Salami “Ungarese”

Whenever a salami or part of one arrives from generous relations in Italy, it is inevitably an Ungarese salami. I don’t know if that refers to the style, spices, size of ground pork, length of maturation, origin, etc. All I know is, in Rome, go to the grocery and ask for an Ungarese…it won’t let you down. I tried a basic search on the internet but have not figured out if Ungarese is a nationality or location (Hungarian?), a type of preparation, or a brand name… So suffice it to say it is just one of the many different types of salami you can buy in Italy…but it is characterized by a very fine fat grind, a nice red/burgundy color, small specks of fat evenly distributed throughout and easy to slice thinly and uniformly and is utterly delicious to eat. Good thing I remembered to do this post as a quick check look into our fridge saw just 3 or 4 inches left of an entire salami ( 4-5 kilos) that we carried back from Rome 7 weeks ago!…yikes, we have nearly consumed the entire thing (though we gave some of it away to friends)!

The first evening in Rome, Mrs. Marketman hit the neighborhood grocery and got several slices of Ungarese salami which we planned to have for breakfast. Yes, BREAKFAST! Our hosts in Rome also gave us a bag filled with these spectacular mini salted pizza dough discs that were baked (pizzetti, I think they were called) and the match was made in culinary heaven. The nice tasty salami with bits of fat bursting on your tongue and coating your mouth while screaming “I will head straight to your thigh or stomach fat deposits!” on top of baked discs of chewy pizza dough…Gosh, that WAS a good simple no fuss breakfast…carbohydrates, protein and fat in every mouth full!