What is the difference between Italian mortadella and Russian boiled sausage? Italian sausage (mortadella) Bolognese sausage
Today you won’t surprise anyone with boiled sausage. It has long moved from the category of delicacies to the orderly ranks of everyday products. But, if domestic consumers increasingly associate industrial sausages with toilet paper, then the Italians talk about their Mortadella with their heads held high. Born in (Bologna), she became a symbol of this city and an example of quality meat products. Mortadella Bologna is a well-deserved owner.
Mortadella was probably first born in the 1st century in the area between the regions of (Emilia-Romagna) and (Lazio). But over time, this meat product faded into oblivion and reappeared only in the 16th century in the city of Bologna.
It is used in minced meat for making tortellini, stews, sauces, pies and salads. It is an ingredient in soups, omelettes and meatloaf. Pairs well with sparkling wines and champagne.
Calorie content and benefits
Mortadella is a much lower calorie product than it seems at first glance. 100 g of product contains only 288 kcal, which consist of:
- Proteins 15.7 g;
- Fat 25.0 g;
- Carbohydrates 0 g.
But despite the relatively low calorie content, the product has a fairly high content of fat and cholesterol (60-70 mg). In addition, the distribution of the proportion of fatty acids is biased towards saturated ones. These aspects make mortadella not entirely suitable for feeding people with high cholesterol or excess weight.
Sausage is also rich in sodium, found in table salt. Its excessive presence in the diet can lead to the development of hypertension in the long term.
The proteins that make up mortadella have high biological value. Their amino acid set mainly includes glutamic and aspartic acids, leucine and lysine. The last two are included in the list of essential amino acids that enter the human body only with food.
Mortadella is high in minerals, especially iron, phosphorus and zinc. Therefore, it can be considered an ideal food for people who perform physical activity and need to consume the “right energy”. Vitamins B1, B2 and niacin are another undoubted advantage of the product. They are directly involved in the regulation of metabolism.
From the above, we can conclude that the use of mortadella can be systematic rather than constant. The average portion of sausage for a healthy person leading an active lifestyle should not exceed 60-80 g. For athletes with heavy physical activity, it is allowed to eat more mortadella per meal.
Price for 1 kg
The cost of mortadella in Italy directly depends on the variety and manufacturer. The most valuable sausage from Bologna with the IGP quality mark can be bought within 12-25 Euros per 1 kg.
In Moscow, the cost of Italian mortadella varies from 1000 to 2200 rubles per 1 kg.
Now, after reading this article, do you understand the significant differences between mortadella and domestic sausages? If yes, then you should definitely go to the republic to taste the aromatic Bologna. Live briskly, hurry to love, take care of your loved ones and remember: “They don’t go to Italy with their “Doctorate”!”
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Mortadella (Bologna sausage) - traditional Italian deli meat. It is a boiled sausage made from minced pork and lard, which gives it a characteristic spotted structure.
Manufacturing
Italian mortadella sausage is traditionally made from ground pork and lard. Various spices are added to the resulting mixture. As a rule, these are black peppercorns, wine, pistachios, garlic and, without fail, dried myrtle berries. It is then boiled at a temperature of about 80 degrees Celsius, after which it is placed in a protein (edible) shell.
Calorie content
100 grams of Italian mortadella sausage contains about 311 kcal.
Compound
The traditional recipe for Italian mortadella sausage involves the use of minced pork and lard, as well as a number of spices - garlic, black peppercorns, wine, pistachios and dried myrtle berries. The chemical composition of this meat delicacy is characterized by a high content of saturated fats, proteins, lipids, poly- and monounsaturated fatty acids, cholesterol, vitamins (B6, B12, D) and minerals (iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium).
How to cook and serve
In Italian cuisine, mortadella sausage is one of the most popular ingredients. It is used not only in preparing sandwiches, but also in a whole range of traditional dishes, for example, in an omelette fritatta. Very often, mortadella is used in salads, cold appetizers and pastas, being an excellent “companion” for walnuts, sour berries, cheeses, chicken and quail eggs.
Mortadella is no less popular in national cuisines a number of countries in Eastern Europe, primarily Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia and Poland. As a rule, this meat delicacy is an inexpensive alternative to fried and stews from pork. Having previously been fried in batter, mortadella is served with potatoes or salads. In turn, in Vietnam this meat delicacy, known as Cha Lua, is often used to prepare one of the versions of the traditional dish Banh Cuon.
What goes with it?
Italian mortadella sausage goes well with most popular food products, first of all, walnuts, berries, cheese, eggs, vegetables, mushrooms, bakery and pasta, fermented milk products.
How to choose
There are a number of factors to consider when choosing Italian mortadella sausage. First of all, this is the appearance of the shell. In high-quality sausages, it is clean, smooth, tightly adjacent to the contents, without any damage. Another factor of choice is the color and uniformity of coloring of the sausage cut. It should be colored in soft shades of pink or red, and fatty inclusions should be white. In addition, high-quality mortadella has a characteristic “meaty” smell, without foreign inclusions.
Storage
The shelf life of this meat delicacy can vary significantly depending on the technology used in production, ingredients and quality of packaging. Given sausage product should be stored in the refrigerator at a temperature between 0 and 6 degrees Celsius. If there is no damage to the shell, it can retain all its original properties for 10-14 days. If it is necessary to store for a longer time (up to 30 days), Italian mortadella sausage can be frozen, ensuring a certain temperature regime (not higher than minus 18 degrees Celsius).
Beneficial features
Specific features of production technology and chemical composition make Italian mortadella sausage beneficial for the human body only when consumed in moderation. In particular, this meat delicacy stimulates the processes of hematopoiesis, metabolism and the formation of muscle and bone tissue, reduces nervous excitability, improves the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, and also increases immunity and has an immunostimulating, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory effect.
Restrictions on use
Individual intolerance, excess weight, diseases of the cardiovascular system.
Meat products similar in organoleptic qualities to this traditional Italian delicacy are produced in many countries, including Russia. In our country, mortadella is better known as “Russian”, “Stolichnaya” or “Lyubitelskaya” sausage. They differ from the “original” primarily in their recipe - minced meat is made from a mixture of pork and beef with the addition of lard, as well as eggs and milk. And the spices used are salt, coriander and nutmeg.
Getting to know the homeland of Leonardo da Vinci and Christopher Columbus would be incomplete without tasting Italian sausages, the names of which have long become synonymous. exquisite taste and unsurpassed quality. What varieties are worth trying in Italy – this will be discussed in this review.
Mortadella
The homeland of this boiled sausage is Bologna, so in other regions of Italy it is often called Bolognese. Tourists trying it for the first time are amazed by mortadella not only by its beautiful delicate taste, but also for its impressive size. The sausage has a cylindrical shape, and one loaf can weigh from 0.5 to 100 kilograms!
Mortadella is made from minced pork with pieces of tender lard, which is why the pattern on the cut resembles a mosaic. Other types of meat are often added to pork: veal, beef or horse meat. Some varieties of sausage contain cracklings and giblets. Garlic, pepper, pistachios, nutmeg, and dried myrtle berries are used as spices.
Sausage is usually cut into very thin slices and eaten with white bread, crackers or dry bread. Panini with mortadella is also popular in Italy.The best brands in the country are Mortadella di Prato and Mortadella Bologna. The latter can be considered a kind of culinary symbol of Bologna. Mortadella costs from 12 to 30 € per kg. Popular manufacturers are Salumeo, Golfera and Italia Alimentari S.p.A.
Salami
This Italian blue sausage is best known outside the country. It is prepared from pork with the addition of lard, black pepper, white wine and herbs. The delicacy has rich taste and the special aroma that spices give it. And what is especially important is that real Italian salami has a characteristic marbled pattern on the cut and a white “crust” made of mold.
Salami di Felino is considered one of the best varieties. It is produced in the city of the same name in the Italian province of Parma. The maturation process of this dry-cured sausage carried out under special temperature conditions and moisture, resulting in fermentation and mold. Such conditions allow the use minimal amount salt.
In the town of Felino there is a Salami Museum, which is located on the territory of a medieval fortress. Tours are conducted by English-speaking guides. Here you can get acquainted with the history of the famous sausage and local production traditions. The cost of the entrance ticket with tasting is 5 €.Another type of salami is pepperoni, a spicy type of sausage. It is also made from pork and is a popular sandwich ingredient. In Italy, salami can be bought at a price of 10-11 € per kilogram. Well-known producers are Negroni Groupe and Salumeo.
Ventricina
This is a fairly popular sausage in Italy. Her homeland is the Abruzzo region. Ventricina is made from pork and lard with salt and spices. Fennel, rosemary, pepper (sweet and hot), sometimes garlic and orange zest. There are two main types - Vasto and Teramo.
Ventricina Vasto contains 20-30% lard. All ingredients are not ground into minced meat, but cut into cubes. Then pieces of meat and lard are rolled in spices and filled with the shell. The sausage matures within 120 days. The finished product has a piquant, spicy aroma and an uneven red color.
The fat content of Ventricina Teramo sausage is much higher - 50-60%. It also contains by-products, and all ingredients are passed through a meat grinder. The delicacy is eaten spread on bread and used to prepare meat sauces.
Both varieties of sausage are named after the localities where they are produced. Traditionally, a pig bladder is used as a casing for ventricle, but modern manufacturers can also use an artificial casing. Ventricina is made by Portalupi, Villani SpA, Alto Concetto and other manufacturers. You can buy sausage in Italy at prices ranging from 18 to 32 € per kg.
Kotekino
This Italian sausage contains: pork neck, parts of the head, meat, lard, pieces of skin and cracklings. All ingredients are finely ground and seasoned with salt, pepper and spices. Sausage goes on sale raw, slightly dried. Demand for it increases on the eve of the New Year, since one of the traditional dishes on New Year's tables Italian residents eat cotecino with lentils.
Sausage must be cooked before use. Basically, it is baked or boiled over low heat, after piercing the shell in several places. On the cut finished product has a pink, almost red color. You can buy cotecino in Italy at prices ranging from 16 to 30 € per kg. One of the most famous sausage producers is Antica Ardenga Srl.
Salsiccia
These fatty sausages are made in many regions of Italy. And in each area, production and recipes have their own characteristics. In some areas, pork is used as the main ingredient - for this they take the back or thigh. In other areas, salsiccia may be made from turkey, lamb or beef, or with the addition of offal. The shell is used natural or artificial.
The ingredients are not chopped too finely. A mixture of herbs, fennel seeds, salt and pepper (allspice, bitter and paprika) are added to the prepared minced meat. Spices may also vary by region. In some Italian regions, coriander is added to these sausages, in others - garlic, in others - a little fortified wine and even cheese. The sausage has a small diameter and ring shape.
Salsiccia is also prepared in different ways. Some varieties are dried for two months, like Salsiccia Stagionata (its price ranges from 16 to 29 € per kg). Others sell it raw, like Salsiccia Fresca (it costs 13–15 €). These sausages can be baked or fried at home. Dried salsiccia is added to stews or used as a pizza topping. Among the manufacturers it is worth noting Salumeo and Casa Montorsi.
Where to try and buy sausage in Rome
The list of popular types of Italian sausages is not exhaustive. The sunny country produces many varieties, including many raw, dry-cured and smoked varieties. Local producers honor traditions, so the taste of some products has changed little since the Middle Ages, when they were served on the tables of the Italian nobility.
You can buy the best varieties of sausages in Italy at the Volpetti store in Rome (Via Marmorata, 47). The fantastic assortment of this gastronomic shop can amaze the most sophisticated gourmets. Each buyer will be helped to make a choice here, and tourists who buy delicious souvenirs before returning home will have their sausages vacuum-packed.
Another great place in Rome to buy authentic Italian delicacies is Antica Salumeria (Piazza della Rotonda 4/00186). The shop at this restaurant offers several hundred varieties of sausages, cheeses, dried meat products and wines. Here you can buy and taste products from local producers. Large plate with different types delicacies will cost 15 €.
When the average tourist from Russia is offered to try mortadella for the first time, he often falls into a stupor at the mere sight of it. “Fathers and mothers! Yes, it's ours boiled sausage! – the Russian exclaims.
Then he tries and concludes: “Only better. Much better". So, let's figure out how Italian mortadella differs from the boiled sausage familiar to all of us from childhood, which was eaten, for example, by the same Uncle Fyodor in the cartoon “Prostokvashino”.
1. Let's start with the composition of the products. Although it is similar, it is not identical. Mortadella is made exclusively from pork interspersed with fat (on average, each loaf of sausage costs 15% of it). If we compare mortadella with the products of our domestic manufacturer, then the closest thing to Italian sausage is the Soviet “Doctorskaya”. It contains not only pork, but also beef, plus, according to GOST, must be added chicken eggs, dry cow's milk, nutmeg, spices, sugar, salt, glucose and sodium nitrite. That is, in terms of composition, “Doctor’s” sausage cannot be called a 100% copy of the Italian specialty.
2. It is known that the Mikoyanovsky meat processing plant produced the first batch of “Doctor’s” sausage in 1936. The recipe was developed separately, without focusing on the Italians. Mortadella’s history is many times more ancient. It was made back in the days of the ancient Romans. This is evidenced, for example, by the artifacts exhibited today in the Bologna Museum - these are devices and utensils for making sausage. Besides, detailed description recipes for preparing mortadella are found in the document on meat dishes for 1376.
3. "Doctor's" sausage got its name due to the fact that the product was developed as one of the ingredients therapeutic nutrition for people who have suffered from poor health due to hunger or poor nutrition for a long period - do not forget, sausage was invented in the second half of the 30s. But the name mortadella comes from the Latin word “mortarium”. It was used to designate ceramic kitchen utensils - conical bowls in which food was crushed using a mortar or various foods were mixed. Actually, the meat was ground in the “mortarium”. By the way, this is the direct ancestor of the utensils for making pesto sauce.
4. It is curious that initially only myrtle berries were used as a seasoning to prepare mortadella. Today the product is also seasoned with pepper, but in the past it was too expensive. If we talk about the “Doctor’s” sausage, then when preparing it, according to GOST, coriander and nutmeg crushed to flour were supposed to be used as spices.
5. It is customary to cut mortadella into very thin pieces, as they say, through the light. Eat - on its own, as an appetizer for an aperitif, as one of the components of canapés, for example, with pickled onions or cucumbers, and also as a filling for sandwiches. But according to Russian traditions, the sausage should be chopped into thick pieces and placed on top of a piece of bread, although the same cat Matroskin said that the sandwich tastes better if the sausage is on the bottom and the bread is on top.
A couple more facts about mortadella that are worth knowing. Today, its variety with pistachios as a filling is widespread all over the world. Residents of Bologna are unfavorable to this version of their specialist. They say it’s not ours, it’s not ours. Although, the same Jamie Oliver likes to use this variety mortadella, it is invariably present on the menu of his restaurants.
There are no restrictions regarding the size of the product. As they say, the larger and more voluminous the mortadella, the more interesting it is, so sometimes it is almost the size of a log.
1427
There is a city in Italy called Bologna, founded in 510 BC. e. - the culinary capital of the country. Behind the scenes, Bologna is called “fat”. If you look at grocery store windows filled to the brim with cheeses and sausages, it immediately becomes clear why. The names of the sausage alone are worth it. See for yourself - cotecchino (boiled pork sausage), zampone (stuffed pork leg), pancetta (pork belly), cappello del prete oder Cappelletto (boiled pork sausage). Bolognese sauce and some types of pasta were born here, but the biggest celebrity is the sausage - mortadella.
Real Italian mortadella is the real child and pride of Bologna, which is why outside the city it is even called “Bologna”. This is certainly one of the most famous Italian delicacies. Currently, it is produced not only in the provinces of Parma and Bologna, but also in many other regions.
Mortadella has been made for at least five hundred years, and the recipe may have its roots in ancient Rome. The Romans' favorite sausage was farcimen mirtatum. They were flavored with myrtle berries and prepared using a pestle and mortar. The name mortadella comes from the Latin words mirtatum (myrtle) and mortario (mortar), and the recipe for the sausage remained unchanged until the Middle Ages.
Mortadella has the status of a product whose origin is controlled - the sausage, called mortadella, can only be produced in certain northern regions of Italy.
Today the cooking method and ingredients are slightly different, as Italian Cuisine, like many others, has evolved over several centuries.
Mortadella is made from ground pork and lard, which creates the characteristic mottled texture. Minced pork often mixed with other types of meat: beef, veal, horse meat. Sometimes giblets and greaves are added to the minced meat. Garlic, peppercorns, wine, and pistachios are used as spices when making mortadella. All this is then stuffed into a beef or pork casing, depending on the intended size of the sausage, and cooked depending on its weight. After cooking, the mortadella is left in a cool place to stabilize the sausage and give it body.
A mandatory requirement for classic Bolognese mortadella is the presence of dry myrtle berries as the main seasoning. Each manufacturer has its own recipe. In order for the final product to be called mortadella di Bologna, it must meet certain criteria, for example: the ratio of pork to fat must be seven to three. The texture of the sausage should be dense, with pieces of lard evenly distributed in each slice. These characteristic pieces should be tightly surrounded by the sausage mass and should not separate during slicing. Real mortadella is a dense, pink sausage with white pieces of lard. It should be slightly spicy, but its taste should be softened by lard, and there should be a characteristic aroma. A loaf of mortadella sausage can weigh from half a kilogram to two centners.
Serving and storing mortadella
Mortadella can be bought in almost all butcher shops in Bologna. There, on the spot, you can ask the butcher to cut the Mrrtadella, he knows a lot about it.
As with other types of Italian sausage, the thinner the piece, the better. Thin slices of mortadella are more pleasant and allow you to taste subtle notes of meat and spices. Thin slices also bring out the sausage's unique flavor, but mortadella can also be served cut into small cubes, like ham. Mortadella is served warmed to room temperature; Italians believe that this is the only way to feel the taste and aroma of thin slices. And when eating, they adhere to one principle - cut it very thin, eat it very quickly!
Mortadella is a very versatile dish that can be used in all types of dishes - from appetizers to main courses. Served with walnuts, cheeses and tart berries, or as a base for a delicious pasta, mortadella makes a great addition to a variety of appetizers. Mortadella is also good with eggs, as an ingredient for the Italian omelette known as fritatta. As far as pasta dishes go, mortadella is a wonderful filling in another Bolognese masterpiece, tortellini. However, true lovers of this famous sausage often simply slice it and serve it with good bread and light fruity red wine.
Popularity of mortadella
Mortadella is very popular in Spain and Portugal, where it is served with peppers and olives, but the sausage is especially popular in sandwiches.
Mortadella is also very popular in Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, Chile and Uruguay, thanks to the Italian immigrants who settled in these countries in the early 20th century.
This is interesting!