Coppa

coppa

What it is

Coppa is a single muscle — the neck, running from skull to shoulder blade — and its lacing of fat is anatomy rather than an addition: nothing is chopped or reassembled. Italy names it by latitude, coppa in the north and capocollo from Rome southward.

In the kitchen

Its fat softens around 30 °C, so it is the salume to lay on hot food — pizza out of the oven, a bean soup — where prosciutto would only go leathery. Cut it thicker than ham, about two millimetres.

Goes with

Fig Grape Olive oil White beans Pecorino Romano Black pepper

Same species

Andouillette Boudin blanc Natural casings Caul fat Chorizo Ciauscolo

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