Cured Meat Resource 5/11/13

The Salty Pig

Cured Meat Glossary

Bresaola – dry cured beef from the Top Round (upper hind quarter) cut.  The legs of the cow are trimmed of most of the fat and then season, salted, and hung to dry for up to three months.  Bresaola is very rich in flavor and can often be almost purple in color.

Coppa – commonly known as Capocolla.  Coppa is very similar to Prosciutto in that it is also cured ham.  However, Coppa must come from the shoulder or neck of the pig.  It is seasoned, salted, and hung to dry for about six months.  It is the pork counterpart to Bresaola.

Culatello – made from the major muscle group found in the prosciutto called the fillet.  It is very simply seasoned with black pepper and lightly salted, stuffed into a pig’s bladder, and hung for 12 months to cure.  Culatello is one of the most highly prized pork products in Italy since making it destroys the possibility of making a prosciutto, it is such a small (and best) part of the leg, and requires such extreme expertise to make.

Finocchiona – made by mincing pork shoulder (lean meat) together with bacon and cheek (fatty cuts) which are seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, red wine and wild fennel seeds.  It’s left to dry for about 7-10 days and then hung for about 5 months in cool dry cellars.  Finocchio is Italian for fennel.

Guanciale – unsmoked, cured pork jowl.  The jowl is seasoned, salted, and cured for three weeks.  The flavor is strong but delicate.  Delicacy of central Italy, particularly Umbria and Lazio.

Lardo – cured strips of fatback (firm layer of fat under the skin of the back of the pig).  The fatback is usually seasoned with rosemary and other herbs.  It is pure white in color and decadently rich.

Mortadella – made of finely hashed or ground, heat-cured pork sausage, which incorporates at least 15% small cubes of pork fat (principally the hard fat from the neck of the pig).  Mortadella is a staple product of Bologna, Italy.  It is delicately flavored with spices, including whole or ground black pepper, myrtle berries, nutmeg, coriander and pistachios, jalapeños and/or olives, though those with flavours other than ground pepper and myrtle are not made with the original recipe from Bologna.

Pancetta – essentially Italian bacon.  Salt cured, seasoned with peppercorns, peppers, and nutmeg, then hung for at least three months.  Often used in place of Guanciale.

Pepperoni – the American interpretation of Italian salami.  Usually both pork and beef and dry cured like the salamis of southern Italy.

Porchetta – a savory, fatty, and moist boneless pork roast of Italian culinary tradition. The body of the pig is gutted, deboned, arranged carefully with layers of stuffing, meat, fat, and skin, then rolled, spitted, and roasted, traditionally over wood. Porchetta is usually heavily salted in addition to being stuffed with garlic, rosemary, fennel, or other herbs, often wild.

Prosciutto – Italian for “ham.”  Stateside the term is synonymous with uncooked, cured leg of ham.  The curing process takes at least nine months and can last up to two years.  Prosciutto di Parma is probably the most famous Italian cured meat.  Prosciutto usually hails from Emilia-Romagna or Friuli.  Different types of prosciutto include:

Prosciutto Cotto – cooked

Prosciutto Crudo -- raw

Prosciutto di San Daniele – originates in the town of the same name in Friuli, Italy.  There are very strict DOP regulations that control what pigs can be used and from what regions.  It is made without any preservatives, and must age for a minimum of 12 months, which is slightly longer then Parma resulting in it being less delicate.

Salami – a cured, air-dried meat traditionally made from pork or beef.  Historically, salamis were made by peasants to preserve meat for times when fresh meat was not available.

Serrano – type of dry-cured Spanish ham usually made from the Landrace breed of white pig.  The ham is trimmed, cleaned, and covered with salt for about two weeks.  The salt is then washed off and hams are hung to dry for about six months.  Finally, the hams are hung in a cool, dry place for six to eighteen months.  The drying sheds are usually built at higher elevations, which is why the ham is called mountain ham.

Soppressata – an Italian cured dry sausage.  Pork is generally the main protein, although sometimes beef is used.  The meat is coarsely ground and flavored with black pepper or hot pepper.  It is then hung to dry for up to 12 weeks.  Soppressata is a southern Italian specialty.

Speck – similar to Prosciutto, Speck is made from a leg of pork.  The pork is heavily seasoned (usually with a lot of juniper) and then hung to dry for a few weeks.  The Speck is then cold smoked, a process that can take up to a week.  After smoking, the Speck is rehung for up to six months.