Budapesti téliszalámi

Appearance & taste

The salami is long and cylindrical, of even thickness and 40 to 85 mm in diameter. The casing is free of indentations, adheres well to the filling and is evenly covered with greyish-white noble mould. The salami is compact and at the same time elastic, slices well and is firm but not too hard. The cut surface is light and mosaic-like, with evenly distributed light brown to red grains of meat and pale grains of fat. Among the spices, allspice dominates the flavour.

The salami is sold as a whole stick in cellophane, in sizes of about 54 cm (“normal”), 33 cm (“midi”), 19 cm (“Tourist”) and 16 cm (“mini”), or sliced, vacuum-packed or on trays under protective gas. Products for export may also carry the word “Salami”.

Production

The meat used comes from boars that have been used for breeding and castrated, weighing more than 150 kg, or from sows withdrawn from breeding that are at least one year old, of the breeds Mangalitsa, Cornwall, Berkshire, Large White, Landrace, Duroc, Hampshire and Pietrain or their crosses, together with firm pork fat from the same animals. The half carcasses are cut up and boned exclusively by hand. The meat, chilled to 0 to 4 °C, and the fat, chilled to −3 to −7 °C, are minced by machine into pieces of 2 to 4 mm and seasoned at the same time; a curing agent of salt and sodium nitrate is added. The mixture is filled under vacuum into horse intestine or artificial casing permeable to water vapour.

The salami is then smoked for 12 to 20 days at no more than 16 °C over smouldering hardwood, mainly beech logs. This is followed by fermentation and drying over 2 to 3 months. In the ripening rooms, the natural microflora of the rooms settles on the surface and forms the mould coating at 10 to 14 °C and more than 86 % humidity; no starter cultures are used for this. Because the pH of the salami is above 5, it must dry slowly. In total, production from filling to the ready-to-slice salami takes at least 90 days.

Origin & history

According to the specification, salami has been made in Budapest since the end of the 19th century. At that time several producers were active, including Dozzi, Antal Kreische, Meduna and Ármin Herz and Sons; today only the business founded by Ármin Herz and Sons remains. As the name says, in the 19th century the salami was only made in winter, because drying rooms could not yet be cooled and humidity could not be regulated artificially. The humid air near the Danube was used for mould formation and drying, and the air in the fermentation rooms was controlled by opening and closing the windows.

Fermentation still takes place at most 1 km from the river. According to the specification, the air there is more humid and, except in winter, somewhat cooler. This gave rise to a distinctive mixture of Penicillium and Aspergillus species that produces the whitish coating, determines the smell, taste and appearance of the salami and prevents it from drying out quickly. These moulds tolerate the smoked surface, whereas starter cultures, according to the specification, would be too sensitive to smoke. As in the 19th century, the salami is cold-smoked; the beech logs are moved into position on hand-operated smoking carts. The smoking and fermentation rooms are in brick buildings with Prussian vaults between I-beams, whose masonry lets moisture through well and so promotes even drying.