Nduja (pronounced en-DOO-yah) represents one of the biggest menu opportunities for 2018, says Gordon Food ServiceĀ® Corporate Consulting Chef Gerry Ludwig, CEC. āItās really taken off recently, with a strong showing on menus during our street-level research in 2017.ā
This intense, spicy sausage hails from Calabria, Italy, and stands out with both its deep flavor and spreadable texture. Itās an artisanal butchery product that sees pork shoulder, Calabrian chile and pork fat thatās stuffed into a casing, then hung up to cure. āThe fat ratio is high enough that even after it cures, itās still spreadable.ā Application ideas are numerous, serving up big flavor in small dosesāin items like vinaigrettes and flavored butters, as well as pizza and pasta finishes, to name a few.
As a flavor booster, ānduja is second to none, introducing deeply savory notes with a serious blast of heat. At the Loyalist in Chicago, it helps make this conceptās biscuit program stand out, serving freshly baked biscuits with ānduja butter and ramp honey. Sarah Grueneberg, Executive Chef of Monteverde, also in Chicago, amps up the flavor of arancini, that classic Italian bar snack. Her āNduja Arancini sees risotto balls flavored with ānduja, rolled in breadcrumbs, then deep fried. She serves them with olive oil, poached tuna and tomato.
Just a little bit of ānduja goes a long way, which is good considering its hefty cost (about $30-40 a pound). Some chefs are circumnavigating its price tag by making their own versions in-house. āWe saw some really innovative takes on ānduja, like a dry-aged American country ham purĆ©ed in a food processor with some sort of fatāeither a duck fat or pork fat, for instanceāthen flavored with some kind of chile, maybe paprika and cayenne,ā he says. They do call their takes āndujaātheir versions still deliver a spicy, spreadable sausageābut these chefs are making it a more affordable option for menu development.
āI canāt think of too many parts of the menu that ānduja wouldnāt add a little sizzle,ā Ludwig says. āYou can serve it as a spread, use it as a flavoring ingredient in soups, stews, salads and more. Itās also a great component in global fried rice dishes, pizzas and flatbreads, and pastas.ā Adding nduja gives operators a first-to-market edge, creating menu differentiation and flavor complexity.
Here are three opportunities calling on this spicy, spreadable sausage.
1. Spread the flavor
āOne of our favorite presentations of nduja on our trends tour was as a shareable spread,ā Ludwig says. As an element on a charcuterie plate or as a stand-alone bar snack or appetizer, ānduja offers a flavor-packed experience. At Chicagoās Forbidden Root, the Nāduja Sausage plate offers nduja drizzled with olive oil and local honey, garnished with pickled mustard seeds and served with grilled bread.
Examples
- NBLT Sandwich: Nduja, Beelerās bacon, heirloom tomato, herb mayo, ciabattaāForbidden Root, Chicago
- Nduja with Grilled BreadāRobertaās, New York
2. Dress it up
Vinaigrettes and other dressings offer a great canvas for a powerhouse ingredient like ānduja. With its meaty backbone, ānduja dials up the umami beautifully, particularly when featured in veg-centric builds that respond well to more assertive flavors.
Examples
- Roasted Sunchokes with nduja vinaigrette, mintāSouvage, Brooklyn, N.Y.
- Grilled Moscardini Octopus in a pool of ānduja vinaigretteāCold Storage, Chicago
3. Crisp focus
āAnother great technique showcased at various restaurants during our research tour was thisāpinching off the nduja sausage into small bits, then crisping them under the broiler or in the oven,ā Ludwig says. Doing so yields these little flavor bombs with craveable texture, scattered over a pizza, in a pasta, and so on.
Examples
- Seaweed Bucatini with nduja, mussels, breadcrumbs, lobster bottargaāHigh Street on Hudson, New York
- Duck Egg Toast: Jaime Farmās duck egg, rustic toast, nduja, Reading raclette, oreganoāRestaurant Winsome, Los Angeles
Nduja menu makers
Try these nduja recipes, or ask your Sales Representative for more ideas.