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FOOD STUDENTS: DID YOU KNOW? |  |
Salami – what it is and how it’s made Salami on pizza is for some people what tomato sauce on noodles is for others. There is surely nothing to beat the aroma and taste of a salami pizza straight out of the oven! But do you know what salami really is? The easy answer, of course, is that salami is a sort of sausage – and one of the most popular of them all. You can find it in almost endless varieties on the sausage shelves in the supermarket, or at your butcher’s, and if you are looking for something a little out of the ordinary, you can treat yourself perhaps to a piece of Milan salami from a delicatessen. But if you look long enough at all the different kinds of salami, you will find yourself wondering what goes into them, and how they are made. Salami, then, is a kind of sausage. The word “sausage” comes originally from the Latin “salsicia”, which in turn is based on “salsus”, meaning salted. Salting, of course, is a form of preservation, though the word has long been used for spiced (not just salted) meat stuffed into a cylindrical skin made from an animal’s intestine. What makes one kind of sausage different from another is the special method of production. Depending on the type of processing, you can get cooked sausage (such as liver sausage or blood sausage), scalded sausage (pork sausage, Jagdwurst or meat loaf), and raw sausage. Salami belongs to the group of “raw” sausages. These, in turn, are subdivided into firm types such as mettwurst, cervelat and salami, and spreadable types such as teewurst. The fact that salami is a raw sausage indicates that the meat used for it is processed raw. In fact, the meat is not boiled or heated in any way even during the further course of processing. The basic ingredients for salami, depending on the particular type, are beef, turkey or pork, firm fat, salt, herbs and spices. Unlike other kinds of sausage, salami is made of muscle meat, which should be as dry as possible, together with firm fat taken from the back, shoulder and ham. The meat and fat are then ground to “sausage meat” in a cutter, a special machine with rotating blades. Care must be taken to ensure that the meat and fat are evenly ground to yield a uniform grain. The resulting type of sausage depends on the grain, i.e. how finely the pieces of meat have been ground – medium-grain is used for salami, fine-grain for cervelat. After grinding, the sausage meat is mixed with salt, herbs and spices and filled into moisture-permeable casings. Nowadays the casings are very rarely made of animal intestine, which is confined mostly to domestic slaughtering or to small producers. After filling has been done, the salami is left to “rest” for about 1 or 2 days at 24 °C and 95% humidity before being placed in climatically controlled chambers or drying lofts and allowed to mature slowly. This maturing process varies from a few days to several months and includes a number of sub-processes to help the salami keep longer and enhance its flavour. 1. The main purpose of maturing is to make the salami keep longer. A decisive part is played here by the lactic acid bacteria naturally present in meat. These bacteria transform the sugar content of the meat into acid. The resulting acid medium (with a pH value of around 5.3) inhibits the proliferation of spoilage micro-organisms. To ensure that sufficient acid is produced, small amounts of utilisable sugar are added to the sausage meat. These bacteria not only play a part in aroma formation, but even act chemically on parts of the fat content to split the fatty acids into taste enhancers. 2. During the maturing process the salami very gradually loses moisture. This decrease in water content makes an important contribution to helping the salami keep longer. Without water, many micro-organisms become unable to grow and proliferate. A low water content not only makes it impossible for many micro-organisms to grow and proliferate, but also strengthens the acid medium. Depending on the length of the maturing period, sausage can lose up to 40% of its original weight. 3. Both the processes just mentioned are accompanied by the development of a characteristic reddish cured colour. The addition of “cure” (sodium nitrite) to the sausage meat ensures that the salami will not take on a disagreeable appearance during processing but will retain its fresh and appetising colour. Cure has the effect of converting the muscle colour pigment (myoglobin) to the heat-resistant cure pigment. 4. A long maturing period not only ensures that salami keeps longer and develops aroma, but also gives it its firm consistency. When salt is added during the grinding of the raw meat, the milk protein is dissolved and forms a thin film round the meat particles, thus giving rise to a fine grid construction in which the fat particles can be enclosed. The meat and fat particles adhering together in this way are tightly bound together by the lowering of the pH value, the decreasing water content and a number of attendant biochemical processes. To achieve a more intensive taste, the maturation period can be as much as six months or even longer, depending on the type of salami. Another way of refining salami is to smoke it cold during or after maturation. Thus the combined action of various sub-processes helps to give each type of salami its own particular texture, and this is the reason for the enormous variety of salamis on the market. Nowadays salami production is taking more account of modern dietary habits. The fat content has been reduced considerably by increasing the proportion of meat. With an average fat content of 27 g per 100 g portion, salami need not take back seat to other foods eaten on bread, such as ham or cheese. In any case, fat is an important supplier of energy and nutrition for many of our bodily functions. To perform some of these functions our bodies need animal fats. Given a balanced diet, in which salami plays a part, we can make sure that we take up sufficient amounts of all the nutrients we need. One point which should not be forgotten is that salami would not be so tasty without fat, since the fat content is an indispensable vehicle for all the flavours and aromas. Enjoy your next salami pizza!
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