Why Italian delicatessens are better than Catalan ones (but their cured meats aren't)

RomeRome's delicatessens are like Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. Full, colorful, tightly packed, with intense smells and long lines to get in. The comparison, Stefano Paciotti of the salumeria Paciotti, while he cuts me porchetta (pork cooked in the oven with aromatic herbs) to make me a sandwich. salumeria Paciotti isn't far from Vatican City, and he's got the comparative phrase down pat. He's probably said it many times. In fact, he makes me look up at the ceiling to check out the wonders hanging there: hams, lungo salami (similar to longanizas but made with mixtures of pork and beef, and seasoned with garlic) And all around, shelves filled with more salami, of other varieties. Also cheeses and cakes, such as crostata (jam cake) or sponge cake (shade to the formation). The Paciotti, like all the salumerias Italians, they make sandwiches with a thousand and one types of bread, and the employees explain what they are. focacciaThe sandwich, a good size, cost me €8.50.

In Roman delicatessens, you can buy retail items, order sandwiches prepared to order, and in many, you can have lunch or dinner because they have dual licenses: shops and restaurants. They are part of the Italian imagination, public institutions where children and their families buy snacks after school, or people of all ages come to eat. Of course, the charcuterie boards, freshly cut, are one of the menu's main attractions, as are the pasta dishes.

Roscioli is probably the salumeria Rome's most famous restaurant. A temple of good food in the Eternal City and throughout the country. It's known for its cured meats, its canned goods (you'll find the Catalan brands Espinaler and La Cala), its wines, and above all, its dishes. From Spaghetti carbonara, the authentic ones, of course, even the Parma ham (the country's pride) that they bring to the table with the Iberian ham from Spain. This is precisely one of the star dishes, with a high price (30 €). Every decorative detail is taken care of at Roscioli. Even the waiters suggest you hang your coats between the shelves where they have the wine bottles. They're not afraid of anything falling or breaking because everything has a balance. So the tables piled up around the counter where they sell cheeses and cured meats are neatly lined up. Everything is full, as if someone with horror vacui multiplied would have designed the delicatessen-restaurant.

One of the most sought-after spaces at Roscioli is the bar, with a few stools, where the chefs prepare dishes in front of customers.

And now we return to the table of Parma ham and Iberian ham. "They know how to promote their products so much, they're so proud of it, that they've placed Parma ham at the top, but objectively, it's of a lower category than a ham from our country," explains Pròsper Puig, president of the Guild of Delicatessen Makers of Barcelona and surrounding areas, and sausage maker at Cansaladeria Puig. At first glance, there's no comparison between one ham and another, he says. "Iberian ham is an extraordinary product, but the Italians are great sellers of their cuisine, which is why they've managed to give Parma ham the utmost prestige," says Puig, who also addresses the issue of dual licenses for Italian delicatessens: "In our country, obtaining similar licenses for delicatessens is very complicated, because the most complicated aspect is the catering and tastings at establishments that also sell the product," says Puig. In other countries, this isn't the case, and in cities like London, it's possible to find establishments with up to four different licenses: depending on the time of day, they vary in activity, going from a record store in the morning to a restaurant at midday, a play center in the mid-afternoon, and a cocktail bar at night.

Back to the delicatessens. Italian delicatessens, then, may have a restaurant license (granted by city councils), but in our country, a phenomenon exists that also explains the changing times we live in: more and more of them sell prepared dishes and do little artisanal cured meat production. "That's the reality; delicatessens are leaving, or perhaps they have already done so, to the food industry to make cured meats while they dedicate themselves to making pre-cooked dishes," notes the president of the Association. Those dishes are selling well, people have confidence in delicatessens to buy them, but then the vital symbol, artisan cured meats, that sweet ham in which many excelled, is being lost.

The PGI of Vic salchichón

And perhaps this evolution of Catalan charcuteries is also due to the low value placed on their own cured meats. "The emblematic case is Vic sausage, which has a protected geographical indication (PGI), but currently there are more sausages outside the PGI than within it, and this is because we haven't given value to the brand," says Pròsper Puig, who emphasizes the excellence of Vic sausage.

Thus, "the Italians sell and praise lower quality sausages" but it is indisputable that they have three products that cause admiration, and that are already imitated throughout the world: it is the porchetta, the cup and mortadella. The porchetta It is the big fashion product, and it is probably the one that has driven the opening focaccerias, like the focacceria Balmesina in the Barceloneta neighborhood. There are also some in Italy, especially packed with young people, who wait in line for ages to buy them. In bookstores, the book by the Italian Tommaso Mazzanti explains the phenomenon, and he himself prepares a book in the salumeria owned by All'antico Vinaio, in Florence.

To continue, the cup, the sausage made from the meat of the pig's neck, and which In Spain, brands like Joselito have imitated and surpassed the Iberian pigIn the Pyrenees, our traditional similar sausage would be the pork loin head.

Finally, mortadella. "It's a fine paste, an emulsion, which means it's not minced," says Pròsper Puig. Because it's spiced, the aromas and aftertastes it release enhance the quality of the sausage.

This magical triad, porchetta, cup and mortadella, is always well-placed on the counters of all Italian delicatessens, along with many others. If not, go to the Pantheon and admire the columned porch that hides the dome inside. While you're there, you'll see lines to get in, and on one side of the square, there's another one, the one to get into the Ancient Salumeria. You'll recognize it by the hams and the long salamas Hanging from the door. If you go in, you can buy something in detail, order a sandwich, or sit at the wooden boards next to the counter at the back, where they'll offer you everything freshly cut. In front of you. The prices of the dishes are similar to those in Barcelona. And you'll notice the pride the employees take in cutting and delivering it to you. "We've diluted this pride in knowing how to transform pork into sausages, and we're directing the delicatessens to stores specializing in prepared food," concludes the president of the Barcelona Charcuterie Association.