Synonyms:   lunch meats = luncheon meats = sandwich meats = cooked meats = sliced meats = cold meats

These are precooked sausages or meat loaves that are usually served cold in sandwiches or on party trays.  You can buy them already sliced in vacuum packs, or have them sliced to order at a deli counter.  Most cold cuts are high in fat and sodium.

Varieties:

Alpino salami  Notes:  This is an Italian-style salami.  Substitutes:  salami

basturma = bastirma = pastirma = basterma = pasterma  Notes:   This Armenian specialty consists of beef that's marinated in spices and air-dried.

bierwurst = beerwurst = beer salami   Pronunciation:   BEER-wurst OR BEER-vurscht  Notes:  This is a chunky, tubular German sausage that's usually sliced and served cold in sandwiches.  It's made with pork and beef.   Substitutes:    krakauer OR bierwurst OR jagdwurst OR bologna

blockwurst  Notes:   This is a spicy German pork sausage that's usually served in sandwiches.  It comes ready-to-eat.  Substitutes:  cervelat (very similar) OR bierwurst

	bologna = baloney = balogna   Pronunciation:  buh-LONE-uh OR buh-LONE-ee OR buh-LONE-yuh  Notes:  This soft, mild sausage is a sandwich staple.  It's made from beef and/or pork and usually smoked.  It's usually sold sliced and ready-to-eat.   Substitutes:  mortadella
	Calabrese sausage  Notes:  This spicy dry Italian salami is made out of pork and hot chile peppers.  Substitutes:  salami OR pepperoni

	coppa salami = coppa   Notes:  This has bits of ham in it.
	corned beef   Notes:  This is cut from a beef brisket that's been cured with salt and spices and then simmered in water.  It's traditionally served hot on rye bread.  Substitutes:   pastrami (more tender, but otherwise very similar)

 

csabai   Pronunciation:   chah-BUY  Notes:  This is a Hungarian smoked sausage that's heavily seasoned with paprika.   Rings of it are sold in German delis.

 

finocchiona

foie gras entier  Pronunciation:  fwah grah ahnt-YAY  Notes:  This pricey French delicacy is simply goose or duck liver that's been lightly cooked.  When aged, it becomes very rich and flavorful.  Goose livers are tastier and more expensive than duck livers.  Some people refuse to eat foie gras because the animals are force-fed to enlarge their livers.  Substitutes:  pâté de foie gras

	galantina   Notes:  This is cold cut resembles a chunky mortadella.  Substitutes:  mortadella OR bologna
	gelbwurst   Notes:   This pork and veal sausage is very mild and fine-grained.  The name means "yellow sausage" in German, but that refers to the color of the casing rather than cream-colored sausage itself.  You can put it into sandwiches or pan-fry it.   It's called "diet bologna" in Germany since it's relatively low in fat.   Substitutes:  bologna

	headcheese  Notes:  This is made from parts of the hog's head, which are boiled together with spices and gelatin, then cooled and sliced.  The result is a mosaic of meat chunks.  It's good in sandwiches.   Substitutes:  sulze OR zungenwurst
	jagdwurst   Notes:  This is a coarse, mild German cold cut that's often served on sandwiches with mustard.  It's made of pork, beef, and sometimes garlic.  Substitutes:  krakauer OR bierwurst
	krakauer  Notes:  This is like bologna, only it's studded with chucks of ham.  You can serve it cold in sandwiches, or fry it for breakfast.  Substitutes:  jagdwurst OR bierwurst
	Lebanon bologna  Notes:  This is a highly seasoned smoked beef sausage based on a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe.  Substitutes:  salami OR summer sausage
	leberkäse = leberkase   Pronunciation:  LAY-ber-ka-suh  Notes:   Despite its name ("liver cheese" in German), this Bavarian specialty contains neither liver nor cheese.  It's a pork, beef, and veal meatloaf with the color and consistency of bologna.  Germans like to fry thick slices of it and serve them with potatoes.  Substitutes:  bologna

liverwurst = liver sausage = leberwurst  Notes:  This is a family of pork liver sausages that are creamy enough to spread.  One variety is braunschweiger, which is smoked liverwurst.  Substitutes:  pâté OR teewurst OR mettwurst (the spreadable kind) OR gelbwurst

mortadella = mortadella bologna   Pronunciation:  more-tuh-DELL-uh Notes:  This exquisite smoked pork sausage is similar to bologna, only it's flavored with garlic and has bits of fat and sometimes pistachios in it.  It's a key ingredient in a muffaletta sandwich.  Always serve it cold.  Substitutes:  bologna OR olive loaf

 

olive loaf  Notes:   This is like bologna, only with bits of stuffed olives embedded in it.  Substitutes:  mortadella OR bologna

pastrami  Notes:  This is beef brisket that's been seasoned and dry-cured.  It's often served hot on rye bread.  Substitutes:  corned beef (not as tender, but very similar)

pâté = pate = paté = liver paste  Pronunciation:   pah-TAY Notes:   Leave it to the French to come up with this buttery rich delicacy.  Goose pâté is pricier and more subtle than duck pâté, and is the best choice if you plan to serve the pâté cold.  Duck pâté works best in warm dishes.  Some people refuse to eat pâté de foie gras from France because the animals are force-fed to enlarge their livers. Substitutes:  liverwurst OR foie gras entier OR monkfish liver

pepper loaf = pepper loaf  Notes:   This is a pork and beef loaf that's liberally seasoned with cracked peppercorns.

 

plockwurst

rauchfleisch  Notes:  A German specialty, this is smoked beef that's normally sliced thin.

ringwurst = ring bologna = fleischwurst  Notes:   This pork and beef sausage looks and tastes like bologna.  Germans like to heat it up and serve it with potato salad or bread.  Substitutes:  bologna

salami = salame  Notes:   This is a family of ready-to-eat sausages that are made with beef and/or pork and heavily seasoned with garlic and spices.  They're often used in sandwiches or antipasto plates.    Many salami, like the popular Genoa salami, are air-dried and somewhat hard.  Others, like cotto salami, are cooked, which makes them softer and more perishable.  Most salami are made of pork, but all-beef kosher salami are also available.   In Italian, salame is the singular form and salami the plural, but Americans often talk of one salami and many salamis.    Substitutes:  Lebanon bologna OR summer sausage OR pepperoni

 

schinkenwurst = bier schinken = ham bologna  Notes:   This German cold cut consists of ham suspended in a bologna-like emulsion.  It's usually served cold on sandwiches.  Substitutes:   krakauer OR bierwurst OR jagdwurst

 

soppressata = soppresata = soprassata = finocchiona  Notes:  This is a fatty Italian pork salami that's seasoned with peppercorns.  Substitutes:  Another Italian salami

 

sulze = sulz = sülze   Pronunciation:  SOOL-zuh  Notes:  This is made from a mixture of calves' feet or pig snouts, eggs, and other meats that's been cooked and then allowed to gel.  There's no need to cook it further; the cold slices are usually served as appetizers.  Substitutes:   headcheese

 

summer sausage = cervelat = cervelas  Pronunciation:  SUR-vuh-lat   Notes:   This is a family of spicy, somewhat dry pork and/or beef sausages that are great for sandwiches.  They don't need to be cooked.  Varieties include landjaeger and thuringer. Substitutes:  blockwurst

 

teewurst = teawurst   Notes:   Germans like to spread this smoky "tea sausage" on crackers or bread at teatime.     Substitutes:   mettwurst (the spreadable kind) OR liverwurst

textured sausages  Notes:  These have chunks of meat suspended in them that form a mosaic pattern when sliced.  Varieties include schinkenwurst, jagdwurst, tyroler, Ansbacher pressack, tongue sausage, and zungenwurst.

thuringer = thueringer   Pronunciation:   THUR-in-jure  Notes:   This is a mild summer sausage that's made of pork and sometimes beef.  Substitutes:  cotto salami

tongue loaf = tongue sausage   Notes:   Delis often stock loaves of pork, lamb, veal, or beef tongues that have been cooked, pressed, jellied, and/or smoked.    Substitutes:  zungenwurst

touristenwurst  Notes:  This is a pork and beef soft salami ring.  Substitutes:  salami

wunderwuurst  Notes:  This is liverwurst dotted with pistachios.  Substitutes:  liverwurst

zungenwurst = blut zungenwurst = blood tongue sausage   Pronunciation:  ZUNG-en-wurst OR ZUNG-en-vurscht  Notes:  This German blood sausage includes pieces of pickled tongue.  It comes ready to eat, but it's often heated before serving.    Substitutes:  blood sausage

 

 

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Copyright © 1996 - 2005  Lori Alden