In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
This (mortadella) is often called 'bologna' due to it's origins. Some of the tastiest/best is mortadella di fegato (pigs liver). But mortadella di asino (donkey) is one of the many variations. The white pieces are called 'lardelli' and are just pieces of bacon fat (lardo) added just before the whole ting is steamed.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
I typed in Google - "Mortadella"
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortadella[/url]
Mortadella, a type of salami, is a finely hashed/ground heat-cured pork sausage which incorporates at least 15% small cubes of pork fat (principally the hard fat from the neck of the pig). It is delicately flavored with spices (including black pepper, whole corns or ground, myrtle berries, nutmeg and coriander) and typically pieces of pistachio nuts. Traditionally the pork filling was ground to a paste using a large mortar (mortaio) and pestle. Two Roman funerary stele in the archaeological museum of Bologna show such mortars. Alternatively, according to Cortelazzo and Zolli Dizionario Etimologico della Lingua Italiana 1979-88, Mortadella gets its name from a Roman sausage flavored with myrtle in place of pepper. The Romans called the sausage farcimen mirtatum. Anna del Conte (The Gastronomy of Italy 2001) found a sausage mentioned in a document of the official body of meat preservers in Bologna dated 1376, that may be mortadella.
Mortadella originated in Bologna, the capital of Emilia-Romagna; elsewhere in Italy it may be made either in the Bolognese manner or in a distinctively local style. The mortadella of Prato is a Tuscan speciality flavoured with pounded garlic. The mortadella of Amatrice, high in the Apennines of northern Lazio, is unusual in being lightly smoked.
Mortadella Bologna
This mortadella has Protected Geographical Indication status under European Union Law. The zone of production is extensive: as well as Emilia-Romagna and the neighbouring regions of Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, Marche and Tuscany it includes Lazio and the Province of Trento.
Mortadella abroad
A similar commercial product, called "bologna" and often omitting the cubes of pork fat, is popular in the United States. It is also known as polony in the United Kingdom.
"Mortadela" is also very popular in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, thanks to the large number of Italian immigrants established in these countries in the early 20th century. The normal spelling in these countries, however, is "Mortadela".
It is also very popular in Spain, where a variety with pepper and olives is widely consumed, especially in sandwiches. Sometimes, the standard mortadella is referred to as "Mortadela italiana" ("Italian mortadella"), because there's a local variant named "Catalana" or "Catalan mortadella" It's also popular in Iran, albeit usually made with beef or lamb, and called martadella or, more commonly, "cawlbawss" (compare Hungarian kolbász, from Turkish külbast?).
Have to say I always thought mortadella was made from pigs meat. However looking up various sites it seems to be made of "different meats" eg. pig/veal which go through a cooking process and are then minced into a type of paste. The white bits are supposed to be taken exclusively from the pigs throat.There are letters on the labelling, which apparantely tell you what type of mortadella it is. So "S" is pure suino (pig meat) "B" is suino and bovino (pig and cows meat) "O" is for ovine (sheep) and "C" for cavallo (horse meat) So maybe your teachers donkey meat could be true :) You can get donkey salami in some places too. There is a little shop on Lake Orta which sell this.
Karen