Dalmatinska pečenica

Appearance & taste

The pečenica is cylindrical and has no cuts or other damage on the surface. On the outside it is light to dark brown, partly with light yellow or light brown patches of fat that form during smoking. It is firm, elastic and easy to slice. When cut, the meat is evenly red and dark red to dark brown at the edges.

It tastes slightly salty, is tender and juicy and melts in the mouth. Its aroma and taste are reminiscent of cured, fermented pork, with a mild smoky note. The salt content is at most 7.5 %, the water content at most 55 %. A finished piece weighs at least 1.3 kg. It is sold whole, in pieces or sliced and is normally not heated before eating. Terms such as “genuine”, “traditional” or “home-made” may not appear directly next to the name.

Production

The raw material is the chilled or frozen loin muscle (musculus longissimus dorsi), which is removed from part of the loin and back of a pig half-carcass. The producers choose pieces that are as cylindrical and compact as possible, without larger cuts and without discolouration.

The meat is cured in salt or brine, cold-smoked, dried and ripened; all these steps take place in the area of origin and together last at least 45 days. Smoking during the first drying phase is compulsory and, according to the specification, distinguishes the pečenica from similar products. The cold smoke comes from hardwood or sawdust smouldering slowly without a flame, traditionally hornbeam, holm oak or downy oak. Smoking too heavily would impair the aroma, colour, consistency and tenderness. The producers recognise from the appearance, colour and firmness when ripening must begin.

Origin & history

The area covers all of Dalmatia, around 12,260 km² of coast and islands separated from the interior by the Velebit, Kamešnica and the Dinaric Alps. The landscape is shaped by karst; the climate is Mediterranean with warm, dry summers and mild, damp winters. The dry, cold bora from the north-east alternates with the mostly damp, warm jugo from the south-east. Because of the warmth and the constant winds, Dalmatia has the lowest humidity in Croatia. In bora weather the pečenica used to be dried outdoors in the fresh air as well.

According to the specification, preserving meat by curing and drying was already common in Dalmatia in Roman times. On the basis of the climate and the sea salt that was always available, this became a Dalmatian tradition. The popular educator Don Frano Ivanišević described production between 1903 and 1906 in his book about the Poljica: pork loin was a highly prized product that was mostly sold or given as a gift. The cookbook “Dalmatinska kuhinja” from 1939 also mentions the name and describes production.