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There is a city of Bologna in Italy, founded in 510 BC. NS. is the culinary capital of the country. Behind the eyes, Bologna is called "fat". If you look at the windows of grocery stores filled to the brim with cheeses and sausages, it becomes immediately clear why. The names of the sausages alone are worth something. See for yourself - kotekino (boiled pork sausage), tsampone (stuffed pork leg), pancetta ( pork belly), cappello del prete oder Cappelletto (boiled pork sausage). Bolognese sauce was born here, some types of pasta, but the biggest celebrity is the sausage - mortadella.

A real Italian mortadella is a real child and pride of Bologna, so outside the city it is even called "Bologna". This is by far 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 its recipe may have its roots in ancient Rome. The favorite sausage of the Romans was called farcimen mirtatum. They were seasoned with myrtle berries and prepared using a pestle and mortar. The name mortadella comes from the Latin mirtatum (myrtle) and mortario (mortar), and the recipe for the sausage remained unchanged until the Middle Ages.
Mortadella has the status of a controlled product - a 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 the centuries.

Mortadella is made from minced pork and lard, which results in a characteristic mottled texture. Minced pork is often mixed with other types of meat: beef, veal, horse meat. Sometimes giblets and greaves are added to the minced meat. Garlic, peppercorns, wine, pistachios are used as spices in the manufacture of mortadella. All this is then hammered into beef or pork casing, depending on the intended size of the sausage, and cooked, depending on its mass. After cooking, the mortadella is left in a cool place to stabilize the sausage and give it firmness.

A mandatory requirement for the classic Bolognese mortadella is the presence of dry myrtle berries as the main seasoning. Each manufacturer has its own recipe. 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 firm, and pieces of bacon should be evenly distributed in each slice. These characteristic pieces should be tightly surrounded by the sausage mass and should not come off during slicing. Real mortadella is a dense, pink sausage with white lard. It should be slightly spicy, but the flavor should be softened by lard and a characteristic aroma should be present. A loaf of mortadella sausage can weigh from half a kilogram to two centners.

Filing and storage of mortadella

Mortadella can be bought in almost all butcher shops in Bologna. In the same place, on the spot, you can ask the butcher to cut the mrrtadella, he really knows a lot about this.
As with other types of Italian sausages, the thinner the bite, the better. Thin slices of mortadella are more pleasant, and allow you to feel subtle notes in the taste of meat and spices. Thin slices also allow for a more unique flavor of this sausage, however, 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 used, they adhere to one principle - cut very thinly, eat very quickly!

Mortadella is a very varied dish that can be used in all kinds of dishes, from appetizers to main courses. Filed with walnuts, cheeses and sour berries, or as a base for a delicious pasta, mortadella can be a great ingredient in a variety of snacks. Mortadella is also good with eggs, as an ingredient in an Italian omelet known as fritatta. When it comes to pasta dishes, mortadella is a wonderful filling in another Bologna masterpiece, tortellini. However, true lovers of this famous sausage often simply cut it and serve it with good bread and a light fruity red wine.

The popularity of mortadella

Mortadella is very popular in Spain and Portugal, where it is served with peppers and olives, but sausage is especially loved 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.

It is interesting!

Mortadella (bologna sausage) is a traditional Italian meat delicacy. Represents boiled sausage, made from minced pork and lard, which gives it its characteristic mottled texture.

Manufacturing

Italian sausage mortadella is traditionally made from minced 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. Then it is 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.

Composition

The traditional recipe for the Italian mortadella sausage involves the use of minced pork and lard, as well as a number of spices - garlic, black peppercorns, wine, pistachios and dry 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

V Italian cuisine mortadella sausage is one of the most popular ingredients. It is used not only in sandwiches, but also in a number of traditional dishes, such as fritatta omelette. Mortadella is often used in salads, cold cuts and pastas, making it an excellent companion for walnuts, sour berries, cheeses, chicken and quail eggs.

Mortadella is no less popular in national cuisines a number of Eastern European countries, 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 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 traditional dish Banh Cuon.

What is combined with

Italian sausage mortadella goes well with most popular food products primarily 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 an Italian mortadella sausage. First of all, it is appearance shell. Quality sausages it is clean, smooth, tight to the contents, without any damage. Another factor of choice is the color and uniformity of the cut of the sausage. 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 the production, ingredients and the quality of the packaging. This sausage product should be stored in the refrigerator at a temperature between 0 and 6 degrees Celsius. In the absence of damage to the shell, it can retain all its original properties for 10-14 days. If it is necessary to store it for a longer time (up to 30 days), the Italian mortadella sausage can be frozen, while providing a certain temperature regime (not higher than minus 18 degrees Celsius).

Beneficial features

Specific features of production technology and chemical composition make the Italian mortadella sausage useful 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, anti-inflammatory effect.

Restrictions on use

Individual intolerance, overweight, diseases of the cardiovascular system.

Similar software organoleptic qualities For this traditional Italian delicacy, meat products are produced in many countries, including Russia. In our country, mortadella is better known as the sausage "Russian", "Stolichnaya" or "Amateur". They differ from the "original", first of all, in the recipe - minced meat is made from a mixture of pork and beef with the addition of lard, as well as eggs and milk. And as spices, salt, coriander and nutmeg.

Today, mortadella can be found in almost any large supermarket, anywhere in the world.

Even many sausage manufacturers in the CIS countries are trying to figure out its recipe and produce, to put it mildly, a parody of mortadella, the same can be said about other typical Italian products. But any Italian will say without hesitation that the best mortadella produced in her homeland in the region.

The production of mortadella is carried out according to a strictly established recipe. For this, chilled or frozen meat is used, which is carefully chopped before being mixed with other ingredients. Then pieces of high-quality lard are added to the minced meat(chopped to about 1 cubic centimeter) and a mixture of spices (salt, white pepper, coriander, anise, pistachios and wine).

After that, the resulting mixture is packaged. Mortadella casings can be either natural or artificial. This does not particularly affect the quality.

After packaging, mortadella is processed using special heaters at a temperature of 75 ° C... The cooking time depends on the size (diameter) of the sausage, and can last from one to several hours. Mortadella is considered ready when the core temperature reaches 70 ° C... And only after that, the sausage is quickly cooled.

Mortadella sausage can be perfectly different sizes, usually from 500 grams to 100 kilograms.

Ideally, real mortadella should be free from fillers, flavors, artificial colors, and preservatives.

But some manufacturers add sodium caseinate to a product of low or medium quality to improve the taste.

How mortadella is eaten

If you have already been to Italy, then most likely you know that almost everything is very thinly sliced ​​on a special machine. Mortadella belongs to such sausages, about which we can say - the thinner the tastier. Although it can be served in any form - cut with an ordinary knife, cubes, etc.

Since this perishable product, Italians prefer to buy a little of it, well, let's say that it is enough only for a sandwich or for preparing a dish (for one meal). In my practice (when I worked in an Italian shop), one lady asked to cut only 30 grams. This is normal in Italy.

Mortadella is used to prepare many dishes, but in my opinion the most common is an ordinary fresh bun (panino) inside of which several pieces of sausage lie. Favorite food for people who do not have the opportunity to dine at home.

The average cost of a good quality mortadella (in specialized stores - "salumeria") is 12 €. In supermarkets, you can find cheaper, but inferior quality.

Cut pork and beef into random pieces. Pass the pork through a meat grinder (with lattice holes 2-3 mm), add 1 tbsp. l. salt and all the sugar, stir, put in a bowl, cover tightly with foil and keep for 12 hours or a little longer in the refrigerator at 3-4 ° C.

Separately, in the same way, in a meat grinder with 2–3 mm lattice holes, grind the beef, add the remaining salt, mix, put in a bowl, cover tightly with foil and keep in the refrigerator for the same time as pork.

Thoroughly mix both types of prepared minced meat and pass through a meat grinder four times, each time gradually (about 2 tsp.) Adding white wine to the minced meat.

Put cumin seeds in a dry frying pan, heat over low heat and cook, shaking the frying pan for 1–2 minutes, until the aroma appears. Then crush the seeds in a mortar as fine as possible and add it to the minced meat. Mix thoroughly.

Pistachios pour hot water(but not boiling water!) to remove excess salt and dust from them and dry completely on a paper towel. Add to the minced meat together with freshly ground white pepper.

Grate nutmeg on the finest grater and add to chopped meat... Add black peppercorns. Mix thoroughly again.

Lard wrap in foil and put in the freezer for 20-30 minutes, so that the fat hardens and is easy to cut. Using a sharp knife, dipping it in hot water, cut the bacon into cubes with a side of 10-12 mm.

Add the chopped bacon quickly, while it is still cold, to the minced meat and stir gently. This time, you do not need to thoroughly knead the minced meat - it is enough that the pieces of bacon are distributed more or less evenly.

Cling film fold 4 times. You should have a rectangle measuring 30x40 cm. Put the minced meat on the film in the form of a "loaf" so that its short sides do not reach the edge of the film by at least 5 cm, along the long edge closest to you - by 5 cm, along the far - by 15 cm. –20 cm.

Mortadella is a cooked Italian sausage with a history. Why they love him, where he came from and what to cook with - we figure it out.

The Mortadella sausage variety was traditionally prepared in Bologna, Italy. To do this, they take pork meat, mix it with high-quality fat of the throat, season with salt, white and black, and less often allspice, pepper, anise, often pistachios and always wine. Whipped mousse ingredients fill natural casings and left in a cool place for aging. The result is a sausage with a dense texture with evenly distributed pieces of fat and pistachios, a recognizable spicy taste.

History

The Roman sausage farcimen mirtatum is considered to be the ancestor of mortadella. Pork was mixed with its own fat, ground, and myrtle berries were used as a spice. Today, mortadella in Italy has become the ancestor of a whole family of varieties that differ only in the composition of the spices and the diameter of the sausages. The most common condiments in variations are cognac, garlic, olives.

Pork meat is put in mortadella best grade, exclusively from well-fed Italian boars.

The stuffed sausages go by for a long heat treatment in a hearth made of stones, at a temperature of 75-77C. This sausage contains practically no preservatives.

Christopher of Messisburg gives the most early recipe mordatella. First, he describes for a long time the process of cleansing and emptying the pork bladder, then lists the ingredients of the minced meat, then explains how to stuff it correctly: for every 25 pounds of meat, add 10 ounces of salt and one pepper. " Christopher advises that you knead the mixture with your fist and add a glass of red wine. After that, some giblets were added to the minced meat.

All Italian manufacturers must indicate the location and region of the manufacturer on the packaging, but we recommend trying the classic one from Bologna. Sausage and ham products from Emilia are unmatched. Bolognese classic minced mortadella of pork and ground beef noble and intelligent in comparison with the more rude Modena. Both mortadella contain wine, pepper, nutmeg, coriander and garlic. Until now, people in Bologna like to add dry myrtle berries to the composition. A loaf of sausage can weigh from half a kilogram to two centners.

Use

Mortadella does not last very long. Delicate taste and aroma quickly deteriorate.

It is better to eat a cut piece of sausage in the next 3-4 days. Mortadella goes well with cheeses, walnuts, sour berries, omelets and sandwiches are often prepared with it. Cut the sausage into thin slices or small cubes. As a snack, it is cut into thin, almost translucent slices and eaten cold - its taste and texture greatly benefit from this. Served with bread and wine.

SANDWICH WITH TOMATOES AND MORTADELLA

• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• a large handful of sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 large ciabatta
• lettuce leaves
• 150 grams of cheese (provolone or your choice)
• fresh arugula
• a few slices of mortadella
• olive oil

In a small bowl or glass, combine mustard and 4 tablespoons olive oil, mix well until smooth. Cut the ciabatta, grease the bread with dressing, put lettuce, cheese, sausage, tomatoes and arugula on top, season with salt and pepper. Cover with a second layer of ciabatta and press down a little.

SANDWICH WITH MORTADELLA AND CHEESE (step by step)

To make a sandwich like this for delicious breakfast, remember - we use the most delicious bread and mortadella is the best you can find and your favorite cheese.