Every year, when days and nights start to turn cold, the beginning of what is known as salami season commences. One of the world’s longest held curing traditions – salami originated among a group of Roman salted meats called salsum, deriving from the Latin word for salt, sale – salami season is steeped in centuries-old preparation and curing techniques, and a little patience.
For many retail butchers in the Southern Hemisphere, summer signals that the salami cured throughout winter is ready to be served to eager customers. While mass-produced salami slices can be found in most supermarkets, there is something about this time honoured tradition using the finest ingredients to produce quality salami that appeals to butchers and foodies alike. Because quality is not just about the finished product, but also about how it is produced.
Here are a few lessons salami season can teach us about upholding quality.
Lesson 1: It’s About the Journey, Not the Destination
While our society, with its speed in production and information, is feeding our impatience and the need for instant gratification, salami season is teaching us the opposite.
As has been known for generations, salami making is all about the process. It’s a hands-on, time consuming journey full of tradition, flavour and skill, and more importantly, patience. It requires constant attention to control the process inside the sausage. Monitoring humidity levels for quality control and establishing the right storage environment over time all play a role in the development of a delicious sausage.
Lesson #2: Quality Products Are Only As Good As Your Weakest Link
A flavour some and quality salami is like a chain, it’s only as strong as its weakest link. You may have the best cuts of meat and the right mix of spices and flavourings and still not produce a high-quality salami if the rest of your supplies aren’t up to scratch. Take netting, for example. As the final step before hanging the meat, it is responsible for holding the meat together. But if that netting loosens over time during the curing process, the quality, shape and even the flavour of your salami may be less than desired.
Having quality control processes in place, even for the smallest of elements, can go a long way in ensuring quality goals don’t suffer as a result of sub-par supplies.
Lesson #3: There’s No ‘I’ in Team
Clichéd corporate terms aside, keeping long held traditions alive takes more than record keeping and a group of passionate people; it takes an army. There’s no shortage of this when it comes to salami season. A collection of butchers, home-cooks and Italian food-lovers, known as the ‘Salami Army’, come together once a year to celebrate the salami season through festivals across Australia. While the festivals were put on hold during COVID, preserving the aged-old salami-making recipes and methods are still being passed on through generations of Italian families, butchers and salami-makers: an integral part of ensuring high-quality and flavoursome salami endures for decades to come.
