Puccia con carne di cavallo is the Salentine round bread filled with horse meat, a pairing that follows a strong regional taste for carne di cavallo in Puglia and the wider south. What defines it is the contrast between a plain, soft wheat puccia and a lean, dark, faintly sweet meat with very little fat of its own. The puccia is a tender flattish round with a thin crust and almost no seasoning; the horse meat, served as a cured slice or as a cooked braise depending on the build, is dense, deep red, and mineral, sweeter and leaner than beef. Because the meat carries little fat, the bread's job changes: instead of soaking up grease it supplies the soft, mild bulk that a lean, intense filling needs to be eaten comfortably. Without the puccia the horse meat is concentrated and dry on its own; without the meat the bread is plain. They are matched so a quiet bread rounds out a lean, assertive filling.
The craft turns on keeping a low-fat meat from reading dry. When cured, the horse is sliced thin and laid in loose folds so it stays tender in the bite; when braised, it is cooked long and slow in tomato and wine until it pulls apart and brings its own sauce, then drained enough that it moistens the crumb without soaking through. The puccia is used soft and fresh, split into a wide flat pocket so the filling sits evenly and the thin crust holds. Seasoning is judged carefully because horse meat is mild and easily overwhelmed: a little oil or the braise's own juices, salt and pepper measured against the meat, no heavy sauce. A poor version pairs dry overcooked meat with stale tight bread and eats as a chore; a good one keeps the meat tender and lightly moist and the bread soft, so the leanness reads as clean rather than parched.
The near neighbours stay in the same puccia family and each is its own subject rather than a line here. There is the puccia con capocollo on cured pork, the all-vegetable puccia con verdure, the pezzetti di cavallo braise spooned in extra-saucy as its own messier build, and the same horse meat carried on an olive-studded uliata instead of the plain round. Each is the same soft-round-bread-meets-filling idea with one element changed, and each deserves its own article rather than being crowded in here.