William Penn Life, 2006 (41. évfolyam, 2-12. szám)
2006-05-01 / 5. szám
The Hungarian Kitchen of cervelat or raw sausage. Smoked kolbász and bacon are types of cured meats. A prosciutto ham is a good example of a dehydrated meat product that is raw yet safe to eat. Links to Love Let's continue on with other types of sausages. KIELBASA or KOLBÁSZ is a smoked or fresh sausage usually made of pork but may contain beef mixed with spices and other flavorings. SALAMI is a boldly seasoned, coarser, drier mixture of pork and beef. They are never smoked but air dried. Kosher salami is all beef. Genoa salami is combination of pork and veal seasoned with pepper, garlic and red wine. Cotto salami is pork, beef, garlic and studded with peppercorns. Milano salami is pork, beef, pork fat, garlic, pepper and white wine. Napoli salami is pork and beef spiced with red and black pepper. PEPPERONI is actually salami that is made of pork and beef highly seasoned with black and red peppers. It's a slender, firmly packed, air-dried sausage used as an appetizer. LIVER WURST is a liver sausage usually in the cold deli meat form. It's made from 30 percent pork liver mixed with other meat or pork. It goes great on a crusty rye bread with a few slices of onion. BOLOGNA is made from beef and ground pork. The mixture is finely chopped then stuffed into a large casing, cooked and served cold. The original bologna had chunks of pork fat in it and was known as Mortadella. The bologna we eat today is the American version of a product that originated in Bologna, Italy. FRANKFURTERS—or hot dogs as we know them—are smoked, seasoned sausages and the favorite of all sausages in America. They can be made from beef, pork, veal, chicken or turkey. They may have a natural casing. They range in size from a tiny cocktail frank to a foot long. They are cooked by steaming, broiling, frying and braising with sauerkraut. HEAD CHEESE is a sausage made from meaty bits of the head of a calf or pig combined with a gelatinous tasty meat broth and seasonings. It's cooked in a mold, sliced and served cold. It's usually available in your local Hungarian butcher shop. HURKA, or blood sausage, is usually made of pig's blood, suet, breadcrumbs and oatmeal then stuffed into a casing and cooked, not cured. The dark Hungarian version uses amounts of ground pork liver in the mixture with rice, spices, flavoring and pork blood and is prepared fresh for cooking, not cured. The light version of Hurka has no blood in it and is not as strong tasting as the dark. Miscellaneous Meats Of the remaining variety meats available to us, here are the most popular available. TRIPE is the lining of a cow's stomach. The best is honeycomb tripe. It requires soaking to draw out impurities and the strong taste, after which it cooks up rather well. OXTAIL is boney but quite flavorful and used mostly in soup. It's hard to find oxtail so beef or veal tails are used in its place. PIG'S FEET are boney and sinewy hooves and ankles of swine. They are full of natural gelatin and very flavorful. They are available pickled, fresh (for cooking) and smoked. The last three variety meats are organs of an animal's body but sometimes hard to obtain. You need to find a specialty butcher shop or your local Hungarian market. HEART is entirely made up of muscle and it tends to be quite tough to eat. When selecting a heart, try and get one from a young animal. Beef heart is the most widely available followed by calves, lamb and chicken. Hearts can be braised, stewed or chopped and added to cooked dishes. Small hearts from pigs and lambs may be stuffed, cooked and served as an entrée for one. Chicken hearts are best when they are lightly sautéed and served over rice. KIDNEYS of beef, veal and pork are the usual kinds offered for sale. The younger the animal, the more tender the kidneys will be. They must be soaked in water to remove the strong taste and odor, resulting in a mildflavored product. Kidneys may be braised, broiled, simmered in wine or cooked in a casserole. A famous dish with kidneys is Steak and Kidney pie. LIVER is the largest organ of any animal and high in nutritional value when taken from a young animal. Calves liver is lighter than a larger cow's and it has a better flavor when cooked. Beef liver is reddish-brown with a stronger taste. Pork livers are the strongest in flavor and very chewy. Chicken livers are tender and very tasty when sautéed. The most famous liver product is Foie Gras which is the liver of a goose that has been force fed and kept from exercise which produces a fatty, large and very tasty product. Liver is available in most supermarkets and butcher shops. It's best bought fresh and cooked the same day. Once again it's diploma time so congratulations on learning about all the variety we have in choosing meat products! Now have fun and enjoy trying all the recipes. TRIVIA ANSWERS: Sausage is the oldest form of processed meat product known to man and is mentioned in Homer's Odyssey. Columbus brought small sausages or hot dogs with him to the new world in 1492. St. Louis was the first city to offer hot dogs at the Browns baseball games in 1893. Have a great month! fggzalUoS 11 William Penn Life, May 2006
