The Italian cured deli meats are the flagship of Italian production of meat products. Their main characteristic is that the meats used to produce them are not cooked but processed raw, using the different conservation techniques: seasoning, salting, spicing, bagging, smoking, used to obtain products among the most famous in the world. On the whole of Italian cured meats the raw ones are the most numerous.
Considered the "prince" of Italian deli meats. The Prosciutto Crudo (raw ham) is a seasoned product obtained from selected pork thighs, coming from animals weighing between 160 and 180 kg.
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The salami has ancient roots: over the centuries it has evolved into different varieties, to the point of constituting a real “family”, with specialties for each region.
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Speck is a typical product from the northeast of Italy obtained by the raw thigh of the hog, smoked and seasoned. The Speck of Alto Adige has received the European PGI mark recognition.
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Bresaola is obtained from cuts of beef thigh, dry tanned with salt, pepper, garlic, cinnamon, bay leaves and cloves. It is a typical production of Northern Italy and only the one produced in the province of Sondrio (Lombardy) has the European recognition of Bresaola della Valtellina PGI.
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Culatello is considered one of the most prestigious deli meats in the Italian production tradition. It is obtained from the hind limbs of the pig, defatted and deprived of the rind, in which the muscle mass around the femur is isolated.
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The coppa is a typical product of the Parma and Piacenza area but it is also prepared in other parts of Italy and marketed under different names: in the south it is often called capocollo and is obtained with slightly different procedures, but it is still the same product.
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The pancetta is obtained from the belly of the pig and its shape, once finished its processing, changes according to the variety. For instance, it is square in the case of the pancetta “tesa” (tense), which can be with or without rind, spicy, classic or smoked.
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The lard is obtained from the back of the hog, exactly from the part of fat that is found under the rind. For a quality product heavy pigs are used, ie animals with well developed musculature and a ratio between fat and lean cuts favourable to the latter.
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The cooked Italian deli meats are produced using the same pigs used for the production of the most famous raw cured meats: unlike these, their production involves a cooking process, which characterizes the taste, the nutritional qualities and inevitably also the ingredients necessary for achieve them. For example, they are suitable for consumption during pregnancy, because the cooking phase inhibits any threat to the mother and unborn child. This group includes cooked ham, mortadella, cotechino and zampone, but also other products less known as greaves.
Discover all cooked deli meatsThe gastronomic tradition boasts numerous masterpieces: just think that in Italy about 700 different deli meats have been counted from north to south and the number seems to be an estimate by default. Many are present throughout the territory, with characteristics that vary from region to region; others, are typical of specific territories and can be found only in those areas. Among these, for example, goose salami and porchetta, which are fully part of our traditional deli meats
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