Pitina
Encyclopedia
Pitina is an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 cold cut
Cold cut
Cold cuts are cheeses or precooked or cured meat, often sausages or meat loaves, that are sliced and usually served cold on sandwiches or on party trays. They can be bought pre-sliced in vacuum packs at a supermarket or grocery store, or they can be purchased at a delicatessen or deli counter,...

 (salume
Salumi
Salumi are Italian cured meat products and predominantly made from pork. It comes from the italian word salume, pl. salumi, coming from the latin word salumen, that means salty meat. The term salumi also encompasses bresaola, which is made from beef, and also cooked products such as mortadella and...

) with origin in the mountain valleys of Tramonti di Sopra
Tramonti di Sopra
Tramonti di Sopra is a comune in the Province of Pordenone in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 110 km northwest of Trieste and about 40 km northeast of Pordenone...

 and River Cellina of the province of Pordenone
Pordenone
Pordenone is a comune of Pordenone province of northeast Italy in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region.The name comes from the Latin "Portus Naonis" meaning the port on the river Noncello - History :...

 in northeastern Italy. It is not a true sausage but instead it is a meatball made of smoked meats. The recipe was probably based on the impromptu need to preserve game. The preparation method did not require specialized equipment making it available to all homes, even the most isolated mountain huts.

Today the tradition is still alive and pitina is being produced commercially by several families in the province of Pordenone
Pordenone
Pordenone is a comune of Pordenone province of northeast Italy in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region.The name comes from the Latin "Portus Naonis" meaning the port on the river Noncello - History :...

.

Preparation

The meat of chamois (or goat) is mashed with a knife and a paste of garlic. salt, pepper and red wine is added. The mixture is blended in a mortar. The meat is then formed into meatballs, rolled in yellow corn (polenta
Polenta
Polenta is a dish made from boiled cornmeal. The word "polenta" is borrowed from Italian.-Description:Polenta is made with ground yellow or white cornmeal , which can be ground coarsely or finely depending on the region and the texture desired.As it is known today, polenta derives from earlier...

) flour and then left to smoke for several days over a low fire of juniper wood.
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