Mortadella
Sus scrofa · Meat
Top 10 pairings
Mortadella is the great emulsified pork sausage of Bologna — a large, smooth, pale-pink salume of finely ground cured pork bound into a silky paste and studded with glossy cubes of fat, whole peppercorns and, in its prized version, green pistachios. Gently spiced and slow-steamed in vast casings until set, then sliced wafer-thin, it is mild, fatty and faintly sweet-savoury, and it is the direct ancestor of American bologna.
Picking a good onedrag
Freshly faced: bright pink, pearly fat, mild spiceSticky, sour, grey-green or mouldy
Sound and chilledEveryday bestCooked already, so it is eaten cold. Pregnant, 65 or older, or immunocompromised? Heat it to 74 C / 165 F, steaming hot: Listeria.
The cut faceBright pink, a slightly duller rim where air has reached
The fat squaresWhite cubes, a few larger or unevenly scattered
Press the surfaceFirm, faintly moist from the pack, nothing stays on the finger
Smell at the cutGently spiced and clean, quieter than at the first cut