I’ve made lots of friends through sopressata… I really have.  My father has been offered money, a friend wants to feature it in a future restaurant he is opening and one of my Irish buddies has somehow gotten “in” and now chips in financially and helps make them in order to get a share… in turn, he has friends that work on his motorcycle in exchange for a sopressata!  It’s comedy but it’s also delicious and one of southern Italy’s culinary delights. (Click here for more details on the process)

My father is a sopressata connoisseur of sorts.  In his own way, he studies the art of making it.  He tries different techniques, tinkers with the process, adds new ingredients/levels of ingredients and over the years it seems to have worked out well as we have managed to take home First Place at the “World Sopressata Championship” for the last 5 years running! (I’m kidding.. there’s no such thing.)

My brother and I have our own opinions on how and how much of course, so they have also been getting more and more “piccante” (spicy hot!) over the years.  This year we have a very controversial NEW process that the professore introduced : dry packing them instead of sotto olio (submerged/preserved in oil) Go figure?!  So far so good… they are ready to eat and the verdict is in: FIRST PRIZE once again!!

If you ever get the chance to experience “the day of the pig” in Italy (mostly southern Italy), I would highly recommend it. It’s not officially called “the day of the pig,” I actually just made that up but many Southern Italian families, my nonni and zii included, will raise a pig each year for one purpose……to make sopressata, salsiccia and capicola. For families that take part in this yearly process it’s like a holiday. Families get together, eat, drink and make their sopressata, capicola and salsiccia for the year. A bit of advice though, the first part, the part between when the pig is alive and then NOT alive… is not for the squeamish, so if you do get to experience this process I would recommend starting after that part.

Here in the States we don’t have the space to raise a pig, not to mention the neighbors may find it a bit odd but it doesn’t stop us from making these Italian specialties each year. Every winter, we carve out a weekend when we’re all available to help because as my dad says with his thick Italian accent… “no work, no eat!” and nobody wants that! This past Saturday, we all went to my parent’s house to make our salumi and all the delicious recipes that go along with it. As usual, we ate too much and had our share of homemade vino but it’s all part of the experience and I wouldn’t want to miss it. My brother and I have really tried to step it up in the last few years knowing full well that if we don’t learn how to make all these traditional Italian foods that we’ve grown up with, we may not be able to enjoy them someday. Here are a few pictures from, “the day of the pig.” I will have more details on the process itself on Italyville.com when it launches….. it’s coming, I promise!!