Salami is quite the versatile little meat: it's delicious on an appetizer platter alongside bread and cheese, tossed in a chopped salad, layered atop pizza, or crisped up into salami chips. But a recent shipment from Columbus salame got us wondering: what's the deal with the various types of salami out there? We've established the difference between salumi and charcuterie, but what about within the salami family itself?
All salami is made from a combination of uncooked ground meat, spices, wine, and garlic, which is then dried and cured. It develops a fine, white mold on the outside during the curing process, much like the coating on brie cheese, which is usually edible. But beyond that, there's tons of variation in this tasty, salty delicacy. Here are some of the most common varieties, and what sets them apart.
- Genoa salami: Traditionally made with pork and veal, and seasoned with garlic, red wine, and pepper.
- Soppressata: Usually made with pork, soppressata has a higher fat content and a more rustic appearance than most salami. Soppressata is typically pressed with a heavy weight while curing and cured until it loses 30 percent of its weight, intensifying its flavor.
- Pepperoni: Not a traditional Italian salami, pepperoni is an Italian-American invention. It's finely ground, lightly smoked, and spicy.
- Herbed or peppered salami: Traditional salami that has — surprise! — been rolled in cracked peppercorns or dried herbs.
- Nduja: A deliciously spreadable salami made of pork meat, pork fat, and spicy red peppers.
- Cotto salami: Salami that has been partially cooked or smoked before or after curing.
What's your favorite type of salami?
Although I'm not generally a fan of fatty cooked meats — I need everything from ribs to steak to be stripped of any stringy, slimy bits — I've never met a 
While the beef cut (usually the eye of round) is very tender, unlike prosciutto, it's extremely lean and has no visible fat. Valtellina, the Alpine valley in Lombardy where bresaola was first conceived, is a protected geographical indication; those made in the same style outside Valtellina are often labeled "viande séchee" instead. The most popular way to serve bresaola is sliced on its own as an appetizer. It is often drizzled with olive oil or vinegar in the style of beef carpaccio, or served on top of salads and pizza. Have you ever tried bresaola?
An Italian cured, smoked meat native to the Alto Adige, a region that straddles Northern Italy and Southern Austria. To make speck, a boned pork leg is cured in salt, and spices like laurel and juniper, then intermittently slow-smoked, using pine or juniper wood for several months. 
With cured meats making a comeback, it's common to see charcuterie and salumi platters on restaurant menus across the country. But are charcuterie and salumi the same thing? What about salumi and salami?
