Saturday, November 04, 2006

Sopresata or Soppressata


I love sausage. This is not a surprise to those who know me. Fresh sausage in sauce, fresh sausage in sandwiches, fresh sausages as a snack before bed. Wait... before bed I'm not supposed to cook because I'll make a mess. Therefore I'll eat dry sausage! And my favorite type of sausage is Sopresata (soppressata??).

Sopresata is my favorite type of sausage. I have been buying the whole hot version of "Sopresata Veneta" at Zabar's, which I prefer over the sweet, which I find a bit dry. I have tried the pre-sliced sopresata at Stew Leonard's and was not impressed. We have had great sopresata from Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, but unfortunately, I can not remember where. A field trip is in order!

One thing I have been curious about is exactly what makes sopresata sopresata and not one of the many other types of sausages. I tried to research this on multiple web sites, with little success. Chowhound describes it as little more than a dried Italian Sausage. Great. Although I will try to find out more soon, for now I would define sopresata as having a natural casing, large chunks of pork and visible fat, and a "pressed" look (hence the name).

Try Sopresata Veneta, hot. You will like it!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

At this moment, I'm chewing on the exact sausage you have pictured there. I was having the same questions as you while enjoying this pressed delight.

Ever tried Rosette de Lyon?

Ira.B said...

yes i have.

its pretty good.

mm

Unknown said...

This post is old and you may never see it but try this brand of you haven't already. Triple hot is my favorite.
http://www.westerlypacking.com/Soupy.php