John Myers
While salami and cervelatwurst are only made as sliceable raw sausage, there are also spreadable versions of the mettwurst. Although the three types of sausage look very similar in sliceable form at first glance, there are differences in the production and the ingredients used.
The salami probably has the greatest variety of varieties. Originally, mainly donkey or mule meat was used for the production, nowadays beef, pork or turkey meat are more common. When filling the salami sausage mass, care must be taken to ensure that the sausage is filled tightly and without air pockets. As a rule, salamis are cold-smoked, while some varieties are air-dried. Classic varieties are also characterized by a greyish, light and natural noble mold coating, which can also be applied artificially.
The variety of varieties is mainly due to different national traditions. Italy, Hungary, France and Spain, for example, have a long salami tradition in Europe. The Hungarian types of salami taste spicy and intense, the French types are finer and milder, the Spanish types have particularly large pieces of fat, and Italian types are mostly air-dried.
In general, salami is made from a coarser mass than cervelat sausage. The clearly visible pieces of fat make them appear fatter, but in reality salamis contain less fat than cervelat sausages. As a rule, beef, pork, bacon, curing salt and special spices such as pepper, cardamom and aromatic spirits such as rum are mixed and very finely chopped in the cutter. The sausage mass is then filled into a casing and smoked cold. Originally, brain (Italian: “cervellata”) was also processed, which is how the Cervelatwurst got its name.
Cervelat sausages and salamis are always sliceable, Mettwurst, on the other hand, is available as a sliceable and spreadable version. Mettwurst typically consists of pork, beef and bacon. The granulation is usually fine and the red color of the muscle meat is stabilized and retained with nitrite curing salt. Pepper is also among the usual spices, along with salt and paprika. The sausage mixture is filled into tear-resistant natural or artificial casings, and the Mettwurst is then cold-smoked. The sliceable Mettwurst mature for at least a week, depending on the quality level longer. The spreadable variants, on the other hand, get their taste after just a few days.
Due to the bacon content, mettwurst contains more fat than salami and is comparable to cervelatwurst in this respect. The sliceable sausages are used as a topping for bread, as a snack or as an ingredient in stews and soups. The soft Mettwurst are best spread on bread.
