The True Cure: bacon

This is my first attempt at a coppa. Our guy at culinary classics is working on getting me an actual coppa, but for now I just used cuts form the shoulder of the mangalitsa. They cured for 15 days in a mixture of salt, cure #2, cane sugar, garlic, black pepper, juniper berries, and red pepper flakes. Then they got rubbed down with a mixture of smoked paprika, cayenne, red pepper flakes, some espelette, etc.

This is my first attempt so I hope they turn out good. The most fun came when trying to case them!!!

I also have recently done some pepperoni and sopressata with mangalitsa. It's great having all of these mangalitsa rolling in because I am able to use all of the scraps on my projects and the quality of meat is superior. The pepperoni is a mixture of mangalitsa scraps and wagyu scraps. Should be tasty.

Here is another mangalitsa belly that I thought was worth posting. We have a handful of these going. These things are beasts.

I'll post on my recent trip to Charleston, SC and stage at McCrady's restaurant soon....

Although we have been extremely busy with the new menu change, and the addition of a 5 course tasting menu and 3 course prix fixe menu, I have been able to keep up with curing (large things anyways). I must say before I start, that this is in my own personal opinion one of my, if not the most successful and tasty thing we have cured yet. MANGALITSA BACON! which really looks like lardo, but if rendered properly is soooo good. I cured it for 17 days, Chef Windus smoked it for about a day, and now we eat it. The best way to cook it is pressed between 2 silpats in the oven, but was able to do an amuse for my uncle the other night (with I had snapped a shot) which consisted of bacon wrapped wild striped bass, stewed dragons tongue (white) beans, burnt onion and truffle jus. I was really pleased with it.

I know these pictures aren't very good, but they give you an idea of the fat on these things....