There is something about a slice of mortadella. It's is silky , savory- sweet slice of goodness.Thanks to a new interest it;s making a big comeback. Ever culture is discovering it and tring new recipes made with it.
Regular contributor Julia Moskin wrote about this mouth watering treat in today's New York Times Wednesda Food section. Surprisingly the cold cut went out of favor for a long time and has faced some snobbery(although why is the big question here) For a long time fussy chefs and gourmands considered mortadella to be in the smae catagory as baloney, olive loaf and even head cheese! Sadly and unfairly it was more or less thrown in the catagory of mystery meat. THrow in the import ban from the US Food and Drug Adminsitration. Mortadella, along with other cured meats were banned from import between 1967 until 2000 when an excess of caution about swine flu(which never contaminated the cold cuts) was called.Thankfully love of this delicious meat is now on the upswing. Americans are now curious about all thing French charcuterie and the meats that make up the boards. Some chefs are even creating their own fat tubes of mortadella.
What exactly is mortadella?It's a cooked meat of sorts. Chunks of pork (at least fifteen) are ground with the pigs; fat. Butcher Joe Paish who works at the trendy Rolo's restaurant in Brooklym adds ice to his mix to prevent the emulsion from breaking. The sausage 's history goes way back to the Renaissance where it was at the height of its' popularity. Exotic ingredients like peppercorns from East Asia and pistachios from the Mediterranean were added.It was fabulously expensive and artful, with such powerful familys like the Medicis and the Borgias being its' biggest consumers.It evolved into an everyday luxury in in cubes with Lambrusco an Italian fruit wine as an aperitivo along with being ground into tortallini filling. The last is added to broth for the popular CHristmas soup zuppa imperiale. Now other cultures like the Chinese and Japanese are using it as filling in such dishes as scallion pancakes and coated with panko crumbs and fried at the popular West Village Japanese restaurant Katana Kitten. Still the best way to have it is just on a good thick slice of Italian or French bread.
Mortadella is thankfully popular again, Fall in love with this sweet-savory cold cut. It's really the perfect food.
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