Traditionally, on December 8th (the Immaculate Conception day) the families of Bergamo used to “kill the swine”. This ritual was winter’s main event: it involved every family member, from children to elderly people, led by the pork butcher (called “norcino” in Italian), the one who directed all the operations and gave the salami his magical touch by adding spices (secret, of course) and salt (“salt” in Italian, hence the word “salame”)
The climate, the aeration and the ancient processing techniques, besides the know-how and the skills of Bergamo’s pork butchers, contribute to make salami an inimitable product. You can’t resist it!
Compact, doughy and soft at the same time, fragrant and delicious, amazingly soluble. Its aromas remind of red pepper, garlic and fresh meat. Expertly spiced with pepper, nutmeg, cloves, mace, cinnamon, coriander and other “secret” ingredients that the ancient grocers have transmitted over the time by means of several cookbooks (dating back to the XVI Century) to the pork butchers of Bergamo, the real directors of this product.
Bergamo salami was and still is the noble product obtained by the pig’s butchery. Meat cuts are carefully selected by the pork butcher, who minces the lean meats (thigh, shoulder, “coppa”) and mixes them with a 20% of fat cuts (chin or pancetta). Afterwards, he cuts the lard with a knife, so that it does not get warmer. Finally he takes his spices, salt, garlic soaked in red wine, pepper, and mixes it all together on the table. Then he inserts the mixture in the bowel and starts to tie the salami. The product must age in a cellar or in a room with controlled temperature and humidity.
The Bergamo Pork Butchers Association (“Associazione norcini bergamaschi”) organises some very popular courses attracting many students from all over the world .
Associazione Norcini bergamaschi, via Dante Alighieri, 27. Calcinate (BG). Tel. +39 3384645479
Traditionally, on December 8th (the Immaculate Conception day) the families of Bergamo used to “kill the swine”. This ritual was winter’s main event: it involved every family member, from children to elderly people, led by the pork butcher (called “norcino” in Italian), the one who directed all the operations and gave the salami his magical touch by adding spices (secret, of course) and salt (“salt” in Italian, hence the word “salame”)
The climate, the aeration and the ancient processing techniques, besides the know-how and the skills of Bergamo’s pork butchers, contribute to make salami an inimitable product. You can’t resist it!
Compact, doughy and soft at the same time, fragrant and delicious, amazingly soluble. Its aromas remind of red pepper, garlic and fresh meat. Expertly spiced with pepper, nutmeg, cloves, mace, cinnamon, coriander and other “secret” ingredients that the ancient grocers have transmitted over the time by means of several cookbooks (dating back to the XVI Century) to the pork butchers of Bergamo, the real directors of this product.
Bergamo salami was and still is the noble product obtained by the pig’s butchery. Meat cuts are carefully selected by the pork butcher, who minces the lean meats (thigh, shoulder, “coppa”) and mixes them with a 20% of fat cuts (chin or pancetta). Afterwards, he cuts the lard with a knife, so that it does not get warmer. Finally he takes his spices, salt, garlic soaked in red wine, pepper, and mixes it all together on the table. Then he inserts the mixture in the bowel and starts to tie the salami. The product must age in a cellar or in a room with controlled temperature and humidity.
The Bergamo Pork Butchers Association (“Associazione norcini bergamaschi”) organises some very popular courses attracting many students from all over the world .
Associazione Norcini bergamaschi, via Dante Alighieri, 27. Calcinate (BG). Tel. +39 3384645479
Valcalepio D.O.C. red, Terre del Colleoni D.O.C. red Incrocio Terzi
The pork butcher, copasunì or masant, used to be a highly respected man, who arrived at the farmsteads on a proper day, when the weather was dry and cold, from December to February, in order to kill the pig. He used to carry a wooden case called panaröla, panaröl or caséta, whose size was fixed: in fact, he used it to mix the salami dough and the “cotechini” sausages one. At dawn, the copasunì arrived, carrying a bag full of tools: ropes, knifes, pulleys, meat grinders and funnels. Every pork butcher had his own secret spices, depending on the cold cut he had to prepare.
Currently, across the province of Bergamo many kinds of salami are produced using goat, sheep, boar, chamois, horse or donkey, and even flavoured with Branzi cheese, such as the drop-shaped salami.
