My favorite food of all time. I prefer salami over chocolate, as long as it’s good quality salami. I mentioned before that sometimes we simply have salami, cheese and baguette for dinner. Because of this, we pretty much have salami in our fridge all the time. I know the healthier way to go is to buy turkey breast or chicken, but I don’t prefer dry slices of turkey deli meat on my sandwich when I can have a very flavorful portion of Sopressata or Genoa salami instead.
The best salami producers in my opinion are the Italians, however there are many varieties available from different regions and countries. Take the Germans for example. They have a very good Kantwurst (salami) which is rectangular-shaped and it’s usually my favorite. They also have the Paprikasalami (with paprika), Haussalami (lots of spices), Putensalami (turkey), Weisse salami (literally means white salami), and Rindersalami (beef) just to name a few. The Hungarians have their Hungarian salami which has paprika in it and can be a bit spicy. The Spanish have their Fuet and Longaniza salami. The Italians have a never-ending list: the aforementioned Genoa and Sopressata, Capicola and Calabrese just to name a few. There are of course other deli meats but those will be mentioned in a different blog.
Thought I’d share pictures of the different types of salami, however not sure how helpful this will be to you since they all pretty much look the same. I suggest you go to your local deli and sample a few types. The German ones tend to be moister whereas the Italian ones are drier. The larger the diameter of the salami, usually the moister, so the really skinny ones are drier. Not the case for every single salami, but that’s usually how it goes. Also pay attention to the salt content and spices used. Some have pepper or paprika, some are made with garlic or fennel seeds. The more you try, the pickier you’ll be about future purchases.
People go wine tasting all the time, and now I hear olive oil tasting is quite the rage (or am I behind the times?), so I encourage you to do a salami tasting. I promise you, you’ll come out an educated happy camper.
Austrian Wieners
Sopressata
Capicola
Genoa
Hungarian
Fuet
Kantwurst
yummy stuff, it's what I love too, meat, meat, meat
ReplyDeleteIf you have the chance, try the salame felino. It's out of this world!
ReplyDeletei'll have to look for it at the local market. thanks for the suggestion Gio.
ReplyDelete