Altamura and Murgia plateau, Puglia
Puglia's snaking barbecue sausage — a fresh pork sausage (shoulder and belly with 20-25% fat) loosely seasoned with tomato paste, pecorino, fennel seeds, black pepper, and a splash of white wine, stuffed into thin sheep intestine and formed into a continuous U-shaped or coil for grilling. Unlike other southern sausages, zampina is characterised by the tomato paste worked directly into the meat mixture, giving it a brick-red interior and a sweeter, more rounded character. Grilled over vine cuttings (sarmenti) in Altamura and the Murgia plateau.
Smoky, porky, with sweet tomato depth and fennel freshness — a sausage that tastes of vine wood and summer Puglia
The tomato paste must be very thick (double-concentrate) and worked completely into the meat mixture — watery tomato seeps out during cooking and makes the exterior soggy. The sausage must be formed thin (not thicker than a thumb) so the full width heats through in 6-8 minutes over hot coals. The vine-wood coals impart a distinctive resinous smoke that is considered essential in the Altamura tradition. The casing must be sheep intestine (not pork) — the thinner casing chars and crisps rapidly.
The vine-wood smoke can be approximated with a few grapevine cuttings laid over charcoal — soaked in water, they produce the specific resinous smoke. Zampina is eaten direct from the grill, in a bread roll with fresh green chilli, or alongside Altamura bread rubbed with olive oil and tomato. It is at its best from May to September when outdoor grilling and vine-wood availability coincide.
Thick stuffing prevents the interior from heating through before the exterior overcooks. Wet tomato seeps out during cooking. Over-seasoning with fennel — zampina's tomato element should be the defining flavour, not the fennel. Grilling over too-low heat produces steamed sausage rather than the proper charred exterior.
La Cucina della Puglia — Accademia Italiana della Cucina