Bite-sized 'little bombs' from Puglia's Itria Valley: thin pork capocollo slices rolled around caciocavallo cheese and pancetta, skewered, and roasted in the wood-fired fornello ovens of local butcher shops that grill what you buy. Alongside Sicilian spiedini, they show Italy's independent butcher-skewer culture converging on the kebab format.
Also known as: bombette, bombette di Martina Franca, bombette pugliesi, spiedini bombette
Watch it made
Ingredients
- 600 g pork capocollo (neck), sliced 5 mm and pounded to rough 10 cm squares
- 150 g semi-mature caciocavallo, in small batons
- 100 g thin pancetta strips (optional but common)
- 20 g parsley, chopped
- Salt and black pepper
- Toothpicks or thin skewers
- Bread, to serve
How to make it
- 1
Lay out the pounded pork squares and season lightly.
- 2
Place a baton of caciocavallo, a pinch of parsley and, if using, a strip of pancetta on each.
- 3
Roll into tight parcels, tucking the sides in as you go, and pin shut or thread several onto a skewer.
- 4
Grill over medium coals 8-10 minutes, turning so all sides bronze, until the pork is cooked and the center gives when squeezed.
- 5
Rest 2 minutes before eating; the melted heart is lava straight off the fire.
Pro tip: Semi-mature caciocavallo is engineered for this job: it melts creamy without leaking. Fresh mozzarella waters the parcel from inside, and a long-aged cheese splits into grease, so the middle-aged wheel wins.
The story of Bombette pugliesi
Bombette — little bombs — come from Puglia's Itria Valley and are a butcher-shop institution. Thin slices of pork capocollo are rolled around caciocavallo cheese and pancetta, skewered, and roasted in the wood-fired fornello of the butcher who sold them. In towns like Cisternino and Martina Franca, you buy the meat and the butcher grills it while you wait.
That fornello pronto system — a butcher's shop with a grill and a few tables at the back — is one of the best eating formats in Italy and it exists almost nowhere else. Alongside Sicilian spiedini, bombette show Italy's independent butcher-skewer culture converging on the kebab format from an entirely different direction.
The technique that defines it
The roll is the whole construction. A thin slice of capocollo is laid flat, a piece of caciocavallo and a strip of pancetta placed at one end, and it is rolled tight and skewered so the seam is held closed. As it cooks the cheese softens and the pancetta renders inside the parcel, basting from within.
Cooking is over wood embers at a moderate distance, and the cheese is the timing constraint: it needs to soften without escaping. A hot fire bursts the roll and the cheese ends up in the fire; a slow one leaves the cheese cold at the centre. Ten to twelve minutes with regular turning is the working range.
Choosing your ingredients
Capocollo — pork neck — sliced thin by a butcher; a thin-cut pork loin steak beaten flat is the substitute. Caciocavallo is the correct cheese: a firm southern Italian pasta filata that softens without flowing. Provolone or a young pecorino work; mozzarella is too wet and will burst the roll.
Pancetta in thin strips inside the roll. Seasoning is salt, black pepper and sometimes a little parsley — the cheese and the pork are doing the work. Wood embers if possible; the fornello burns oak or olive wood and it matters.
Mistakes that ruin it
Using mozzarella
It is too wet and bursts the roll. Caciocavallo, provolone or a young pecorino hold their shape.
Rolling loosely
The seam opens on the fire and the filling escapes. Roll tight and skewer through the seam.
Too hot a fire
The roll bursts before the cheese has softened. Moderate embers and patience.
Thick slices of meat
They will not roll and they cook unevenly. Ask the butcher to slice thin.
How it is served
Straight off the fornello onto paper or a plate, with bread, a green salad and a glass of Primitivo. In Cisternino you eat them at a table in the butcher's shop, having chosen the meat from the counter ten minutes earlier, which is the correct experience.
Questions about Bombette pugliesi
What is a fornello pronto?
A Puglian butcher's shop with a wood-fired grill and a few tables, where you choose meat from the counter and the butcher grills it for you.
What cheese goes inside?
Caciocavallo, a firm southern Italian pasta filata cheese that softens without flowing. Provolone or a young pecorino work; mozzarella is too wet.
What cut of pork is used?
Capocollo — pork neck — sliced thin. Thin-cut loin beaten flat is a workable substitute.
Why do my bombette burst?
The fire is too hot, the roll too loose, or the cheese too wet. Roll tight, skewer through the seam, and cook over moderate embers.
