The sausage according to the taste of today had its origin in Lucania, a region of southern Italy, from the ancient tradition of the Roman Empire to e-commerce the step is short for the Butcher Macelleria D’Andrea, based in Lucania (now called Basilicata), maintaining a very small productions of artisanal quality.
Milan, Italy, 6th Oct 2022, The italian food and wine tradition is characterized by genuine products, linked to the territory and whose origins are often very ancient. Italian cured meats are the flagship of traditional italian cuisine and made in Italy products. These products are derived from meat and differ from each other for the processing and processing methods, it is important to know the differences in order to be able to choose the products for our table.
Pork is what is mainly used in cured meats, we can also find other excellent products consisting of white turkey or chicken, horse meat, beef or game. The fact that pork is used and there is a fat content suggests that they are not dietetic products, today the production of italian cured meats benefits from all the improvements made to the conditions of farming techniques, animal nutrition and the choice of raw material.
Furthermore, the flagship of the production of the Butcher Macelleria D’Andrea, a historic artisan company in southern Italy, a sausage also suitable for sportsmen since the quantity of meat chosen exceeds that of fat.
Macelleria D’Andrea has its headquarters and production in the splendid Region in the past known as Lucania and today as Basilicata, a region in which there are both Potenza and the famous Matera city where The Passion of the Christ was filmed, it is no coincidence that it is that film was shot in the region and it is no coincidence that Lucania is the world homeland of sausage. Let’s take a step back and find out why sausage rhymes with Lucania.
The homeland of sausage: ancient Roman sausage (Lucanica)
The first types of processed sausage appear during the Roman Empire: of what we can find the reference in the work of Cato, Juvenal and Horace – in his “Satires”. The meat, both pork and wild boar, was salted and stored in wooden barrels.
At the beginning of the second book of De Re Coquinaria, the largest source of ancient Roman cuisine, the author, Marco Gavius Apic describes the methods of various types of meatballs and sausages, using fish, meat, but also eggs. Sausages and meatballs were common dishes in ancient Rome, eaten with a puls (a porridge of cereals or legumes typical of ancient Rome) or used to prepare more complex dishes.
It is in these ancient times that Lucanica was born, a type of smoked sausage whose name still exists today in Italy, generally in the spelling variation luganega, even if the method is now simpler.
We discover lucanica cited sometimes by other authors, in particular Martial, who provides us with important details: in his Epigrams he calls lucanica “daughter of a picene sow”, he eats it with a puls nivea (a white porridge), and lists this use among the gifts for the Saturnalia received by Sabellus. This last piece of information is fascinating: in addition to modern cured meats, also the ancient lucanicae have been preserved for a while after being smoked.
It seems that the Romans loved ham so much that, according to Varrone, they also imported it from Gallia Cisalpina. Even the highly prized mortadella was born in the late Roman period in ancient Bononia and was initially made from pork and myrtle.
The first mentions of cured meats are found in the Middle Ages, with reference to the products under sale. However, it was only in the Renaissance that the first butchers were born – called “norcinerie” – together with the Corporations that were responsible for regulating the production of cured meats.
Cardinal Girolamo Farnese himself decreed which meats and spices should be used to make them. Within the nineteenth century, the first semi-artisan workshops were opened, but it was only in the 1960s that cured meats (cured meats) spread, combining innovation and tradition.
Among the main productions of the Butcher Macelleria D’Andrea produced completely by hand, we still produce with the old recipes revised in the light of modern techniques, 3 typical products made in Lucania and then spread all over the world and are:
- Salsiccia Lucanica
- Salsiccia Pezzente
- Soppressata
Soppressata
According to the oldest written testimony dated 1719, the Lucania area is believed to have originated in the subbursata or soperzata (depending on the area). The name derives from the pressure action performed while the product is drying, https://www.macelleriadandrea.it/prodotto/soppressata/
Salsiccia Pezzente: the tasty sausage for soups
Another typical salami from Lucania, it is a sausage whose name, although flattering, is hardly justified by the fact that it is prepared using the less noble elements. It is more body fat and softer, it is used in chunks to prepare the sauce or boil it with vegetables, https://www.macelleriadandrea.it/prodotto/pezzente-salsiccia-salume/
Sausage Salsiccia Lucanica: the traditional sausage
It is the oldest Italian cured meat and was born in Lucania, made with minced meat and many spices https://www.macelleriadandrea.it/prodotto/salsiccia/
Capocollo ham: traditional cured meat from southern Italy
This pork salami is prepared using the muscles of the pig’s neck and its preparation is similar to that of raw ham. https://www.macelleriadandrea.it/prodotto/coppa-salume-capocollo/
Pancetta Bacon or Bacon
Pork salami is prepared with pork belly meat and in different versions, from classic to smoked or spicy https://www.macelleriadandrea.it/prodotto/pancetta-salume-artigianale/
Traditional butchery projected to the future: e-commerce and e-learning
Ancient sector and product does not mean a company stuck in the past.
The purchase and sale of meat and cured meats for decades has been carried out in our headquarters, in 2018 we started our e-commerce, we chose FioreRosalba.com to bring our butcher online, to date they continue with our artisan dimension with small quality productions for which sometimes a waiting list is created but our goal is to remain faithful to our idea of a genuine product, says dr. Enzo D’Andrea who, after earning a degree in economics, deals with the development of e-commerce for the family business.
From this collaboration with FioreRosalba.com two e-learning courses are also born to train the workers of tomorrow, among them https://www.fiorerosalba.com/corso/oper-alla-lavorazione-carni-e-salumi/ for the training of our newly hired staff but also to spread the culture of authenticity to the new generations of butchers.
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Organization: FioreRosalba.com
Contact Person: Fiore R.
Email: info@fiorerosalba.com
Website: https://www.fiorerosalba.com
Address 1: Via Montenapoleone 8
City: Milan
Country: Italy