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Assorted Cold Meat Cuts
Purchase quarter-pound portions of several of the commercially prepared ready-to-serve meats, such as boiled or baked ham, veal loaf, liverwurst, minced ham, etc. Arrange it artistically on a large platter, garnished with olives, radishes, pickles and slices of hard cooked eggs.
An assembly rather than a cooked dish, and the whole of it rests on what you buy and how cold you keep it.
- QuantitiesA quarter-pound each of four or five kinds gives roughly a pound to a pound and a quarter of meat, enough for about four as a main course at lunch or six as part of a larger spread. Buy fewer kinds in larger amounts if you would rather not have several odd ends in the refrigerator.
- Veal loaf and minced hamBoth are deli-counter loaves that have largely fallen out of fashion. Veal loaf survives here and there as a seasoned forcemeat loaf; minced ham is close to what is now sold as ham loaf or chopped ham. Mortadella, bologna or a coarse country pate stand in without misrepresenting the intent.
- LiverwurstThe spreadable kinds will smear under the knife on a platter; ask instead for a firm, sliceable liver sausage and have it cut about an eighth of an inch so the slices hold their shape.
- Slicing thicknessHam and the loaves want to be cut thin enough to drape rather than lie flat. Ask the counter for a medium slice on the loaves and the thinnest workable slice on the ham; a platter of uniformly thick discs looks stacked rather than arranged.
- Temperature and timingReady-to-serve meats are not cooked again, so they carry whatever they carry. Assemble the platter cold, keep it refrigerated until the moment it goes out, and do not leave it standing at room temperature more than about two hours. Anyone pregnant or immune-compromised should have deli meats heated through rather than served cold.
- The garnishesOlives, radishes and pickles are doing the work of acid and salt against the fat. Hard-cooked eggs slice cleanly only when fully chilled; use a wet knife or a wire egg slicer and lay them cut side up so the yolk shows.
- Arranging itRoll or fold the slices rather than laying them flat, group each meat together instead of alternating, and leave a little bare platter between the groups. Dress the platter no more than an hour ahead or the radishes soften and the cut eggs dry at the edges.