| Headword | Mortadella from Bologna |
| Domain and subdomain | Food – meat products |
| Grammatical label | Noun, sing. |
| Definition | Cured meat, prepared with finely minced meat and pig fat, both finely minced and cooked. (1) |
| Note | The starting point (for the production of Bologna) is the careful selection of meat, which is shredded and reduced to a very fine paste through three different steps, in special grinding machines. Fat cubes are then prepared, they are exclusively obtained from the pig’s throat, the hardest and the most valuable fat tissue. The resulting dough is filled to the desired size […] and subjected to cooking. This is the most delicate phase, able to give the Bologna its characteristic aroma and its typical softness; the procedure involves the use of special dry air stoves, with cooking times ranging from a few hours up to an entire day. In any case, the temperature of the product must never be less than + 70. Lastly, showering with cold water and a stay in the cooling cell allow the product to “stabilize”. (2) |
| Context | 7 million kg of Mortadella Bologna IGP were produced in 2014. On the market Mortadella is available in different sizes: a whole one, pre-sliced in a tray, in cubes or pieces in modified atmosphere or vacuumed. In Italy is it commonly sold (81%) at the meat counter of supermarkets, of retail stores and delicatessens. The pre-sliced version is increasingly appreciated. (3) |
| Phonetic transcription | [morta’dɛlla frəm bo’loɲa] |
| Synonyms/variants | Bologna sausage (the American equivalent of Italian Mortadella made without visible pieces of fat). (4) |
| Etymology | The noun derives from Latin murtatum o myrtatum «insaccato condito con bacche di mirto (myrtus o murtus)», Eng. sausage enriched with myrtle barries. (5) |
| Product image |  (6) |
| Equivalents | ITA Mortadella Bologna ESP Mortadela Bolonia FRA Mortadelle Bologne RO Mortadela de Bologna |
| Note of the equivalents | The name is feminine, “Bologna”, the place of origin and production, is used both in Italian and English, with a variation in Spanish. |
| Institution | Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Studi Linguistici e Culturali |
| Date | 26/07/2021 |
| Last modified | 25/04/2023 |
| Author Revisor | Chiara Buschi Gloria Zanella |
| Sources | (1) AA. VV., Dizionario di enogastronomia in cinque lingue, Academia Universa Press – Edizioni Plan, Milano, 2012; (2) https://mortadellabologna.com/mortadella-bologna-igp/ (3) https://www.italianfoodexcellence.com/10000480/ (4) https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes/cooked/american/bologna-american (5) Giovanni Treccani, Enciclopedia Treccani – Enciclopedia online, ed. Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/ricerca/mortadella/ (6) https://pubblicitaitalia.com/it |
