Sausages and cured meats are widely consumed in Switzerland. Meat in general is consumed on a daily basis, pork being particularly ubiquitous in Swiss cuisine. Preserving meat by smoking it or by adding salt has been done for millennia in Switzerland.
Salt was hardly used as a means of preservation before the 2nd millennium BC, as the archaeological excavations carried out near salt resources seem to indicate. In the Lower Engadine, beef and pork were smoked as early as the 1st millennium BC; this is attested by pierced shoulder blades found on archeological sites. Smoking meat was probably common since the Neolithic, as livestock had to be slaughtered before the long winter season. [1] This has not changed much throughout history: until the 19th century, animals were typically slaughtered in November, then cut up for salting, smoking and making sausages. Since the meat could not be refrigerated easily, its fresh consumption was limited to the time of slaughter. [2]
Current meat-curing techniques and recipes are attested since the Late Middle Ages. In 1438, the statutes of the Butchers' Guild of St. Gallen mention a veal sausage. [3] In Valais, dried meat specialities made from beef are attested in Münster's 1544 Cosmographia. The Walser people, who also occupied other Alpine territories, such as the Grisons and Ticino, are sometimes credited for this speciality. [4] Grisons Meat is described by 18th century travellers, in particular by Johann Gottfried Ebel who notes that "the air is so dry from Sils to St. Moritz between the months of October and March that meat is dried instead of being smoked". [5]
Raw ham was probably also produced since the Late Middle Ages, especially in southern Switzerland. [6] While drying techniques are common in Valais, Ticino and the Grisons, smoking techniques are more common in northern Switzerland. [7] These differences reflect those between northern and southern Europe. [8]
Switzerland has a large number of regional meat products and specialties that constitute an important gastronomic heritage. [9] [10] The cultural and climatic diversity of the country accounts for a large part. [11] In French-speaking Switzerland, the term charcuterie is employed, whereas in Italian-speaking Switzerland, the term salumi is employed.
The products listed below are inscribed in the Culinary Heritage of Switzerland. They are essentially made of pork, unless specified. [12]
Sausages are primarily made of pork. Three types are made in Switzerland: grilling (blanched) sausages, raw sausages and cooking sausages. [13] Among cooking sausages is also a subcategory of raw sausages with interrupted maturation (*), often called saucissons. [14]
A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders.
Raclette is a Swiss dish, also popular in the other Alpine countries, based on heating cheese and scraping off the melted part, then typically served with boiled potatoes. Raclette cheese is historically a dish originating from the canton of Valais in Switzerland. This cheese from Valais benefits from an AOP. Raclette cheese is also a Swiss-type cheese marketed specifically to be used for this dish.
The cuisine of Québec is a national cuisine in the Canadian province of Québec. It is also cooked by Franco-Ontarians.
Prosciutto crudo, in English often shortened to prosciutto, is uncooked, unsmoked, and dry-cured ham. Prosciutto crudo is usually served thinly sliced.
Swiss cuisine is an ensemble of national, regional and local dishes, consisting of the ingredients, recipes and cooking techniques developed in Switzerland or assimilated from other cultures, particularly neighboring countries. The diversity and comprehensiveness of Swiss gastronomy reflects the linguistic, cultural and geographical diversity. The climate of Switzerland allows for a large variety of terroirs, and therefore a wide range of indigenous food, from simple cereals to refined products like cheese and wine.
Bresaola is air-dried, salted beef that has been aged two or three months until it becomes hard and turns a dark red, almost purple color. It is made from top (inside) round, and it is lean and tender, with a sweet, musty smell. It originated in Valtellina, a valley in the Alps of northern Italy's Lombardy region.
Bündnerfleisch, also known as Bindenfleisch, Grisons Meat or Viande des Grisons, is an air-dried meat that is produced in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland.
Curing is any of various food preservation and flavoring processes of foods such as meat, fish and vegetables, by the addition of salt, with the aim of drawing moisture out of the food by the process of osmosis. Because curing increases the solute concentration in the food and hence decreases its water potential, the food becomes inhospitable for the microbe growth that causes food spoilage. Curing can be traced back to antiquity, and was the primary method of preserving meat and fish until the late 19th century. Dehydration was the earliest form of food curing. Many curing processes also involve smoking, spicing, cooking, or the addition of combinations of sugar, nitrate, and nitrite.
Salumi are Italian meat products typical of an antipasto, predominantly made from pork and cured. Salumi also include bresaola, which is made from beef, and some cooked products, such as mortadella and prosciutto cotto.
Saucisson, also saucisson sec or saucisse sèche, is a family of thick, dry-cured sausages in French cuisine. Typically made of pork, or a mixture of pork and other meats, saucisson are a type of charcuterie similar to salami or summer sausage.
A galette-saucisse is a type of French street food item consisting of a hot sausage, traditionally grilled, wrapped in a type of crepe called galette de sarrasin or Breton galette. The French region known as Upper Brittany is the traditional homeland of galette-saucisse, especially the department of Ille-et-Vilaine and some parts of its bordering departments like Côtes-d'Armor, Morbihan, Loire-Atlantique, Mayenne and Manche.
In Switzerland, the appellation d'origine protégée is a geographical indication protecting the origin and the quality of traditional food products other than wines.
Maluns are a traditional dish of the Grisons, essentially made of potatoes.
The St. Galler Bratwurst, also known as the Olma Bratwurst after OLMA is a sausage produced in Northeastern Switzerland. It is partly made with veal and has a white color. It is named after the city of St. Gallen.
Papet Vaudois is a dish originating in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It essentially consists of leeks and potatoes and is accompanied by sausages. It is often considered to be the national dish of Vaud; the potatoes and leeks happen to have the same colors as the cantonal flag: white and green.
Salame ticinese is a variety of salami originating in Ticino, the southernmost region of Switzerland. It is characterized by coarsely ground meat and it is often made into small sausages, called salametti. It is an emblematic air-dried cured pork meat of Ticino, along with prosciutto crudo and coppa. These are referred to as salumi.
Salsiz is a raw sausage originating in the Grisons. It is an air-dried or smoked sausage and it is produced in many different variants. It distinguishes itself from most other sausages by its rectangular profile.
Le Sel ne fut guère utilisé comme moyen de conservation avant le IIe millénaire av. J.-C., comme semblent l'indiquer les fouilles archéologiques menées sur le site de sources salées et de dépôts de sel gemme. En Basse-Engadine, on tirait sans doute parti du climat dès le Ier millénaire av. J.-C. pour faire sécher de la viande de bœuf et de porc, dont on a retrouvé des omoplates percées.
Jusqu'au XIXe s., on consommait à la campagne des bêtes ― des cochons principalement ― que paysans, artisans et journaliers avaient élevées et que des bouchers venaient abattre chez leurs clients, puis découper en vue de la salaison, du fumage et de la confection de saucisses. Comme on ne pouvait réfrigérer la viande, sa consommation fraîche se limitait à l'époque de l'abattage, qui avait lieu en novembre.
In 1438, first reference was made to a Bratwurst in the statutes of the Butchers' Guild of St. Gallen. Therein it is stipulated that this sausage is produced from veal, bacon, spices and fresh milk. The latter also explains the white colour of the sausage. Since then, the sausage recipe has not really changed, the master butchers, however, can interpret it to their taste, as long as they stick with specifications.
En Valais, la première attestation détaillée concernant le séchage de la viande remonte à la Cosmographie de Sebastian Münster, dont la première édition est publiée en 1544 à Bâle
Schriftliche Erwähnungen des Bündnerfleisches finden sich ab dem 18. Jahrhundert in Berichten von deutschen Reiseschriftstellern, die in Graubünden unterwegs waren. So schreibt Johann Gottfried Ebel in seiner im Jahr 1793 erschienenen „Anleitung auf die nützlichste und genussvollste Art die Schweitz zu bereisen": „Die Luft ist so trocken, dass von Sils bis St. Moritz hinab vom Monat October bis Merz alles Fleisch nicht im Rauch, sondern an der Luft gedörrt wird."
È difficile dire da quanto tempo il prosciutto crudo della Mesolcina viene prodotto nella regione. Secondo lo storico Cesare Santi, che conduce da cinquant'anni ricerche sul Moesano negli archivi della regione, il prosciutto crudo si produceva già nel medioevo. Lo testimoniano i documenti di archivio...
L'usage de la borne permettait un double processus de séchage et de fumage, qui répondait à la nécessité de conserver la viande tout en tenant compte du climat relativement humide de cette région de Suisse. Le Valais, le Tessin et les Grisons, plus ensoleillés, privilégiaient le séchage à l'air libre.
Historically, the manufacturing procedures used to make fermented sausages were adapted to the climatic conditions of theproduction area. For instance, Mediterranean meat products are dried to low water activity (aw) values, taking advantage of the long dry and sunny days, while in Northern Europe fermented sausages require smoking for further preservation.
Switzerland may be most famous for cheeses and chocolate, but it is also a land of sausages. [...] there is a wonderful range of dried mountain sausages, fresh sausages, cooked, cured, smoked, and scalded sausages to savour.
La Suisse connait un grand nombre de produits alimentaires régionaux et de spécialités qui constituent un patrimoine gastronomique important. La diversité des conditions climatiques et topographiques, tout comme la vivacité des traditions artisanales locales, ont favorisé le développement de produits renommés tels que la viande séchée des Grisons, la viande séchée du Valais, les spécialités fumées et/ou salées, ainsi qu'une grande diversité de fromages
La première chose à savoir est qu'il existe trois types de saucisses: Les saucisses à réchauffer et à rôtir [...] Les saucisses crues [...] Les saucisses à cuire
Le saucisson neuchâtelois est un saucisson cru et fumé de porc. Il appartient à la famille des saucisses dites à maturation interrompue (que l'on pourrait faire sécher, mais qui sont en général cuites alors qu'elles sont encore moelleuses) typiques de la Suisse romande, qui comprend également les saucissons vaudois et fribourgeois, le boutefas, la longeole, la saucisse d'Ajoie, les saucisses aux choux et au foie.[Saucisson neuchâtelois is a raw and smoked pork sausage. It belongs to the family of so-called interrupted maturation sausages (which could be dried, but which are generally cooked while still soft) typical of French-speaking Switzerland, which also includes Vaud and Fribourg sausages, Boutefas, Longeole, Saucisse d'Ajoie, cabbage and liver sausages.]
Et sur son plateau, au milieu des gentianes et des épilobes fleurit l'un des trésors du Tessin : le jambon cru de l'Alpe Piora.
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