Ciauscolo (also spelled ciabuscolo or ciavuscolo) is a range of Italian salami, typical of the Marche region (especially of the Province of Macerata), though it really is also widely utilized in nearby Umbria (particularly within the territory of Foligno and part of northern Valnerina).
Ciauscolo is a dry-cured and smoked sausage, made from fat and pork meat cut from the shoulder and belly. It can be spiced with garlic and black pepper, and in few rare circumstances vincotto. The meat is finely ground, combined, and cured with the spices stuffed in wide hog middles; also it is left for a drying period of twelve- to twenty-four-hour. As soon as the top turns out to be tacky, sausages are cold-smoked on juniper branches for 2 days, and then hung to cure. Even though it may be aged for a month or a lot more, it’s usually eaten following merely a brief two weeks. The result can be a quite soft, moist sausage which might be spread on bread, in a manner similar to some pâtés.
There’s a variant in some areas of Le Marche known as Ciauscolo di fegato, and Fegatino or Mazzafegato, in which pork liver is substituted for a certain part of the fat. This naturally causes the sausage color to turn darker and also furthermore contributes a concentrated flavor. In this case, fennel fronds and orange zest or flowers are integrated in the spices.
The term “ciauscolo” is related to the neighborhood dialectal word “ciausculu”, though which one derives from the other remains unclear. A probable origin for ciauscolo are a Mediaeval Latin name “cibusculum”, it means “small food”, or perhaps be related to the neighborhood dialectal word “ciausculu” (despite the fact that it can be unclear whether or not the one derives from the other, or the other way around).
Tags: Province of Macerata, dry-cured sausage, smoked sausage