Mortadella is a delicious Italian meat that I’ve enjoyed since I was a little girl. It is a speciality of Bologna but incredibly easy to make at home. Try out my family’s recipe and make the best homemade panini, pasta and more! You will need a meat grinder, a food processor and lots of ice for this project. This recipe yields 3 lbs of mortadella.
Ingredients:
- 8 oz boneless lean beef, cut into large cubes
- 8 oz lean pork, cut into large cubes
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 1 tsp garlic, minced
- 1/2 oz kosher salt
- 12 oz pork back fat, cut into large cubes
- 10 oz crushed ice + more for chilling
- 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp ground mace
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground bay leaves
- 1/2 cup pork back fat, blanched
- 1/2 cup roasted pistachios
- 18 inch casing
Process:
- Combine beef, pork, wine, garlic and salt in a meat grinder and grind through the smallest setting into a bowl. Set the bowl over ice and refrigerate covered for an hour or so.
- Grind the 12 oz pork back fat next through the same small setting into a separate bowl, place in the freezer.
- Put the ground meat into a food processor with ice, pepper, mace, bay leaves and nutmeg. Mix until smooth (about 5 minutes). Temperature should be 40 degrees F.
- Next add the frozen pork back fat and mix for another 5 or so minutes until the temperature reaches 45 degrees F.
- Transfer mixture to a bowl over ice and fold in blanched pork fat and pistachios.
- Tie one end of the casing into a bubble knot (watch video here) and stuff the mixture into the casing. Tie off the other end into another bubble knot.
- Cook in a 170 F degree water bath for an hour or until the internal temp reaches 150 F.
- Chill thoroughly using more ice and refrigerate.
- To serve, thinly slice using a meat slicer or knife. Mortadella is delicious on panini, pizza, pasta and more!
