(Non Valley Mortandela)
Mortandela is a traditional cured meat product originating from the Trentino and val di Non area. This smoked pork product was usually made from shoulder, jowls and leg, belly, and sometimes heart, lungs, tongue, and liver, but nowadays it's often made using pork cuts such as shoulder, belly, neck, and leg trimmings.
The mixture is shaped into flattened meatballs, flavored with spices such as pepper, garlic, cinnamon, and coriander, wrapped in caul fat, and left to dry on wooden boards that have been sprinkled with buckwheat or cornflour. It is then smoked over juniper berries and beech wood and shortly aged, usually between a week and one or two months.
Mortandela can be cooked or eaten as it is. If cooked, it's traditionally served with polenta, boiled dandelion greens, sauerkraut, or potatoes. When eaten raw, it's often served as a part of mixed platters with speck, sausages, pickles, and local cheeses such as Puzzone di Moena.
The term mortandela is derived from mortatium or mortaio, meaning mortar, and it was used in the past to grind the mixture. It's recommended to pair aged mortandela with a glass of Teroldego.
