Taste Test: Indy’s Housemade Meats

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Vida

Calabrian Chili Salami

This chili-spiked pork-shoulder salami leaves a strong lemon aftertaste, but not before the fat-marbled meat gives the jaw a good workout.

Chorizo

With a surprisingly  jerky-like tug, this smooth and flavorful snack ranks as one of our favorites.

Goose the Market

‘Nduja

This spicy, spreadable “meat cream,” as we called it, looks like raw hamburger but tastes like savory pork salami once the tongue recovers from the sting of Calabrian peppers.

Delaware Fireball

This pork orb wrapped in caul fat lives up to its name, fired by red chilis, pepper flakes, and the mildly hot espelette pepper.

Oakley’s Bistro

Red Wine Loma

Wet-cured in red wine instead of water, this meat will “leave a tire tread on your throat,” one tester remarked. A mix of rosemary, garlic, allspice, and black pepper produces a long tail of flavor.

Duck Breast Pastrami

Sprinkled with cracked pepper and mustard seeds, this pork stand-in brings to mind a fine bologna with hints of juniper.

Union 50

Pastrami

Ultramarathon runners have more body fat than Union 50’s lean, hickory-smoked poutine-topper.