Apropos of nothing (what is this world coming to?) a friend shared this piece with me today about beloved, historic, traditional Bologna. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/09/opinion/italy-tourists-bologna-mortadella.html
Tourism is a double edged sword - no doubt.
But I was surprised by this
mortadella is a cold cut made of finely ground, light-pink pork dotted with white cubes of fat and, occasionally, pistachios.
I’ve been to Italy, never Bologna, so my mortadella experience is strictly state side. But I find it almost always has pistachio here.
Other’s experiences?
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I see the fat-type far more often than pistachios.
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I see it both ways but I do believe the fat cubes are more frequent in italy; served over the fried breads likek gnoccho fritto or crescentini frequent in emilia-romagna, the fat slightly melts, beautifully when the meat is draped over). I buy mortadella maybe once a year at an italian store that sells the imported product and they usually have a couple of times, but . Id venture that most mortadella sold in the US is produced domestically and I dont know about that… Next time I go to the store (deli and italian will take a look, but personally I find the fat cubes the best feature. I imagine there are some americans who would rather not look at their fat though!
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Yes the fat cubes are typical. For me (East coast - maybe that is relevant) it almost always has pistachios - I only know because a friend has nut allergies so when they are coming over I try to get without, and that is very rare for me.
I guess because of that I always assumed having nuts was more common but guess I have that backwards.
In Canada, the mortadella that’s either made here or imported rarely has pistachios.
I’ve never tried the pistachio version.
There is a leaner version, and the traditional version with fat cubes, as well as a spicy version with chiles added which is less common.
a leaner version does not sound very authentic!
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Correct, it isn’t authentic.
I’m not sure if it’s available in Italy. I would think it is.
The lean version I’ve tried was pretty good for what it is.
It’s better tasting than most I’ve tried.
I decided to compare nutrition stats, on the San Daniele lean/light mortadella and the classic. San Daniele is the brand I see the most in Toronto.
Classic
Lean/ Light, half the fat. It still contains some fat blobs.
BITD, Capri brand made the bologna I grew up on. So that’s the taste I was accustomed to.
When that became unavailable, I went with Foster Farm’s Chicken bologna.
That’s gone now and I haven’t found a brand I like, so I don’t eat it. Sliced up hot dogs (Costco Kirkland have enough garlic in them) are the replacement and I rarely eat those now.
We used to have Saag’s brand products readily available in the SFBA. I haven’t seen any in 25 years.
One of my biggest nostalgic foods from my childhood is pistachio bologna.
It’s about as far removed from any artisan Italian mortadella as possible, but I had to get it every summer we’re in Berlin… until this summer when I decided to no longer buy it. It’s mass-produced & the brand has the worst rating for animal welfare.
I’ll miss it, tho.
I’m curious about those labels. They’re exactly in the format we see here in the US. Were they from US products, or does Canada follow the same format?
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These are Canadian labels, from San Daniele mortadella. Canadian nutrition labels are similar to American ones.
Ummmm… wut?
