Among Ferrara’s gastronomic specialities, perhaps the one that has survived unchanged over the centuries and is still prepared according to the ancient, rigid ritual. Salama da Sugo, which is not a salami, is a mixture of minced pork meat with red wine, salt, black pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves and other secret ingredients that no artisan of taste will ever be willing to reveal.
It is matured for about a year and, before being served at the table, it needs to be boiled for a long time in water, wrapped in a cloth so that it does not split and hung so that it does not touch the pot. To eat it, the soft and tasty mixture is uncovered and dug out with a spoon; it is forbidden to use a knife. It is usually served with mashed potatoes, but it is much more "Estense" (potatoes only came later, with the discovery of America) to associate it with the typical pumpkin puree, which gives the whole dish a sweet-savoury contrast of ancient tradition.
An entire poem has also been dedicated to it, the "Salameide" by Antonio Frizzi (1772), from which it is clear that the salama consists mainly of liver, and not meat.
