A brief glossary to help you navigate the deli section.
Bacon: This famous deli is made with pork flank (belly). There is also leaner back bacon (loin), also known as Canadian bacon. The pork flank is salted and smoked, giving it its characteristic flavour.
Capicola or capicollo: Capicola is made with the whole pork shoulder. It is dry cured, rubbed with spices and slowly cooked. It is the cooked version of coppa.
Cretons: A deli from Quebec made with chopped pork, fat, and spices. It is simmered and stirred abundantly to give it its unctuous texture. It is called cretonnade when made with poultry or veal.
Pork drippings: Like cretons, pork drippings is eaten spread on a piece of bread. It is made out of cold pork roast drippings.
Kolbassa or kielbassa: Kielbasa means sausage in Poland its country of origin. Many variations exist, the more popular being the one made of chopped pork, garlic, and spices. The filling is encased and smoked.
Mortadella: Of Italian origin, mortadella is a large sausage made of finely chopped pork, fat, and seasonings. The filling is encased and cooked in the oven. You can find mortadella made with pistachios or olives.
Ham: In the deli section, you will find many types of ham. Their quality varies whether it is shaped or not. Shaped hams are made with brine injected pieces of pork that are mixed with water, salt, sodium phosphates, nitrates, and seasoning. The filling is molded and cooked in the oven. Better quality hams are made of brined and cooked pork leg. You can see the muscle fibers in this type of meat. To tell one from the other, take a look at the protein content. It is around 12 to 15% for shaped hams (from all the added water) and approximately 20 to 21% for the other hams.
Mock chiken meatloaf: Mock chicken meatloaf is all kinds of meat but chicken. It is generally made of mechanically separated meat and many other ingredients to create an incredibly soft meatloaf. Most of the time, it contains very little protein and very little meat.
Pancetta: It is the Italian cousin of our bacon. Pancetta is a deli made of salted, seasoned and smoked pork belly. It can be found in any form, but it is mostly rounded. There is also uncooked and unsmoked dried pancetta.
Pastrami: Pastrami is made with beef belly, and it is to New York what smoked meat is to Montreal. The pastrami was brought by the Jewish people when they came to North America. Pastrami is brined and smoked.
Pâté: Pâtés are often called pâté de campagne (country style pâté) and are made of pieces of meat, liver, and seasoning. Terrines are made the same way. They get their name from the mold they were initially cooked in. Pâté de foie (liver pâté) is a creamy mousse made of liver and seasoning. The mix is crushed to give it a soft texture.
Pepperoni: Of American origin, pepperoni is a salami made of pork or beef. It is either dried or cooked. It is the main ingredient of the North American pizza.
Turkey/Chicken breast: A brined and slow cooked poultry breast. You can find it smoked or not. Since the whole cut is used, without any mechanically separated meat, it contains more protein and less water.
Porchetta: An Italian delicacy, porchetta is made of seasoned, stuffed and rolled pork belly. It is cooked in an oven and sliced. We usually eat it in a sandwich.
Rillettes: Rillettes are made of different meat confits like pork, rabbit, and duck, with added fat and spices. Its stringy texture comes from slowly cooking the meat in its fat and mixing it to spread its fibers.
Bologna Sausage: Commonly known as baloney, its name comes from the city of Bologna in Italy. It is a cooked sausage made of bit and pieces of pork, beef, chicken or turkey. It is made just like mortadella.
Smoke meat: Like pastrami, smoked meat is made of brined and smoked beef belly. It is the symbol of St-Laurent street in Montreal, where the first Jewish immigrants opened their restaurants.
Head cheese: Head cheese is made of pork head. It is slowly cooked with onions, carrots, celery, and seasonings. The meat is then pulled, molded and cooled. Head cheese as a jelly-like texture because of the gelatin in the pork.