Salami

Salami is a raw sausage: it is stuffed raw into the casing, then acidified and dried over several weeks until it is firm enough to slice and can be stored uncut without refrigeration.

Salami is a raw sausage: it is filled raw into the casing, then acidified and dried for weeks until it is firm to the slice and can be stored uncut without refrigeration.

The word comes from the Italian "salame," meaning salt sausage. The sausage originated from a necessity: meat had to last a long time even without a refrigerator.

What exactly is salami?

Two processes turn raw ingredients into a salami, and both require time. First, the acidity. Lactic acid bacteria transform the sugar in the meat and any added sugar into lactic acid; according to the guidelines for meat and meat products, this additive must not exceed 2 percent of the final product. The acidity changes the protein in the meat; it swells and binds water differently, which creates the sausage's texture. Then, the drying. Water migrates from the inside to the surface and evaporates there; the combination of acidity and moisture loss makes the sausage shelf-stable, and the ripening flora develops its aroma during this time.

How long this takes depends on the coating: salami with a ripening coating matures for 8 to 14 weeks depending on the variety and caliber, while salami without a coating takes 4 to 8 weeks. In the process, it loses about 32 percent of its weight in water. So, what ends up on your cutting board is about a third lighter than what went into the casing weeks earlier.

What kind of meat is salami made of?

If the name does not state otherwise, it is beef, pork, or both. The guidelines list the starting materials as beef low in tendons and fatty tissue, coarsely de-tendoned beef, coarsely de-fatted pork, and bacon; beef and pork are interchangeable here. They cite medium-coarse grinding as a particular characteristic of salami.

The bacon is not just an accessory. Bacon with a low melting point is less suitable for dry-cured sausage because it results in more white and less red when sliced.

If only meat from a different animal species is used, this is stated in the name, such as "wild boar salami"; if it is only used partially, it is also stated there, if necessary with the percentage content. All this describes what is expected under a specific name in Germany. These guidelines explicitly do not apply to the designation of products from other member states.

What is the difference between salami and other sausages?

Salami is a sausage – the others are meant here. Scalded sausage (Brühwurst) is scalded, baked, fried, or heat-treated in another way, causing the muscle protein to coagulate. Cooked sausage (Kochwurst) is primarily made from cooked starting materials; salami is not heated, but rather matured and dried. One type of sausage uses heat, this one uses time.

This is also why the slice holds together differently. During the maturation process, muscle protein is released at the surface of the meat particles and binds the meat and fat tissue particles together. This is exactly what you see when you slice it: clear edges on the grains, fat and meat neatly side-by-side, nothing smeared. For this to succeed, the mass is best processed while pre-frozen and pressed into the casing without abrasion or smearing.

The second look is at the edge. The water must migrate slowly and evenly from the inside to the outside; if the sausage dries too quickly on the outside, this migration is interrupted, and a dry rim forms—a technological error that becomes more difficult with larger calibers.

Then there is the white coating. Air-dried and lightly smoked raw sausages sometimes carry whitish deposits of microorganisms on the casing; for many varieties, an edible noble mold is applied to regulate drying and delay dry rims. However, white does not necessarily mean "grown": if a white dipping agent or a white-pigmented casing is used, this must be indicated. You can therefore read on the packaging whether the fuzz is grown or applied.

What is allowed to be called salami?

The name is not a judgment of taste, but a benchmark. The guidelines list salami among the firm raw sausages and provide analytical values: meat protein excluding connective tissue protein must not be less than 13 percent of the product, or 12.5 percent for a caliber over 70 millimeters. These figures state what can be expected under the name. They are not nutritional information.

Some names are more narrowly defined. Finocchiona is registered as a protected geographical indication in the EU register eAmbrosia, by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/629. It is this exact word that is protected; descriptive prefixes are not part of the registration.

With the Fennel Salami from Falorni, a lot depends on a single ingredient. The Antica Macelleria Falorni in Greve in Chianti describes its Finocchiona as having the aroma of wild fennel seeds and a velvety taste. The fennel is not a flavoring, but an ingredient: seeds of wild fennel, declared at 0.3 percent. In addition, 100 percent Italian pork, processed to a medium-coarse grind, filled into natural casing, and naturally matured for 6 to 7 weeks.

Salami from South Tyrol and Tuscany

The salami in our range comes from two producers. In addition to the Fennel Salami, the Mountain Salami, the Spicy Salami with at least 0.15 percent chili pepper, and the Wild Boar Salami with at least 20 percent wild boar meat come from Greve in Chianti. From Rasun-Anterselva in the South Tyrolean Puster Valley come those from the Steiner butchery: the House Salami made of 70 percent beef and 28 percent pork, the Venison Salami with 70 percent venison, and the Chili Salami made of beef and pork. They are listed side by side under Salami.

According to their own information, Steiner operates the only game processing center in South Tyrol, works with the local hunting grounds, and butchers the game meat in their own delivery center. According to the declaration, the House Salami and Venison Salami contain lactose, and the Venison Salami also contains celery. For the Venison Salami and the Chili Salami, the casing is not edible according to the declaration; it is peeled off before slicing.

At home, sausage is best kept at 4 to 7 degrees, and long-matured varieties like salami keep for a very long time in one piece, even after being cut. Buying a whole piece is therefore more worthwhile than buying it pre-sliced: pre-cut goods have more surface area, which encourages spoilage. Only slice when the plate is ready, and then as thinly as the knife allows.

The Viennese salami sellers did this in front of their customers, and it was not a trick, but proof: only a sausage that was well-matured and well-dried could be sliced that thinly. The word "salami tactics" comes from this same sliceability. A board, a sharp knife, dark bread, and whoever happens to be there: that is all a sausage needs that has taken weeks for itself.

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