What is mortadella?
Edward Bottone is a food and lifestyle journalist, a former chef and restaurateur, TV and radio presenter, and culinary educator.
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Mortadella is the jolly, mottled, party ready, proud Italian, iconic sausage of Bologna, capitol of Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The huge, emulsified pork sausage bespeckled with pistachio, peppercorns and cubes of startling white pork throat fat, has a mildly spicy, smoky flavor and a fine texture and is a designation protected specialty of Bologna, Italy. Variations exist made from other localities. The name is derived from “mortaio per carne di maiale,” recalling the mortar with which the pork was once pulverised. Production of mortadella enjoys a long history in Bologna. During the middle ages a significant percentage of the city’s population was involved in the manufacture of the sausage. In 1661 by Papal decree, The Declaration of the Band of Mortadellas provided a legal definition for the members of the Guild that made revered sausage.
In the deli case, mortadella dwarfs other Italian cold cut offerings. A mortadella can be of a size that requires a special wooden cradle to display it.
Mortadella Bologna, sliced thinly for a sandwich, or part of a medley of meats for an Italian Hoagie, part of a charcuterie plate, or cubed as an hors d’Oeuvres, is an unexpected crowd pleaser. The American deli meat bologna (pronounced baloney) co-opted the name, but is only visually similar.
In 1971 Sophia Loren starred in a film La Mortadella (titled Lady Liberty in the USA) in which the action is propelled when she is stopped by American Customs Officials from entering the USA hugging a mortadella.
