# Salami **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2000, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salami/6075 "2000-01-08T06:02:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2000, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salami/6075/1 "2000-01-08T06:02:00Z")
Can you tell me what salami is made of? I can’t find any information on the packaging, and it’s something that the employees at my local deli can’t answer. Is it one of the big “deli” meats (beef, turkey/chicken, pork) or some combination thereof? Is it leftover stuff like Haggis? ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2000, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salami/6075/2 "2000-01-08T06:31:00Z")
The packaging doesn’t say, and the deli people don’t know? I’m having a vision Charleton Heston at the end of Soylent Green. * * * _It is too clear, and so it is hard to see._ ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2000, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salami/6075/3 "2000-01-08T06:34:00Z")
From Mama’s Italian Cooking Glossary ([http://www.eat.com/cooking-glossary](http://www.eat.com/cooking-glossary)): “[Genoa} Salami is a medium spiced salami usually made from pork: it originated in the Genoa area of Italy.” From Merriam Webster On-Line ([http://www.m-w.com](http://www.m-w.com)): Main Entry: sa·la·mi Pronunciation: s&-'lä-mE Function: noun Etymology: Italian, plural of salame salami, from salare to salt, from sale salt, from Latin sal – more at SALT Date: 1852 : a highly seasoned sausage of pork and beef either dried or fresh ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2000, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salami/6075/4 "2000-01-08T06:36:00Z")
Phl,never, never ask how sausage is made or legislation is passed. A package I have says " Mechanically separated chicken,beef hearts,beef,pork,water,salt,…" a bunch of sugars and other chemicals. Mechanically separated means throw it in grind it up pick out the bigger chunks of bone and feathers. I have seen worse lists including pork snouts and other goodies. Salami is from the Latin for salt and is supposed to be a salted sausage of pork or beef. Shalom. * * * “Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salami/6075/5 "2000-01-11T06:55:00Z")
Incidentally, there is such a thing as kosher salami, so there obviously isn’t pork in all salami. ---
**Author:** ![Akatsukami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Akatsukami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akatsukami)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2000, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salami/6075/6 "2000-01-10T19:11:00Z")
In a slight (but not _too_ great)deviation from the topic, I would point out that the purpose of salami, like that of all sausages and allied foods, is to take stuff that one wouldn’t eat on a bet, and make it into a form that one will willingly pay good money for. * * * “Kings die, and leave their crowns to their sons. Shmuel HaKatan took all the treasures in the world, and went away.” ---
**Author:** ![starfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@starfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/starfish)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2000, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salami/6075/7 "2000-01-10T20:31:00Z")
The original “Cajun style” food. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2000, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salami/6075/8 "2000-01-10T20:56:00Z")
Akatsukami, that’s a common slander against sausage. While there are some pretty gross sausage fillers (blood pudding comes to mind), quality sausages are made good cuts of meat, spices, and fat. Sausage was invented as a way of preserving meats before the invention of refrigeration, not to use up the bits and pieces. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2000, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salami/6075/9 "2000-01-10T21:11:00Z")
Although when _I_ develop a craving for a juicy mouthful of pig ears and snouts, I know to go directly to the good folks at Oscar Meyer. That’s the ol’ baloney! * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2000, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salami/6075/10 "2000-01-10T21:24:00Z")
Akat and Guy, you are both right. The sausage was smoked and salted in an attempt to preserve it, but the variuos spices that characterize some were added cause the attempt didn’t always work. Ike let me introduce you to a product that I think is called TREET an imitation Spam, of all things. Upon first tasting it one of us asked “%3@#@ what is this stuff made from?” I proceeded to read the ingredients, the most appealing was Beef Hearts, which was heard as Bee Farts, which projected the image of TREET makers chasing bees around with the rectangular can in hand , scooping the aromatic apian emissions out of the air. Too much bean pollen and all you hear is " BZZZT! BZZZT! " * * * “Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2000, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salami/6075/11 "2000-01-10T21:29:00Z")
**mr john** said: > [@](#): > > Mechanically separated means throw it in grind it up pick out the bigger chunks of bone and feathers. I don’t know how serious you’re trying to be, but as I recall (from Joel Achenbach’s Why Things Are) mechanical separation is how one gets more meat from parts that have already been stripped by other means. The bones (still containing a little stubborn meat) are propelled at high speed towards a fine screen. The screen stops the bones, but inertia carries the remaining meat slurry theough the screen to the other side, where it is collected. This was discussed in connection with the makeup of Chicken McNuggets. Yum. But exactly what I do to buffalo wings down at the pub, sans screen of course. So I guess it’s a matter of perspective. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2000, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salami/6075/12 "2000-01-12T21:46:00Z")
I think you guys were right - I shouldn’t have asked. But now that I understand it’s like SCRAPPLE and or SPAM (and it’s look alikess), why isn’t it uniform in color? All the salami I’ve seen is reddish in color with little white bits in it. So if the excess meat is a slurry (like a mud type substance, I’d assume), then what’s the white stuff? Is it bone bits?