It would not be necessary to be Umberto Eco or a prestigious linguist. Perhaps not speaking Italian either, and not even having given a few classes to understand what is hidden, translation, through, of a sausage as curious as it is singular: the nicknamed as coglione di mule.
Yes, literally, ‘cojón de mule’, although this is the popular name that a peculiar bologna which is made in the Italian Abruzzo region, in the central part of the country, receives and has been known for centuries.
However, despite its flavor and its reputation, the coglioni di mulo is in danger of extinction. Officially known as mortadella di Campotosto, Obeying the area of Italy where it is made and the town of Campotosto, in Abruzzo, there are few butchers who continue to carry out this traditional preparation with more than 500 years of history.
The difficulty of its elaboration It is a fundamental part of the reasons for withdrawal. The secret, as seen in the cut of the sausage, is that it hides a bar of fresh bacon inside, which is what helps make each piece of this dish even juicier. mortadella.
A sausage against depopulation
With a weight around 300 grams and with its particular ovoid shape, in addition to that thick portion of bacon in the middle of the sausage, the mortadella di Campotosto faces a hostile future where it may end up disappearing.
The reasons, the same ones that can shake any rural area of Europe: the depopulation and changes in habits. To this, as with this sausage, must be added the complexity of its preparation. Survival food where they exist, the advantage of adding the bacon bar to the sausage meant extending the curing period of the mortadella, making it juicier for longeras Ugo Paolini explained to Taste Abruzzo.
To make the mortadella di Campotosto —which is made exclusively with pork— you have to chop the meat very finely and then season it. Generally only with salt, pepper and white wine. Then, depending on the producer, this mixture is left to settle for a day and is stirred with the addition of an infusion of cloves and cinnamon, which give spicier flavors and aromatics to the sausage.
After that day, each mortadella is wrapped by hand —do not stuffed— in natural casing bowling her up like a giant meatballincluding the bacon bar (known as appallochamento), and it is sewn so that it does not break and is left to hang in the cellar. For this purpose it tie a small string around his neck —in addition to a small branch, like a top, at the bottom to shape the sausage— for a little over two months, which is the minimum time the recipe needs to be ready to eat.
Only two artisans standing
However, not everything is hanging the mortadella and letting it dry. Abruzzo, during the months of January to March —when the sausage is cured— is a particularly cold area of Italy with very low temperatures (the maximum does not usually exceed 4ºC in January) and severe frosts.
For this reason, the sausage is first left for a week in a room with a small fireplace. to dry the sausage. After that, Paolini explains, two and a half or three months, depending on the humidity and temperature, in a dryer where the air currents are controlled to cure the sausage.
Contrary to what happens with sausages in Spain which, generally, we like them more curedthe mortadella di Campotosto is eaten relatively lightly cured, somewhat more tender and softer, offering a beautiful pink color when cut.
Currently, there are only two artisan producers registered in this municipality in the province of L’Aquila that make the mortadella di Campotosto. One of them is Salumi Berardi (in Poggio Cancelli), which is currently run by the sixth generation of members of the same family, and Nonna Ina —in Campotosto itself—, under the hands of the aforementioned ugo paoliniwho continue to do mule coglioni as it had been done traditionally.
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Both, in fact, are present in what is known as Slow Food Flavor Arka movement for the recovery and conservation of traditional preparations with signs of disappearing.
Although there are larger companies that also make the mortadella di Campotosto in an industrial way as in Salumificio Paolo Giuliani or Salumificio Peppone, none of them are in the area of the municipality, so the recipe does not seem in danger, but the craftsmanship of a process that, as can be seen in the video, every time it has more of a mechanic.
Images | Berardi Salumi / Nonna Ina Ugo Paolini
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