Salami, cooked, beef and pork

Cooked beef and pork salami is a firm, seasoned sausage that is fully cooked rather than air-dried, giving it a springy texture closer to bologna than a hard Italian salame. Garlic, pepper, and paprika are typical seasonings in the mix, and the casing is peeled away before slicing. It is almost always sliced thin, either from a whole chub at the deli counter or from a pre-sliced package, and layered onto sandwiches, folded onto charcuterie and antipasto boards, or rolled around cheese and toothpicked as a quick appetizer. It pairs naturally with sharp cheeses, briny olives, mustard, and crusty bread, and a few slices diced into pasta or eggs, or crisped in a skillet, add a savory, garlicky note.

Keep salami tightly wrapped and refrigerated, and buy a whole chub instead of pre-sliced if you want it to last longer once opened, since a cut surface dries out faster than sealed packaging. It is genuinely protein-dense, with 21.8 grams of protein per 100 grams covering 44 percent of the daily value, which is why it is flagged as high protein here, and it carries under a gram of sugar per 100 grams too. Sodium is very high at 1,740 milligrams per 100 grams, so a slice or two works well as a flavor and protein accent on a sandwich or board rather than as a main portion on its own.