PANCETTA & SOPRESSATA: Cured But Uncooked Marvel & Italian HOT🌶️ Sausage 🌞

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The 2 Main Types Of Pancetta, Explained
By Michelle Welsch

For meat lovers, pancetta is a Swiss army knife of an ingredient that can quickly build flavor into pasta dishes and other favorite recipes. Much like bacon, pancetta is made from the meat of a pig's belly, though it goes through a different curing process. While bacon is cured in nitrates and salt, pancetta can offer additional flavors of nutmeg, black peppercorns, and cloves. Cuts are first salted and then marinated in brine that can be seasoned with spices like rosemary and garlic. The meat is left in humid environments with low temperatures.

Pancetta can be eaten uncooked on charcuterie boards and can be presented as bite-sized cubes or thinly sliced pieces of meat. Unlike bacon's crispy texture, it can be smooth, almost silky in texture. Under the umbrella of pancetta, you'll find several different varieties for purchase, including two main ones — arrotolata and stesa. Depending on your intention for serving and the recipes you're cooking up, you may opt for one or the other. But what sets them apart from each other?



The rolled up delicacy of arrotolata pancetta

Arrotolata, or rolled pancetta, are finely sliced pieces that can be plated easily onto a charcuterie board. For the rolled versions, after the meat is brined and salted, it is manipulated so that the pig fat is visible on the outside of the pancetta, then packaged in a tight casing and smoked should the preparer want to impart a smokier flavor. Rolled pieces of pancetta can be left for several weeks until properly cured.

Rolled pancetta can have centers that add flavor to the meat, like pancetta coppata, which is rolled around coppa — a cured meat you shouldn't overlook either. Pancetta affumicata is cured with salt and smoked to deliver a rich taste akin to the slices of bacon you may be familiar with while still maintaining a tender texture. These slices can also be easily folded up into a sandwich or stacked on top of a pile of greens for a satisfying, easy to serve salad.


The sumptuous addition of stesa pancetta

Stesa, the word for flat, refers to the pancetta that is used to dice up, cook, and toss into recipes. These elongated pieces are first trimmed then dry-salted and spiced before they are ready to be cured. Since these pieces of pork meat offer white, fatty layers, the taste can be soft and almost delicate in flavor. Stesa can be sliced thinly or cubed, depending on the intended recipe and use. Pasta dishes, casseroles, and savory pies are easy destinations for this kind of meat.

Whether you're whipping up a creamy and comforting gnocchi dish or pairing pancetta with asparagus for a fresh pasta dinner, taking a slab of stesa pancetta home to your kitchen can be an instant upgrade. Among its many applications, you can also whip up a garlicky pasta dish that combines pancetta and mushrooms.

However you choose to serve pancetta, carnivores are sure to appreciate the rich flavor that each piece of pancetta offers — and may come to prefer this meat when given the option of choosing between bacon and these spiced products.

Read More: https://www.tastingtable.com/1758787/two-types-pancetta/

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Feeling brave? Care to try your hand at making some?
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Homemade Pancetta Recipe (Authentic Italian Style)
By Christina


Servings: 1 .5 lbs
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

A simple way to use your refrigerator to make homemade pancetta.

This homemade pancetta recipe is incredibly easy to make. Using the freshest, and best quality pork belly that you can find is the most important criteria, but most of the work is done by just waiting.

Ingredients

2 lbs fresh pork belly slices with rind (preferably organic), do NOT use pork which has previously been frozen
1 cup Kosher salt please don't worry about measurements on this, just follow the directions
8 oz dry white wine inexpensive
2 tsp black pepper more or less
2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional - more or less, as desired)
2 tsp ground cayenne pepper (optional - more or less, as desired)


Instructions

Day 1
Salt the pork pieces generously (like a light blanket of snow) with
Kosher salt and leave for 24 hours in the fridge.
Do not substitute with other salt, it will not work properly.

Day 2
The next day, rinse the pork with water, pat dry with a paper towel,
and rinse in white wine, but do not pat dry. You will be throwing away
the white wine, so try to use as little as you can to still rinse the meat.
This helps to preserve the pork.

Prepare a plate or tray with the desired amount of pepper in any
combination. (The amount shown did not make a very spicy
pancetta.) Mix all the pepper together.

Rub the pepper into the pancetta pieces until well coated, adding
more pepper as needed. Again, measurements are not critical.
Use as much as you like. Set aside on waxed paper.

You will need a small tray which will fit long skewers to rest upon.
This creates something that the pancetta pieces can be placed on
to dry so that the air moves around it. You can see what I have done
in the photos above. Place the pieces of pancetta spaced apart on
top of the wooden skewers and place in a well ventilated fridge (not
crowded).

The following 2 or 3 weeks

The pancetta pieces will be kept in the refrigerator, loosely covered
with wax paper, for about 2 to 3 weeks. Turn the pieces everyday (using
all 4 sides) until the pancetta has cured without becoming overly dry. If
you used 2 lbs of pancetta, it should weight approximately 24 oz when
it's cured.

At this time, my preference is to seal it with a food sealer, which locks
out all the air, allowing the pancetta to keep refrigerated a longer period
of time.

Finally, you can use the pancetta however you choose, but do not eat
it without properly cooking it first.

Notes

*As with any uncooked, cured meat product, there are risks involved
if the product is not made correctly, or if it is not cooked thoroughly. I
take no responsibility for any illness incurred from using this recipe.

Please don't pay much attention to the amounts of ingredients listed.
Nothing is critical, and if you don't like spicy pancetta, you can omit the
hot peppers.


https://www.christinascucina.com/homemade-pancetta-how-to-make-pancetta/

Even when you're NOT having pork, it's what's for dinner!

Delizioso!!

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Find it in your supermarket or...Feeling adventurous?
You can make your own.


Homemade Sopressata
Samantha Daly


Sopressata is one of the most popular cured meats. It is made in many regions throughout Italy, each region boasting its own distinct flavor of sopressata. If you’re a sopressata lover and are up for a new challenge, try making some at home! Homemade sopressata is fresher, tastier, and it has intense natural flavors. You also avoid any artificial seasonings or unhealthy additives. Making sopressata at home means that you can experiment with each batch and edit your recipe until you find your perfect signature sopressata.

What is Sopressata?

Sopressata is an Italian dry sausage, the most famous of which comes from the Veneto region in Italy. It differs from salami in that the meat is not as finely ground. This gives sopressata a less uniform appearance.

There are numerous seasonings that can be used in sopressata, so there are hundreds of recipe variations. Here we share a simple recipe for how to make sopressata at home, which you can adapt as you master the process over time.

Equipment

A good meat grinder is the first key requirement. It is important that the meat stays cold while you grind it, so the faster the meat grinder operates, the better. You should chill the grinder in the freezer for 20-30 minutes prior to grinding the meat. Good commercial meat grinders, while expensive, make a huge difference in the sopressata making process. They are powerful and grind cleanly, rather than smearing the fat which will ruin the sopressata.

The next tool you will need is a sausage stuffer. Manual stuffers are the best and cheapest option for making small amounts of homemade sausage such as sopressata.

Next, you need a fermentation chamber. Fermentation should last 12 hours in 85F temperature and 90-95% humidity. A large water cooler works well as a homemade fermentation chamber. Hang the sopressata inside and cover the top with plastic wrap with only a small area open for circulation. Add a container filled with hot water or include a heat pad to increase the temperature inside the chamber. Measure the air inside the cooler using a portable temperature and humidity meter and adjust as needed. You will want to look out for dangerous molds while the meat is curing. Any bad growth is usually a sign of incorrect conditions.

Finally, you need a meat curing chamber. It must be equipped with a temperature and humidity controller so that the meat can cure for weeks without constant tinkering with the settings.

Ingredients:

1 lb pork back fat
4 lbs boneless pork shoulder
1 tsp Bactoferm F-RM-52 starter culture
¼ cup distilled water
¼ cup kosher salt
1 tsp Insta Cure #2
½ cup nonfat dry milk powder
3 tbsp ground black pepper
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp hot red pepper flakes
¼ cup Pinot Bianco
14 inches hog middle casings soaked in tepid water for at least 30 min and rinsed
Sterile needle or pin

Instructions:

While the fat is very cold, grind it through the 6mm die into a bowl set in ice. Chill while you grind the meat through the 12mm die. Combine the meat and fat in a large bowl and refrigerate while you set up step 2.

Dissolve the Bactoferm culture into the distilled water and add it, with the remaining ingredients to the meat. Mix by hand until the seasonings are thoroughly distributed.

Stuff sausage meat into casings. Tie ends of the hog middle. Using a sterile needle or pin, prick the casings all over to remove air pockets.

Weigh the sausages and record the weight. Hang the sausages in the fermentation chamber for 12 hours.

Hang the sausages in the curing chamber (60F with 60-70% humidity) until completely dry or it’s lost 30% of its weight. Usually 3-4 weeks.

Curing meats at home can be a fun, creative activity. Sopressata is a great first meat to try, as there are so many possible variations. Practice makes perfect and with little tweaks here and there you can develop your own unique recipe to share with friends!



https://carnivoreclub.com/blogs/the-daily-meat/homemade-sopressata


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Spaghetti with Fresh Sopressata
Recipe by Kiyo

6 servings

Adapted from Food & Wine magazine

Ingredients

4 garlic cloves
1 1/3 cups dry white wine, divided
1 pound Italian sausage (sweet or spicy or a combination,
Whole Foods meat department recommended), casings removed
1 teaspoon ground fennel (available at Down to Earth on Maui)
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion (3/4 cup), finely diced
1 small carrot (1/2 cup), finely diced
1 celery rib (1/2 cup), finely diced
1 (28 oz) can plus 1 (14 oz) can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed with their liquid
kosher salt
12 ounces spaghetti (or up to 16 ounces)
1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese plus more for serving
1/4 cup finely chopped basil plus more for serving
1/4 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley plus more for serving

Directions

Using an immersion blender or small blender, puree garlic with 1/3 cup white wine. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl. Add the sausage, ground fennel, black pepper and crushed red pepper and knead lightly to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

In a large, deep skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the sausage mixture and cook over medium-high heat, breaking up lumps with a wooden spoon, until lightly browned, 6-7 minutes. Add the onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring frequently , until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the remaining 1 cup white wine and cook, scraping up any browned bits, until nearly evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes and their juices to the pan and season lightly with salt. Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened and reduced to about 5 cups, about 40 minutes.

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the spaghetti until just al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Add the pasta to the sauce and toss with 1/2 cup grated cheese, 1/4 cup each basil and parsley. If the sauce seems too thick, stir in some of the reserved pasta water over moderately high heat, until the pasta is nicely coated with sauce, about 2 minutes. Divide into bowls and serve with extra cheese and chopped herbs over the top.


https://www.mylilikoikitchen.com/2023/10/14/spaghetti-with-fresh-soppressata/

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Sopressata Provolone Cones Recipe
By Charlotte Hamilton

Welcome to a world of flavorful, quick, and delightful appetizers that are sure to impress your guests. Sopressata Provolone Cones are an innovative twist on classic Italian flavors, combining the rich taste of provolone cheese with the savory goodness of salami or turkey, all wrapped up in a convenient, bite-sized package. Whether you’re hosting a party, preparing a quick snack, or looking for a unique dish to serve at your next gathering, these cones are a perfect choice. Let’s dive into how you can create this delicious treat in no time.


Ingredients

To create these delicious Sopressata Provolone Cones, you’ll need the following ingredients:

8 slices of salami or turkey
4 oz provolone cheese, cut into small pieces
1 cup mixed greens
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup olives, sliced (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
Balsamic vinegar for drizzling

Instructions

Creating these cones is as easy as it is enjoyable. Follow these
simple steps, and you’ll have a delightful appetizer ready in just 10 minutes:

1. Prepare the Cones

Shape each slice of salami or turkey into a cone and secure it
with a toothpick. Ensure that the cone shape is firm enough to hold the fillings.

2. Fill the Cones

Add a piece of provolone cheese into each cone, ensuring it’s
snugly placed at the bottom.

Follow with mixed greens, allowing them to fill about half of the cone.

Top with cherry tomatoes, adding a vibrant color and juicy texture to the appetizer.

3. Garnish

Sprinkle olives if desired. This optional ingredient adds a Mediterranean
flair and depth of flavor. Season with salt and pepper to enhance the
natural flavors of the ingredients. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar for a
touch of sweetness and acidity that ties all the components together.

4. Serve

Arrange on a platter and serve immediately. This dish is best enjoyed fresh, offering a crispy, crunchy experience with every bite.

https://grandmarecipes.com/sopressata-provolone-cones-recipe/


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Ina Garten’s Irresistible Soppressata & Cheese Puff Pastry Recipe
By Isabella Rodriguez

Ina Garten’s soppressata and cheese in puff pastry delivers an elegant Italian-inspired appetizer perfect for sophisticated gatherings. Crisp golden pastry wraps savory soppressata and creamy cheese into irresistible bite-sized parcels that will delight guests with sophisticated Mediterranean flavors.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes

Main Ingredients:

12 slices soppressata salami (3½ inches in diameter)
6 ounces (170 grams) Gruyère cheese, grated
1 package (2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, such as Pepperidge Farm, defrosted

Seasoning and Binding:

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

Instructions

Prepare the workspace by preheating the oven to 450°F (230°C) and lining a sheet pan with parchment paper, ensuring an even cooking surface.

Transform the first puff pastry sheet by gently rolling it on a lightly floured surface into a precise 10-inch (25 centimeters) square. Carefully transfer the pastry to the prepared sheet pan and generously brush the surface with Dijon mustard, maintaining a clean 1-inch (2.5 centimeters) border around the edges.

Create a luxurious layer of soppressata by arranging the meat in elegant, overlapping patterns across the mustard-coated surface. Sprinkle the grated Gruyère cheese evenly, ensuring complete coverage of the soppressata.

Craft the top layer by rolling the second puff pastry sheet into an identical 10-inch (25 centimeters) square. Delicately position this layer over the first, meticulously aligning the edges to create a seamless pastry.

Enhance the pastry’s visual appeal and texture by brushing the top layer with egg wash, which will promote a golden, glossy finish. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut three strategic ventilation slits to allow steam escape during baking.

Refine the pastry by chilling it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes, which helps stabilize the layers and ensures a crisp, flaky texture.

Complete the preparation by trimming the edges with precision, creating clean, sharp lines that elevate the pastry’s professional appearance.

Bake the pastry in the oven’s center for 20-25 minutes, rotating once midway to guarantee uniform golden-brown coloration and perfect puffiness.

Allow the pastry to rest for a few minutes after removing from the oven, then slice into elegant squares and serve while still warm, showcasing the melted cheese and crisp layers.

Notes

Chill pastry to lock in flaky layers and ensure perfect puffiness during baking.

Sharp knife makes elegant, clean-cut edges that elevate the pastry’s professional appearance.

Even rolling guarantees uniform thickness, preventing uneven baking and maintaining consistent texture.

Careful oven monitoring prevents burning and ensures golden-brown, perfectly puffy results.

Cooling briefly helps pastry set, making slicing clean and maintaining structural integrity.

https://www.wd-50.com/recipes/ina-garten-soppressata-cheese-in-puff-pastry-recipe/


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Herby Provencal Baked Pasta with Sopressata Recipe
by Rachel Bannarasee

Introduction

Herby Provencal Baked Pasta with Sopressata is a classic Italian-inspired dish that combines the rich flavors of the Mediterranean with the comforting warmth of a homemade pasta bake. This recipe is perfect for a cozy dinner party or a weeknight meal that’s sure to impress. With its vibrant colors, aromatic herbs, and tangy cheese, this dish is sure to delight both pasta lovers and those looking for a flavorful and satisfying meal.
Quick Facts

Prep Time: 55 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 70 minutes
Servings: 6
Difficulty: Easy
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1 28-ounce can whole plum tomatoes, crushed by hand
1 15-ounce can whole plum tomatoes, crushed by hand
4 large sprigs fresh basil, plus 1 cup chopped fresh basil
1 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound dried rigatoni
10 ounces frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
1 cup sliced jarred roasted red peppers
1/2 cup halved and thinly sliced sopressata
1/4 cup pitted nicoise or Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
3 cups shredded mozzarella
1 cup grated Parmesan or ricotta salata

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C). Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until the garlic is golden, about 2 minutes. Add both cans of tomatoes and 1 cup of water.
Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat slightly, add the basil sprigs and simmer rapidly, uncovered, until thickened, 15 to 20 minutes. Discard the basil sprigs and stir in the chopped basil and parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook the rigatoni in the salted boiling water until very al dente, about 2 minutes less than the package directions. Drain the pasta and transfer it to a large bowl.

Add the tomato sauce, artichokes, red peppers, sopressata, olives, half of the mozzarella, and half of the Parmesan to the bowl and stir well to combine. Transfer the pasta to a 3- to 4-quart baking dish and top with the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan.

Bake, uncovered, until browned, about 15 minutes. Let the pasta stand about 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with parsley.


https://www.chefsresource.com/recipes/herby-provencal-baked-pasta-with-sopressata-recipe/


Aatsa spicy sausage!!!