Styleforum › Forums › Lifestyle › Social Life, Food & Drink, Travel › Is mortadella baloney?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Is mortadella baloney?

post #1 of 46
4/30/10 at 2:09pm
Thread Starter 
Hi, I was at a office get together recently and a plate of imported cold cuts were served. One of the meats was what I thought was baloney but the caterer corrected me and said it was actually mortadella and had some sort of nuts (almonds?) in it. I use to eat fried baloney sandwiches as a child or unheated but have never encountered mortadella which I feel tastes just the same despite being imported and with nuts.
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 46
4/30/10 at 2:22pm
For all intents and purposes.....yes. Italian, delicious bologna.

The nuts are most likely pistachios.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 46
4/30/10 at 2:26pm
Kinda the same, but mortadella is often a bit spicier and doesn't have that saccharine slime in it. In domestic products they're a lot more similar than they are in Italy.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 46
4/30/10 at 2:30pm
baloney (bologna) is the luncheon meat equivalent of mortadella. but real mortadella is a great thing. slice it a little thicker than you would prosciutto. it's very unctuous and there should be cubes of fat in it and pistachios. in Friuli, they serve mortadella with a little grated fresh horseradish, which is really nice.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 46
4/30/10 at 2:37pm
Mortadella is to bologna (I assume you mean Oscar Meyer or something similar) what Allen Edmonds is to Sketchers -- both are the same type of products, but in totally different classes.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 46
4/30/10 at 2:37pm
Mortadella orginated in Bologna and baloney is, I think, a New World knockoff. Also, mortadella has "internal garnishes," most notably cubes of pork fat back, and usually pistachios or pine nuts and often olives. All the recipes I have for mortadella call for veal and none of my baloney recipes do, just standard beef. Also, baloney calls for a heavy "smudge," that is much smoking in the cooking process whereas mortadella calls for little to none (I have even made mortadella by poaching it). Spicing is usually different too, with garlic missing from standard baloney.

Both are emulsified meats and come in large diameter chubs.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 46
4/30/10 at 2:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by foodguy View Post
baloney (bologna) is the luncheon meat equivalent of mortadella. but real mortadella is a great thing. slice it a little thicker than you would prosciutto. it's very unctuous and there should be cubes of fat in it and pistachios. in Friuli, they serve mortadella with a little grated fresh horseradish, which is really nice.
I assume you have tried Paul Bertolli's (Fra Mani) mortadella. It is outrageously good. Anybody who sees it should really buy. Or I think you can order online as well.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 46
4/30/10 at 2:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Piobaire View Post

Both are emulsified meats and come in large diameter chubs.

that makes three of us!
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 46
4/30/10 at 2:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by edmorel View Post
that makes three of us!

Reply
Reply
post #10 of 46
4/30/10 at 2:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by iammatt View Post
I assume you have tried Paul Bertolli's (Fra Mani) mortadella. It is outrageously good. Anybody who sees it should really buy. Or I think you can order online as well.

Thanks for the tip.
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 46
4/30/10 at 2:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by edmorel View Post
that makes three of us!

Noice!

Did it hurt when they emulsified your meat though?
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 46
4/30/10 at 2:52pm
The mortadella I have in Europe is also much smaller in diameter than the O-s-c-a-r-m-a-y-e-r stuff here
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 46
4/30/10 at 2:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gdl203 View Post
The mortadella I have in Europe is also much smaller in diameter than the O-s-c-a-r-m-a-y-e-r stuff here

Don't they tend to serve it in cubes vs. slices? I have no idea but that's what I've read.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 46
4/30/10 at 2:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Piobaire View Post
Don't they tend to serve it in cubes vs. slices? I have no idea but that's what I've read.

Generally slices but cubes is not unusual for nibbling before a meal.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 46
4/30/10 at 3:06pm
the diameter is a regional, even maker-to-maker difference. i've seen them as big as 12 inches in diameter. Yes, Bertolli's is great, as is everything Paul does. Fra'Mani rocks! Also, as of about 2-3 years ago, true mortadella has been legal for import to the us. Fun fact: Bologna is the culinary center of the region of Emilia-Romagna ... prosciutto, parmigiano, etc., and is sometimes disparaged by the rest of Italy as "Bologna la grassa" (Bologna the fat). Personally, I think that is the highest possible recommendation.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
Styleforum › Forums › Lifestyle › Social Life, Food & Drink, Travel › Is mortadella baloney?