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Course | Sausage |
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Place of origin | Spain |
Region or state | Catalonia |
Main ingredients | pork |
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Fuet (Catalan pronunciation: [fuˈɛt], lit. "whip") is a Catalan thin,[1] dry cured, sausage of pork meat in a pork gut. The most famous is made in the comarca (county) of Osona and is also known as Vic fuet (fuet de Vic, after the city of Vic, capital of Osona).[2] Other places that have long tradition of making it are the city of Olot and the surrounding areas.
Fuet is a long, thin shape measuring between 30 and 50 cm long and up to 4 cm in diameter, with a usual weight between 150 gr and 300 gr. It is made of about 60% lean meat to 40% finely minced fat and is dry-cured.[3]
Flavor
Fuet is flavored with black pepper and garlic, and sometimes aniseed, but unlike chorizo contains no paprika.
History
The use of fermentation together with drying may have been accidentally developed 5,000 years ago. Spontaneous fermentation of contaminating bacteria from raw meat made this meat stable at room temperature. Originally, salt was added to meat to promote the growth of fermenting bacteria. This meat aging process probably occurred by chance due to the presence of impurities in the salt.
World
Drying and smoking were probably the first techniques developed to preserve food, developed in ancient Greece and Rome. Around 1500 BC, it was discovered that the shelf life of meat was greatly increased when it was mixed with salt, spices, and aromatic herbs, and then subjected to a drying process. This resulted in a product that was more palatable. The first documented evidence of sausage production is found in the Odyssey (ca. 900 BC), where reference is made to "goat casings stuffed with blood and fat."
Europe
In Europe, natural fermented sausages have a long tradition originating in Mediterranean countries during Roman times.[4] In the Roman documentation there is evidence that the Iberians already made sausages with names still in use today. There are several Roman documents that praise the Cerdanya hams made by the Iberians as some of the best in the world. The importance of sausages in European culture led to the establishment of routes to obtain the ingredients to prepare sausages, such as the "La Via Salaria" salt route in Italy.
Gallery
See also
References
- ^ Marianski, Stanley; Mariański, Adam (2009). The Art of Making Fermented Sausages. Bookmagic LLC. ISBN 978-0-9824267-1-5.
- ^ Coupe, Alison, (editor). Michelin Green Guide Spain. Michelin Apa Publications, 2010. ISBN 978-1-906261-92-4 p57
- ^ "Fuet: The most popular sausage of Catalonia". Spanish Club Blog. 10 April 2022.
- ^ Comi, Giuseppe; Urso, Rosalinda; Iacumin, Lucilla; Rantsiou, Kalliopi; Cattaneo, Patrizia; Cantoni, Carlo; Cocolin, Luca (2005-03-01). "Characterisation of naturally fermented sausages produced in the North East of Italy". Meat Science. 69 (3): 381–392. doi:10.1016/j.meatsci.2004.08.007. ISSN 0309-1740. PMID 22062975.
External links
- Fuet info at spanishclub.blog