Cuisine:

Dried

A triple combination of rosemary, cold-smoke on pecan, and dry-cured pork neck (coppa) could be a tricky amalgamation. This recipe demonstrates how it can properly be done.

Directions

This neck came from the half of the hog, locally purchased from Hmong community. The process took two months and two weeks.

For one neck: 2.75% sea salt, 0.25% cure#2; 0. 25% brown sugar; 0.25% Sichuan peppercorns; 0.5% caraway seeds; 2% Rosemarino Spezzato, mixed with just enough of blackstrap molasses to create a thick paste. The neck under vacuum vent to refrigerator for two and half weeks. Then washed, dried in cold; sprinkled on the next day with rosemarino spezzato and cold-smocked on pecan for four-five days with some periods of rest.

Then – in Curing Chamber. Two weeks prior to completion, the coppa – which was not encased – went to refrigerator under the vacuumю

At the end, it lost 36%.

As a result, I got a complex taste, but “even” enough. The coppa begs for fine bourbon. Yet, since I’ve not added it at the beginning, I rectified such negligence while savoring on this Rosemary Coppa…