FEATURE // Mortadella
Made with care Mortadella has long fallen into the lunch meat category, but with the work of innovative chefs and local artisans, it’s jumped out of the box. WORDS Aristine Dobson
MORTADELLA HAS FALLEN in the
ins and outs of mortadella, Palinkas
for too long. Its pale, white-specked
observed a completely different consumer
shadow of its cured-meat counterparts appearance has largely resulted in
customers steering clear, but if you ask a
butcher or a chef, they will say it’s one of
the finest. And the dining public is finally starting to see the light.
Hospitality speaks to Chef, Melissa
Palinkas and Butcher Marcus
Papadopoulo on busting mortadella
myths, the production process and its rising status in kitchens.
Melissa Palinkas is the head chef and
owner of Young George restaurant and Ethos Deli in East Fremantle, Perth.
Mortadella is generally perceived as a
high-fat small good, when in actuality,
it’s the opposite. “There’s no fat content in mortadella; traditionally it’s made
from extremely lean pork,” says Palinkas.
“When we make it, it’s pretty much 85 per cent lean pork and 15 per cent pork fat.”
As a chef that specialises in charcuterie,
attitude. “I went to Tuscany a couple of years ago to do a study of mortadella
across the whole of Bologna,” she says. “You see the Italians and it’s a way of
life for them. If everyone was serving it
[here], people would probably catch on a little bit more.”
Marrickville Butcher Marcus
Papadopoulo has a similar philosophy, and as a butcher, he knows producing premium mortadella starts with
sourcing top-tier meat. He holds the
meat industry accountable for the mass
commercialisation and production of deli
meats in general. “The mortadella market is saturated with poor-quality examples,” he says. “There is mortadella out there that is unbelievable. If you go out and
seek a good-quality example, you eat it
and go, ‘This is a step above other things I’ve had before’.”
Papadopoulo says the emulsification
Palinkas believes serving quality
process is what makes it hard for people
perceptions. Determined to explore the
a mortadella. “Most people presume that
mortadella is key to shifting public
36 | Hospitality
went to its birthplace in Italy, where she
to distinguish the ingredients that are in
