A delicatessen sells cooked and preserved meat products, such as sausages and bacon. The oldest method of preserving meat is brining or salt curing, and modern curing often involves sodium nitrite or nitrate. Sausages are often made with edible casings and flavored with regional signatures.
A delicatessen is the name of a shop that sells cooked meat products, mainly pork. The term can also refer to the meats within the store. Unlike a butcher who sells raw cuts of meat, most of the food sold at the delicatessen will have been cooked or preserved in a variety of ways. Understanding the techniques used to prepare meat can be an important consideration when selecting from the sometimes bewildering array of produce. Personal preferences for protein and menu planning are equally important in making appropriate choices.
In the past, before refrigeration, a village sausage factory was as vital as its ovens to supply spoilage and disease free meats. The practitioners were regulated by trade guilds. In modern times, the skill has become an artisanal craft, and such specialty shops have become increasingly rare. In some parts of the world, an equivalent establishment can be found within a delicatessen.
The oldest method of preserving meat is brining or dry or wet salt curing, which does several things to the meat. The neutral water in meat is replaced by salt water which is less hospitable to living organisms such as bacteria. Dry salt draws out the water and dehydrates the meat. Salts also denature the protein molecules in meat, breaking down their structure as the high heat of cooking would.
Most salted or otherwise dried meats today, such as pork ham and jerky, are cured with the addition of sodium nitrite or nitrate, the latter being preferred for longer curing times. Nitrite salt cured meats will often be recommended for final cooking at home. Both compounds provide chemical benefits beyond simple sodium chloride or regular table salt, including suppression of the deadly botulism, the disease named after the Latin word for sausage.
Bacon is a staple of a delicatessen. The pork fat skin is usually pre-cooked by smoking. This is a long process under the low temperature of steaming and aromatic woods such as walnut and apple.
A very popular deli meat can be sausages, meat enclosed in a tube, usually the edible empty small intestine of pigs or cattle. Sometimes, larger pouches such as stomachs or bladder pouches are used; inedible casings are also used, particularly for sausages that take longer to age. The meats in the delicatessen can be ground or minced, are always salted, flavored with regional signatures, and often combined with extra fats like pork lard.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
