Few dishes in Italy have such a marked difference from region to region. Also in their names. We’re talking about sausages, the poor man’s dish par excellence, the one that has always been street food – before we even knew what street food was. But keep in mind: we’re talking about the sausage that needs to be cooked (we’ll save the topic of dried or cured sausages for another time). From Mantua’s salamella to Umbrian sausage up to Monza’s luganega; the tour of Italy should also include sausages from Naples and Calabria, which claim to have the best fresh sausage in all of Italy. Let’s call it a challenge, one that’s hard for even the most experienced connoisseurs. Here’s a survey of the Italian sausage scene.
Luganega from Lucania
Lucania is the ancient name for Basilicata. More than 2,000 years has passed since the Roman historian Marco Terenzio Varrone alluded to “lucanica,” that is, “a minced meat stuffed into a gut casing, which our soldiers learned how to prepare by those from Lucania.” This is the origin of the term “luganega,” used in northern Italy. So in terms of antiquity, the number one spot goes to this sausage. Today its typical recipe includes salt, chili pepper, wild fennel, pepper and anise. It has an long horseshoe shape.
Luganega
Finocchietto mon amour
This Calabrian sausage has a similar shape but different ingredients: in addition to the ubiquitous pork shoulder and belly, there is generally also a significant amount of spicy chili pepper, in addition to sweet chili peppers. The size of the sasizze decreases in Sicily, and we can already see the first examples of spiral sausages. The condiments are extremely varied: the most popular are wild fennel and chili pepper. The Trapani sausage, pasqualora, is especially prized; it has a horseshoe shape and is made with salt, black pepper, chili pepper, wild fennel and white wine, aged for one or two weeks and then eaten raw or grilled.
Surprises in Puglia
Sardinia also features smaller sausages with a spiral shape, usually seasoned with wine, garlic, pepper, salt and wild fennel. Puglia offers both pork sausages and numerous specialties that mix beef and pork. One example is the cervellata in Toritto (Bari), which is prepared with selected cuts of beef (70%) and pork (30%) along with a rich condiment including fresh basil, garlic, pepper, salt and grated pecorino. Or the zampina barese with pork and beef (50/50) as well as pecorino cheese, tomato pureé, parsley, basil, salt and pepper. Another example is sausage from Salento: short and wide and made with lean cuts of pork and beef along with salt, black pepper, lemon zest, dry white wine and in some cases cloves, cinnamon and parsley.
Sausage with friarielli
Neapolitan sausage with friarielli
In the South, Neapolitan sausage known as cervellatina dominates, and is an inseparable companion of friarielli (broccoli rabe). Short and fat, it’s usually chopped coarsely (using a knife) and typically only seasoned with black pepper or chili pepper.
Abruzzo and Lazio
Traveling up the boot to Abruzzo we see another ingredient turn up in sausage: liver, which is also found in sausages in Lazio, Marche, Umbria and Tuscany in the mazzafegato sausage. The Abruzzo liver sausage is made with pork liver, heart and lungs, with the addition of pork cheek and then garlic, orange peel, salt, pepper and bay leaves. In Lazio the most famous sausage is the coriander sausage of Monte San Biagio, whose ingredients in addition to coriander include sweet chili peppers and sweet red wine.
Italian sausage on grill
The canon from Umbria and Tuscany
In central Italy, however, the canon is the main sausage of Umbria and Tuscany. Umbrian sausage in particular uses fatty meats more abundantly and seasons them with salt, pepper and lots of garlic, in addition to red wine. It is used in dishes such as penne alla Norcina. In Emilia the flavors begin to be more delicate, and the percentage of fatty meats reduces. In the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines a common sausage of the past was salsiccia matta, or crazy sausage, which was produced with the waste of the waste: meat infiltrated with blood, cheek, lung, spleen, heart and kidney, then eaten stewed or in a pot with beans.
Sausage with Savoy cabbage
In Liguria the sausages from Ceriana (near Imperia) stand out, with salt, pepper, rosemary and chili pepper, as well as those of Pignone (near La Spezia) with salt, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. In Piedmont the sausages are again spiral shaped, like in Sicily and Sardinia. Just like in Puglia, there’s a mixture of pork and beef, with pork providing the fatty meats (20-30%) and beef the leaner meats. Then there’s cabbage sausage or sautissa ’d coi, with one third cabbage leaves, one third pork fat and one third lean meats. In Biella and Vercelli there’s even rice sausage, which is made with rice, pork rind, pork blood, wine, garlic and salt.
Codename: salamella
In Lombardy there’s a distinction between sausage or luganega (spiral-shaped) and salamella (“normal” sausages). A special distinction is made between Mantua sausage, simple and seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic, with a very delicate taste, and the Monza luganega sausage, with seasonings including Grana Padano cheese, meat stock and Marsala. In Brescia beef turns up again with beef sausage. And we end in the Northeast, where Polesina sausage deserves a mention, (pezòle or luganeghe de tripan), with pork rind and a considerable percentage of yellow turnips; in Padua sausage made with horse meat also turns up.