicy napolitan salami and wild boar salami, in the dish below left mortadella salami and above right lonzino. In the center focaccia bread
in this table you see the pictures of the most common Italian salamis, all also used for preparing the Italian starter. The Italian starter is of course a choose of some of them and this choose depends from each region and area. So in the north you can find cooked ham and "prosciutto ham" with salami and bresaola and carne salada, while in the central regions guanciale,capocollo and salami, in Emilia Romagna mortadella salami,cooked ham an ciccioli. You can find a wide description with pictures of all the pork meat cuts and beef meat cuts in our table
This salami is typical of Latium. It is prepared by salting and aromatizing the jowls and then seasoning. It is the basic ingredient for the amatriciana sauce.
spalla cotta
It is a salami usually of lower quality than the cooked ham, however in some valley of the province of Piacenza is produced a very appreciated smoked quality.
mortadella salami
very famous salami of Emilia Romagna called also "Bologna"
the utilized cuts are shoulder, fresh ham, some parts of the flank, throat and guanciale. It must be put into natural sausage skin and aromatized with pepper and other spices. It is available either with pistachios or without.
salami
The shoulder meat is utilized for the "insaccati", particularly for the salami of better quality, also in this case it is important them to put into natural sausage skins
the great variety of Italian salamis make to us impossible to explain all of them in this small area: with small or great grain, aromatized with wine or various spices, they are since the ancient Rome the most appreciated and exported products. We can mention the Piedmont salami with wine, the very famous salami of Felino, the Cacciatore, the salami "Milano" with small grain, the Finocchiona of Tuscany...
Pancetta salami
obtained from the half-fat part of the pig belly, seasoned and spiced
pancetta salami:
smoked, hot, spicy or simply seasoned is a salami widespread in Italy. It is available "plain" for cooking and rolled, for eating raw or for rolling the roast.
Ciccioli
crackling
in the fact they are a residues from the lard processing. They are the membranes supporting the fat, that remain after boiling. After a 6 hours of boiling they are removed from the melted lard and pressed.
Lardo
bacon fat
The fattest part of the belly.
Very famous the variety of Colonnata it is widespread.
It is the basic ingredient of the pesto modenese
coppa e capocollo
shoulder blade
esteemed part in the pig , unlike in beef and veal. It is the name of the salami produced with this cut. Raw may be grilled or stewed in the oven. Common also the slices. It is quite fat, but extremely soft.
The name coppa is used in Northern Italy, while capocollo in the other parts.
Prosciutto ham
Milder as the Parma and San Daniele or more salted as the ham from Tuscany, they are all to try. The production techniques are kept as valuable secrets and guarantee quality to an Italian world famous product.
About the hams we should create a special section: we can divide in crudo, (raw), (i.e. dried and preserved with the famous "salatura", the salting ). Among them we can include "Culaccia" and "Culatello" (here below you see the culaccia)
however the processing with the wine and the boning make these last two ham varieties very particular
Prosciutto cotto
cooked ham
available: al vapore (steamed) , affumicato (smoked) or al forno (baked)
Once wrongly considered a second class product it is a very good traditional salami of Northern Italy.
Agreeable for eating combined with bread in the "panini" is a basic ingredient for many traditional and creative recipes
Bresaola salami
The bresaola is the typical salami from the Valtellina, the valley on the border with Switzerland, that obtained the IGP from the EU. Proofs of the production of this salami are dated 1650.
The etymology can be connected to the Germanic word "Brasa", meaning brazier. In the ancient time for making the rooms dry and keep the temperature constant people used braziers, where they burned pine wood aromatizing the smoke with juniper and laurel.
It is produced utilising the "magatello" and the "punta d'anca" ( an other name for the scamone) of the adult beef; the meat at first is salted , spiced and with pepper added. Then put into sausage skins and seasoned.
The result is that bresaola has few fat, but a good quantity of iron and protein, and also salts. It is then suitable for IPO caloric diets, but inadvisable for elderly and hypertensive people.
It is a very old recipe born for maintaining the meat for long time. In the Trentino area was it was usually the process of smoking.
it is eaten rough, in carpaccio and also cooked
The beef meat, generally the fesa of manzo, cleansed and cut to compact pieces weighing about 4 or 8 lbs (1 or 2 kg) is put into a particular earthenware pot called Pitàr and brined with spices, black pepper, garlic, rosemary, laurel, sage and juniper added.
During this time the meat must be turned upside down every day, paying attention to put on the upper part the parts situated on the bottom and adding, if necessary, aromatic white wine, for avoiding it to dry. The conservation is made in a fresh place and with constant temperature at no more of F 42-46 (C 6-8). This meat is eaten sliced to very thin slices, either rough or cooked, combined in this case with borlotti beans, extra virgin olive oil of the lake of Garda and onion finely sliced.
go to the Italian pork meat cuts manual
go to other italian traditional recipes
