A Helpful Guide About Deli Meats: Types and How to Prolong Their Shelf Lives

Dive into a variety of deli and charcuterie items, from pastrami and salami to prosciutto and pancetta.

Find 12 different lunch and deli meat, storage tips, and great uses in this must-have guide. Convenient for everything from lunch and dinner to snacks and canapés, deli meats add flavor to many recipes. Hence, if you like your meat spicy or salty,  sandwiches, pasta, or itself, there are a variety of deli types that will suit your taste buds.

To assist you to get to recognizing the special sorts of deli meats available, we’ve prepared this accessible guide. It shows 12 sorts with suggestions to be used and storing facts for every type.

  • Chorizo

Chorizo ​​is a  Spanish sausage made from pork, garlic, peppercorn, and smoked paprika, which is red. It has a strong taste and a firm texture. Chorizo ​​can be eaten raw, but it is better cooked. Available in parcels at the deli counter or in the refrigerated section.

How to eat/use: Slice or chop the chorizo ​​and chill it as an appetizer, or enjoy it as a tapas-style dish in a frying pan. You can add it to omelets, soups, casseroles, and pasta dishes.

How to store: Place in a closed refrigerator and store for up to 5 days. Please pay attention to the expiration date of the packaged chorizo ​​and consume it within 5 days after opening.

 

  • Pancetta

The Italian version of bacon, pancetta, is derived from pork belly. Dry-cured with salt and spices such as nutmeg, pepper, and fennel and let it age for at least 3 months. Sliced ​​pancetta is available in 100g packs from the deli counter or the refrigerated section.

How to eat/use: Coarsely cut the pancetta and have it added to homemade pasta sauces, casseroles, and soups. You can also use it as an alternative to bacon.

How to store: Put in the fridge and once opened, consume within four days.

 

  • Prosciutto

Prosciutto is just like pancetta, however includes much fewer fats because it comes from the red meat leg. Once salted, the ham is left to age in chilly weather for 9 to 18 months and once in a while for 3 years. In Italy, prosciutto is referred to as prosciutto crudo, which means “uncooked ham”. Sliced or shaved prosciutto is to be had from the deli counter.

How to eat/use: Prosciutto is fine uncooked. Organize slices over a cooked pizza, or wrap it around grissini or wedges of rockmelon as a part of an antipasto platter.

How to store: Store the prosciutto in the fridge, specifically in an airlight container, for up to two days.

 

  • Ham Off the Bone

Ham is a cured pig’s trotter. Traditionally, pork has been dried and hardened, rubbed with a salt mixture, smoked, slowly air dried, aged and stored for long periods of time. Today, it is usually wet-cured. That is, it is treated with a salt and sugar-based solution before cooking. This quicker technique makes it moister and much less salty, however it has a shorter shelf life. Sliced or shaved ham off the bone is to be had from the deli counter.

How to eat/use: Add to sandwiches, salads,  pizzas, quiches and pasta dishes.

How to store: Put in the fridge, inside an airtight container for up to two days.

 

  • Pepperoni

A favored pizza topping, pepperoni is a highly spiced cured sausage that’s crafted from beef or beef, or an aggregate of each meat, with delivered pepper and spices. Prepackaged pepperoni sausages are also available in the deli aisle.

How to eat/use: Slice the peppers into thin slices and use them as a topping for store-purchased pizza crusts, or chop them into small pieces and then pan-fry them to add to pasta, pies, or frittatas.

How to store: Cover in plastic wrap and have it kept in the fridge for up to two weeks.

 

  • Mortadella

Mortadella is a form of cooked salami and is the most important of all of the sausages. It’s crafted from an aggregate of minced beef, beef fat, and occasionally peppercorns, olives, or pistachios. Mortadella is historically reduced into paper-skinny slices and loved as a part of an antipasto platter. Sliced or shaved plain, pepper, and inexperienced olive mortadella are to be had from the deli counter.

How to eat/use: You can enjoy it on its own, covered around grissini, or around a slice of crusty bread.

How to store: Put in the fridge, inside an airtight container for up to two days.

 

  • Chicken Roll

Chicken roll is a practical alternative to chicken breast supreme. It is made of chicken meat and seasonings that’s pressed into shape before baking. You can see sliced chicken roll in deli aisle as well.

How to eat/use: You can add chicken rolls slices to sandwiches. Also, after chopping, you can add it on salads or as toppings on pizzas.

How to store: Put in the fridge, inside an airtight container for up to two days.

 

  • Salami

Salami is a kind of cured sausage crafted from pork, red meat, or veal that has been flavored with garlic and numerous herbs and spices. The uncooked sausage is going thru degrees of salting, drying, and once in a while smoking and fermentation, to turn out to be a difficult sausage. The phrase salami comes from the Italian phrase sale, this means that salt, however, cured sausages are loved throughout Europe.

How to eat/use: Salami can be added to pizzas, sandwiches, pasta, and canapés.

How to store: Put in the fridge, inside an airtight container for up to two days.

 

  • Chicken breast supreme

Chicken breast supreme is made by pressing and steaming whole chicken breast fillets.

How to eat/use: It can be added to wraps, sandwiches, and canapés.

How to store: Put in the fridge, inside an airtight container for up to two days.

 

  • Beef Pastrami

Beef pastrami is corned beef sprinkled with pepper and spices, smoked, and flavored. The word pastrami comes from the Yiddish language, and the meat was introduced to the United States in the late 19th century when Jews emigrated from Eastern Europe. It’s now famous sandwich meat, mainly in New York in which it’s famously served on rye bread.

How to eat/use: Beef Pastrami can be added to wraps and sandwiches, or sliced and used in canapés, salads, or as a pizza topping.

How to store: Put in the fridge, inside an airtight container for up to two days.

 

  • Turkey Breast

Turkey breast is one hundred percent turkey breast meat that has been roasted withinside the oven. At ninety-seven percent fat-free, it has much fewer fats than many different deli varieties of meat, making it a wholesome alternative for lunch boxes.

How to eat/use: Sliced turkey breast can be added to sandwiches and wraps. It can also be added to salads, canapés, or pizzas.

How to store: Put in the fridge, inside an airtight container for up to two days.

 

  • Roast Beef

It is made from roasted cuts (usually underscores) of beef that has been roasted in the oven and then sliced ​​thinly.

How to eat/use: Roast beef, when coarsely chopped, can be added to sandwiches, or canapés.

How to store: Put in the fridge, inside an airtight container for up to two days.

Conclusion:

Deli meats which include pancetta, prosciutto, chorizo, ham, salami, and bacon may be tossed via pasta, blended via a salad, or sprinkled over soup. Given that a great deal of the taste in deli meats comes from fat, much less is greater while including them in meals. It’s additionally crucial to don’t forget that they’re commonly cured with a sizable quantity of salt, so usually take care, now no longer to over-season dishes.

You can check any of our Fresh Farms locations to get a fresh variety of deli that you can enjoy eating or as additives on your foods.

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