Salami
Sus scrofa domesticus · Meat
Top 10 pairings
A fermented, air-dried pork sausage, seasoned with garlic, pepper and wine and aged until firm enough to slice. Eaten cold, it is tangy, savoury and fatty. Styles run from fine Milano to garlicky soppressata.
Picking a good onedrag
Firm stick, dry white bloom, clean tangTacky or slimy, coloured mould, sour
Sound stickBuy itThe chalky white bloom is a cultivated mould, not spoilage. Fermenting and drying make it keep.
The stick in the handFirm, drier towards the tied ends
Casing and bloomBloom patchy or rubbed back
The cut faceA shade darker where it met air
Smell at the cutGarlicky, tang quieter, still clean