Capocollo

Capocollo<ref>Riley, Gillian. "Capocollo". The Oxford Companion to Italian Food. Oxford University Press, 2007. p. 100. Template:ISBN.</ref> ({{#invoke:IPA|main}})<ref name=Canepari>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} (in Italian).</ref> or coppa ({{#invoke:IPA|main}})<ref name=Canepari2>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} (in Italian).</ref> is an Italian and French (Corsica) pork salume made from the dry-cured muscle running from the neck to the fourth or fifth rib of the pork shoulder or neck. It is a whole-muscle salume, dry cured, and typically sliced very thinly. It is similar to the more widely known cured ham or prosciutto, because they are both pork-derived cold cuts used in similar dishes. It is not brined as ham typically is.

Etymology

This cut is typically called {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in much of Italy, Corsica, and southern Switzerland (Ticino and the Grisons).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This name is a compound of the words {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('head') and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('neck'). Regional terms include {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Campania and Calabria) and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Corsica).

Outside of Europe, terms include bondiola or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, and capicola or capicolla in North America.<ref>Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed., 2004.</ref> The pronunciation gabagool has been used by some Italian Americans in the New York City area and elsewhere in the Northeast US, based on the Neapolitan language word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}) in working-class strata of 19th- and early 20th-century immigrants.<ref>Dan Nosowitz. "How Capicola Became Gabagool: The Italian New Jersey Accent, Explained". Atlas Obscura. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2016.</ref> It was notably used in the television series The Sopranos, and its use has become a well-known stereotype.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Manufacture and use

{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= {{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Ambox }} }} In its production, capocollo is first lightly seasoned often with red wine and sometimes white wine, garlic, and a variety of herbs and spices that differs depending on region. The meat is then salted (and was traditionally massaged), stuffed into a natural casing, and hung for up to six months to cure. Sometimes the exterior is rubbed with hot paprika before being hung and cured. Capocollo is essentially the pork counterpart of the air-dried, cured beef bresaola. It is widely available wherever significant Italian communities occur, due to commercially produced varieties. The slow-roasted Piedmontese version is called coppa cotta.

Capocollo is esteemed for its delicate flavour and tender, fatty texture, and is often more expensive than most other salumi. In many countries, it is sold as a gourmet food item. It is usually sliced thin for use in antipasti or sandwiches such as panini and muffulettas, as well as some traditional Italian pizzas.

Varieties and official status

Four particular varieties, coppa piacentina, capocollo di Calabria from Italy, and Coppa de Corse<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> from France and Capocollo di Martina Franca<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (traditional capocollo of Apulia. It is smoked with laurel leaves, thyme, almonds, Mediterranean herbs, and pieces of bark of Macedonian oak (called fragno in Italian), a tree typical of southeastern Italy, the Balkans, and western Turkey. Usually it is served with figs or burrata;) have protected designation of origin and PGI (Capocollo di Martina Franca) status under the Common Agricultural Policy of European Union law, which ensures that only products genuinely originating in those regions are allowed in commerce as such.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Four additional Italian regions produce capocollo, and are not covered under European law, but are designated as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (PAT) by the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food, and Forestry Policies:

• Capocollo della Basilicata;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Capocollo del Lazio;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Capocollo tipico senese or finocchiata, from Tuscany;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Capocollo dell'Umbria.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Outside Europe, capocollo was introduced to Argentina by Italian immigrants, under the names bondiola or bondiola curada.

• Sweetcapicola.JPG

  Slices of Coppa Spécialité Corse (Corsica): a balanced quantity of white fat is important for flavour and tenderness.

• Capocollo di martina.jpg

  Slices of capocollo di Martina Franca served with figs

See also

• List of dried foods

Further reading

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