COLD MEAT “CARNE SALADA”

Carne Salada is a specialty of Trentino, specifically it is a characteristic cured meat of the province of Trento, a Carpaccio style product.

Obtained from the best exclusively lean adult beef, it is a very fine and tasty type of meat whose quality lies in the chosen cut of meat, the beef rump, which comes from the back of the thigh, and the punta d’anca, which is the beef sirloin.

The meat is flavored with salt, spices and natural flavors and left to rest for 2 to 5 weeks at a maximum temperature of 12 ° C, massaging it every 2/3 days. This cut of meat is very tender with practically no fat parts and with a typical and slightly aromatic flavor.

Carne Salada, according to the Trentino tradition, is eaten in the summer period, prepared raw, cut like a carpaccio and seasoned only with a little extra virgin olive oil, parmesan flakes and slices of green apple. For those who want to try a different recipe, it is also excellent as an appetizer, always served raw and thinly sliced ​​but accompanied by a pecorino foam and truffle flakes. It is also perfect to makie rolls stuffed with cheese.

Background

Carne Salada has a very ancient history and over the centuries has always maintained a very important place in the culinary tradition of Trentino. The first traces of this dish date back to 400 in a manuscript entitled “Libro de cosina composto et ordinato per lo hegregio homo Martino de Rubei de la Valle de Bregna, coquo dell’illustre Signore Johanne Jacobo Trivulzio”. Later we find it in other writings including “Our cuisine – old and new dishes from Trentino between polenta and sguazet and tonco de pontesel” by the spouses Anna Lucia and Carlo Alberto Bauer who made the carne salada a fundamental recipe of Trentino cuisine. The preparation of this specialty seems to lead back to a poor and peasant culture, linked to the breeding of livestock at high altitudes in the valleys of the region. During the warmer and milder months, meat stocks were prepared to meet the winter needs of entire families. Therefore, the need arose to find a method of preserving meat and carne salada, also known as cured meat, responded to this need. In fact, it stands out precisely for the seasoning method.