What are cold cuts?
The term "cured meats" means a set of meat-based preparations (and sometimes fat, offal and blood), suitably processed in order to modulate its organoleptic characteristics and increase its shelf life.
According to the raw materials and the treatments used, there are numerous types of cured meats: cured and unsalted cured meats, raw and cooked cured meats, fermented and unfermented cured meats, smoked and non-smoked cured meats (see in this regard the image "Classification of Salami "in the next paragraph).
In-depth articles on the most famous cured meats:
Bresaola | Culatello | Mortadella | Pancetta |
Baked ham | Raw ham | Salami | Sausage |
Speck | Frankfurters | Salami nutritional tables | |
CONTENT IN CHOLESTEROL SALUMS | |||
Chemical and Nutritional Characteristics of Cured Meats
When talking about the nutritional characteristics of cured meats, being a particularly large food group, any generalization becomes improper; the only exception that can be made regards the sodium content (or better, sodium chloride).
This mineral, which as we will see in the next section has preservative and dehydrating properties, could be defined as the second main ingredient in the formulation of cured meats. Since they are preserved meats, to avoid any possibility of contamination, the cured meats MUST NECESSARILY contain high quantities; on the other hand, this implies a significant reduction in food quality.
Organoleptic and gustatory characteristics aside, perhaps many do not know (or ignore) that, thanks to today's conservative technologies (refrigeration, freezing, modification and control of the atmosphere, vacuum packing, freeze-drying etc.), the production of salted foods is no longer necessary ; on the contrary, it would be desirable for it to be abandoned! This is a difficult statement to "digest", as it is opposed to a very long gastronomic tradition. However, it is good to keep in mind that sodium naturally contained in foods (except in sportsmen) is more than sufficient to satisfy the nutritional needs of an average adult. On the contrary, the excess of this macroelement seems to predispose sensibly to the onset of arterial hypertension, a decidedly important cardio-vascular risk factor; whereas according to certain research sources, the average consumption of sodium is much higher than the metabolic needs, I would say that cold cuts (and not only those) represent a group of foods to be used with some care.
To complete the profile of unhealthy foods, other chemical characteristics take over anything but positive; this is the case with cholesterol and saturated fat intake. These two lipid-type elements, if in excess, favor the increase of total cholesterolemia, in particular of the LDL fraction (bad cholesterol), another cardio-vascular risk factor.
Moreover, it should be remembered that the excess of triglycerides also translates to an excess of calories; as many will know, obesity is in itself a cardio-vascular risk factor, as it predisposes the body to the onset of various metabolic diseases (hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, etc.).
The presence of nitrates and nitrites in cured meats (antioxidants and preservatives) is also an unfavorable element for human health; these molecules, in fact, are attributable to the formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines and, together with the excess of sodium (a further risk factor), increase the possibilities of neoplastic formations of the stomach and intestine.
Obviously, the meats are not all the same. The sausages are certainly the category of the worst nutritional quality, while the "salted lean" (prosciutto, bresaola, etc.) are distinguished by their greater healthiness.
In general, all cured meats are a good source of high biological value proteins, of certain mineral salts (iron, potassium) and vitamins (group B), even though many of these elements are greatly reduced following dehydration and aging. .
The consumption of raw cured meats is not recommended during pregnancy (due to hygienic reasons) and, in general, they would be ALL to avoid in feeding the child (due to the useless presence of sodium chloride). With regard to adult feeding, the consumption of cured meats should be limited to 1-2 times a week and in portions lower than 100g (depending on the total sodium content in the diet).
Production methods
As with cheeses with milk, starting from the same raw material, meat, you get lots of types of meats; the final result will depend on the type of processing adopted and the type of microorganisms added (when salami was made at home, microbial starters were not used, but a spontaneous or "wild" microbial flora was developed; in the industrial field, to standardize the characteristics organoleptic characteristics of the food and guarantee its wholesomeness, it is instead necessary to use selected microbial strains).
To produce a cured sausage, such as a salami, it is necessary to prepare the meat first, cleaning it from the tendinous parts, grinding it and eventually adding it to fat (the typical salami is obtained by adding to the pork fat).
During the kneading a whole series of ingredients is added, such as salt (2.5-3.5%, as a flavor enhancer and as a preservative) and spices, which also have a dual function (in addition to the aroma, the essential oils they contain have antiseptic properties). A small percentage of sugars (1.5%) can also be added, which acts as an initial substrate for microbial starters. Powdered milk and caseinates (2-4%) give consistency and homogeneity to the product (they are added, for example, in frankfurters or mortadella).
As regards the additives, sodium and potassium nitrites and nitrates can be added; the former transform the oxyhemoglobin into nitrosoemoglobin, giving the meat and especially the salami a lively color that lasts longer; nitrates are a sort of "reserve" of nitrites, as they become scarce, starting from them new ones are obtained. It has been proved that the transformation of nitrites into nitrosamines has a potential carcinogenic effect for the human body; however, these additives continue to be used, either because without them the meat would turn brown, but also because in their absence the dangerous Clostridium botulinum (bacterium that produces deadly neurotoxins) could develop.
Antioxidants can also be added to the sausage, such as ascorbic acid and ascorbates (ie, vit. C), which keep the iron in a reduced state and limit lipid peroxidation; in raw and cooked sausages polyphosphates, and tocopherols or vit. IS; in cooked ham, polyphosphates allow the meaty mass to be kept more compact, which would otherwise tend to flake with cooking.
The next step is packaging: the meat is stuffed into casings that can be of natural or synthetic origin. The product is then dried and / or cooked and / or smoked, based on the characteristics it is intended to impart to the food.
The last step is the seasoning, which is carried out in controlled temperature and humidity cells; during this phase, the food takes place:
- A decrease in humidity;
- An increase in the concentration of the ingredients, in particular of the salt which, being in greater proportions, goes to counteract microbial proliferations;
- PH change;
- Increased soluble nitrogen and free fatty acids, due to the proteolytic and lipolytic enzymatic action of enzymes present in the microbial flora;
- Stable red color due to the presence of nitrites that catalyze the formation of nitrosoemoglobin (if a commercial salami is compared with a homemade salami, a distinctly different color is observed due to the use or not of these additives).
For the production of non-cured cured meats (such as ham, pork loin, capocollo, pancetta etc.) we start with the preparation of meat (pork legs, loin, belly etc.), which undergo a salting process for a period of time variable according to type (for ham, which is the largest piece, about 25 days). During this period, the operation is repeated every 4-5 days, rubbing coarse salt on the surface of the meat in order to facilitate its penetration into the outer layers.
It is then dried, possibly combined with a cooking (as in cooked ham), and proceeds with the seasoning which varies from 10 to 14 months (for branded products, such as Parma ham, there are regulations that establish the duration of the various production phases).
