Inspection Service investigates: cervelaat, salami, slicing sausage—why do they look so similar?
Cervelaat and salami look remarkably similar, and you can’t really tell slicing sausage apart from the two either. What’s the difference, and why is that? Keuringsdienst van Waarde investigated.
Teun from Keuringsdienst van Waarde looks doubtfully at those packets of deli meat from the supermarket. Cervelaat, salami, slicing sausage: they all look alike, don’t they? His butcher knows how it works: salami contains garlic, cervelaat doesn’t, and slicing sausage simply has a different shape but is otherwise the same. OK, that sounds logical. A short episode of Keuringsdienst this time?
Cervelaat, salami & slicing sausage
No garlic
But no, because they also visit Italy’s very best salami maker. The man cuddles his pigs, is incredibly proud of the traditional recipe he uses to make his salami, and has all the time in the world to let the sausages dry—some for as long as a month and a half. Garlic? It never goes in, he says. Presenter Sosha asks once more, just to be sure: really not? No, it’s all about the pure taste of the meat. A little salt, and nothing else.
Collagen added
Things are very different in the Netherlands, presenter Maarten discovers. He talks to a teacher at butcher school, who can explain exactly how cervelaat and salami are made in factories. A spice mixture with mace and black pepper goes into the sausage, and the salami gets—ta-daa—a dose of garlic powder. Notably, Dutch sausage contains quite a lot of pork rind. That’s the skin and fat layer of a pig, ground into white granules. On the ingredients list, that pork rind—called collagen on the packaging—is listed second, so you can assume there’s quite a lot of collagen in the sausage.
Beetroot
But those granules are white, while the sausage is purplish red. The sausage expert solves this with a bowl of beetroot powder. Not for the vitamins, but for the color. The beetroot powder makes the pork rind beautifully pink. Add meat, grind and chop it, and then the sausages can be filled. And while the Italian salami champion does this using natural casings, supermarket sausage simply goes into a plastic casing. Wait two days, and the sausage is ready.
All the same sausage
The difference between salami, cervelaat and slicing sausage? No, there really isn’t one. Cervelaat might be ground a little more finely, the sausage teacher says. And salami contains garlic. Although garlic is sometimes added to cervelaat too, the investigation by Keuringsdienst reveals. So broadly speaking: exactly the same sausage. As long as that Italian sausage man never finds out…
Also read:
- These Dutch cities eat the most pizza salami (and more striking pizza news)
- Snackspert: Jumbo’s salami, cheese and basil toastie is a huge disappointment
- Why you should get rid of your non-stick pans
Image: Keuringsdienst van Waarde
