Twenty years ago the emporium added another item to their range of traditional cooked Mortara salami - a version made with pure uncooked goose meat. Gioachino Palestra decided to go back to the original product as eaten by the medieval Hebrew communities that lived in the area at the time of Ludovico the Dark, which was Kosher and produced according to their faith's strict dietry laws. "Virgin Mother, daughter of your son," wrote the great poet Dante speaking of the Madonna. Without wishing to appear irreverent, something very similar occurred between these two specialities because the most recently rediscovered product is, in reality the older of the two. The word Ecumenico, was suggested by the National Institute of Rural Sociology, to illustrate the religious peace symbolised by this culinary treat. The term is even more appropriate today when a thriving Muslim community, which has similar religious tenets that prevent them from eating pork, has grown up in the town of Mortara. There is even a technological slant to the term since an elderly Jewish cooked meats butcher by the name of Bruno Gallico from Mantua recently gave the young Daniele Palestra a new recipe for preparing goose. The goose breast are stripped by hand to obtain long strips of meat which are then wound in rolls of goose skin. After being laid in salt for 24 hours the meat is cut into pieces and hand stuffed into skins taken from the neck of the fowl.

**This product is an alternative to the tradional, cooked goose meat salami and the previously described Ecumenico.

It is made from a combination of lean goose, lean pork and pork fat, prepared with salt, pepper, natural seasonings and authorised preservatives.

**although this product resembles the more traditional pork salami, physically, its taste is distintive, owing to the goose meat which is savoury and delicate at the same time.

Best served as an hor d'oeuvre.

Although these are not typical Lomellina products, these two items are part of the range of traditional country fare and are particularly popular at Christmas time. They are made exclusively from certain parts of the pig (muscles, cheeks, the head and the rind) and sale, pepper and natural seasonings. The only differnece between the two is 'wrapping' that contains them.
**The cotechino is wrapped in steer diritto and after a brief maturing, is eaten cooked in a liberal amount of water for at least three hours at a temperature no higher than 90°C
**The zampone on the other hand, is prepared in a deboned pig's trotter after the hair and nails have been removed and it has been laid in brine for several days. After a brief maturing period (10 days usually) it is cooked in the same way as the cotechino, but for longer - about 5 hours - and is better left to soak overnight in cold water. Both dishes are traditionally served with mashed potatoes and lentils.

As well as goose-based products , the firm also produces traditional pork-based cooked meats. Not only the previously mentioned herb-seasoned Lard and cooked hams, but also zamponi and cotechini, matured salami, cacciatorini and duja. These are all made from a base of lean meat and high quality pork fat, wine, salt and pepper, but are easy to distinguish thanks to the different forms and, above all, the different tastes.
Although there is little to chose between for example the snack-sized cacciatorini and the normal matured salami, there is a notable difference from the duja salami with its spicy taste.
All these products are made from the highest quality, certified, Italian pork and are prepared using authentic traditional recipes and methods.

One of the most common forms of cooked meats - ham - is produced by the pork products section of the Corte dell'Oca.

The production of this item has always been Gioachino's personal responsability, and he prepares it according to an antique recipe, left to him by an old friend with a life time of experience producing cooked meats.
The care and expert knowledge that goes into this product is evident from the choice of hocks, which must satisfy very stringent criteria. First the meat must come from a certified source with proven history. Then the brine used to prepare the product and therefore the product itself must be polyphosphate and additive free. This is what makes the Giulia stand out among hams, particularly for its taste.

Produced directly by the Corte dell'Oca and under the personal supervision of Gioachino Palestra, the finished product must be at least 6/7 cm thick and have the right proportion of fat to meat veining.
Preparation consists of salting and marinating the product in a mixture of aromatic spices according to an antique recipe.
It is put on sale to the public only after two months have passed.

Serve on thick cut, home baked bread, seared over a naked flame or as a base for stews and soups.

The Cacciatorino or hunter's salami, is in reality a snack-sized salami originally used, as you can imagine from the name, as a handy snack when out hunting for the day. Apart from its dimensions ours is exactly the same as the matured goose salami and is best enjoyed as a simple snack with a piece of bread and a nice glass of red Barbera wine. There are however, two different production processes:
**matured: this is ready to be eaten after 21 days
**duja (kept under grease): this is matured in a duja, an earthernware container where the product is completely covered by a layer of melted pork lard, which cools to form a barrier which protects the product for outside agents and therefore keeps it fresh longer. Above all this type of conservation gives the product its characteristic spicy taste.
Prepare it by cutting the skin the length of the salami and removing it together with all traces of the grease which covers it.
The product is then ready to be eaten.


The 'evolution' of the matured, uncooked, goose salami can be seen in the latest Corte dell'Oca product - Filetto Baciato.

Larger than the traditional product it is made of a mixture of lean goose, lean pork and pork fat, which is seasoned to perfection and then wrapped in salted goose breast.

An excellent addition to a good selection of hor d'oeuvre.