mortadella (“bologna”) is similar. These
sausages have a very fine-textured,
homogeneous, tender interior, and a relatively
mild flavor. They’re made by combining pork,
beef, or poultry with fat, salt, nitrite,
flavorings, and usually additional water, and
shearing the ingredients together in a large
blender until they form a smooth “batter,”
which is similar to an emulsified sauce like
mayonnaise (p. 625): the fat is evenly
dispersed in small droplets, which are
surrounded and stabilized by fragments of the
muscle cells and by salt-dissolved muscle
proteins. The temperature during blending is
critical: if it rises above 60ºF/16ºC in a pork
batter, 70ºF/21ºC in beef, the emulsion will be
unstable and leak fat. The batter is then
extruded into a casing and cooked to about
160ºF/70ºC. Heat coagulates the meat proteins
and turns the batter into a cohesive, solid
mass from which the casing can be removed.
Due to their relatively high water content,
barry
(Barry)
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