The range of cured gourmet meats which come from Italy is staggering in size.  Whether smoked, salted or air-cured, these diverse meats present the taster with an almost unlimited series of culinary choices.  The first of these meats I shall review is a Calabrese Rustico.

Calabrese hails from the Calabria region of Italy.  It is a cheese-making area, so the dominant meat is pork (there are certain economies which can be had when simultaneously raising pigs and making cheese).  Calabrese is a salame; that is, a stuffed sausage which is dry-cured.  Calabrese is indeed made from pork, which is flavored with white wine and various spices such as chili.

Obtaining genuine Italian Calabrese from Calabria is difficult, but not impossible, in the United States and Canada.  However, thanks to the Italian immigrant community, extremely high-quality Calabrese is produced domestically, and is highly available.  This domestic variety need not be a poor copy, a mere shadow of the genuine article; firms such as Citterio provide dry-cured gourmet meats which rival the best imported offerings.  Citterio USA is a Pennsylvania-based supplier of dry-cured gourmet meats; the company has 19th Century, old-country origins, which is evident in the quality of their wares.

This salame is bright red in color, and comes as a chub with a length of perhaps six inches.  Since it is a dry-cured meat it is firm and dense, heavy in the hand and unsqueezable.  Slicing it is demanding; a sharp knife glides through the chub smoothly but with some resistance.  The casing does not appear to be tough, but rather, soft and supple, resisting the knife no more than the rest of the sausage.  Slicing reveals a mottled, bright-red interior, well marbled with abundant oiliness.

The aroma is spicy and inviting.  The texture in the mouth is firm; the sausage requires significant (but not objectionable) effort to chew.  Flavor is full, meaty; spices are peppery with paprika in predominance.  Finish is hotter than the flavor; the taste of sweet oil and paprika fills the mouth while the tang of heat warms the throat.  The Calabrese is filling; a few slices should suffice for a snack or -- with some flavorful, aged cheese -- a fine, European-style breakfast.

The Citterio Rustico Calabrese is a worthy domestic counterpart to the genuine Italian offerings of this celebrated variety of dry-cured salame.  For a snack, as an antipasto, or for breakfast, I would consider it to be recommended.