Capicola advice

[Sherri]

thanks Jan, That sounds similar to the way Nepas does his as well. Great to have the benefits explained i.e. lower risk of oversalting or overcuring.

I’ve now noticed that my salami finocchiona is likely under salted as well. By the weight rules, my salami should have had 57 – 68 grams of salt and my 10 teas of salt per the recipe only weighs 39-40g. We have done the recipe as stated before with lovely success but I have no idea which of the salts in my cabinet I used. Logically, I should have used the kosher as it is my only non-iodized, but can’t be certain.

I continue to learn and am getting smarter about the specifics and the keeping of detailed notes. 🙂

[Phil]

Hi Jan, when you apply the 2nd have of the cure do you drain the liquid created in the first session?
Phil

[Sherri]

Phil,

Yesterday, I was searching on rubs to make hot capicola (cure and rub looked tasty) and interestingly came across the following instructions on an non-UMAi site:

“Start by mixing the dry cure ingredients together in a medium-size non-resistant bowl. Divide the mixture in half and place one portion into in a covered glass jar, set aside. Rub the surface of the meat on all sides with the dry cure mix. It’s important that you cover every square inch of the product .

To prevent the meat from drying out, place it in a ziploc bag or a covered non-reactive container. Store at 36-38°F (2-3°C) for 8-9 days during which time the salt will begin to penetrate the meat and force out the fluids (turn the meat over every other day). When the allotted cure time is up, rub the surface of the meat with the reserved cure mixture and refrigerate an additional 8-9 days.

Once the 18 day curing process is over, remove the cured meat from the refrigerator and rinse away any crystallized salt that may have accumulated on the surface of the product.”

I would speculate that I would not take my coppa from a bag, redress it with cure and stick it back into the bag with the fluids. I instinctively, would dump out those liquids. Curious what Jan will say.

————————–

On another note: here is the hot capicola cure and rub ingredients that I came across. Does anyone see an issue with my using those ingredients for my next coppa? To my eye, the salt sounds high and I would lower it to 60 – 65g and is sugar ok in a cure?

Hot Capicola Recipe
5 lbs pork butt (2.27 kg)
1/3 cup pickling salt (102 g) (
1 tsp pink curing salt #1 (5.7 g)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (1.1 g)
1 tsp cloves, ground (2.7 g)
1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (3.3 g)
2 1/2 tsp garlic powder (7.75 g)
1 tbsp paprika (7.2 g)
3 tbsp black pepper, coarse (23.4 g)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (116 g)

Capicola Rub:
1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (3.3 g)
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar, packed (22 g)
1 1/2 tbsp paprika (10.8 g)
#10 elastic netting

[Jan Ooms]

Hi Phil,
Yes, I do drain the liquid out of the bag and use a paper towel to dry the meat before applying the second lot of cure mix.
Incidentally I also use a new vacuum bag again to circumvent leakage with double seals and with some vacuum.
I do clean the used bags properly so they can be used a 2nd or 3rd time.
Also to remember is that the edges of the vacuum bags need to be spotless to get a 100%seal, You’ll soon find out if you done it properly when you start to massaging the meat. I double seal all the time.

Edukimi,
The salt content in the Hot Capicola recipe to far too much for MY liking. A good equilibrium cure is around 2.5% of salt.
The rest of the ingredients are great. I will try it as well next time.
Do remember that some people like more salt, up to 4-4.5%
I like to stay at the 2.5% level.
Good luck to both of you.
Jan.

[Sherri]

I owe you all an update. So, just before the 4th of July holiday, I gave up on the drying of the capicola. Weekly change was becoming very minimal and percent loss was at 31%. The roast had now been drying 13.5 weeks.

Results: Everyone loved the piece of meat. The only complaints had to do with the degree of fat. I truly wonder if I had a coppa muscle or not. That is something I need to address in the future. Reviewers felt the resulting meat was more like a proscuitto and not a capicola. I guess worse things have happened in life. 😛 I did not start a second one like I planned. I ended up doing lomo/lonzino instead and got wrapped up in making a few unusual salami with mixed results.

If I figure out how to post pictures, I will add one of the capicola when I first cut it open.

I now need to address how to procure the correct cut of meat. I am still intimidated by the idea of trying to harvest it myself.

BTW, due to the excessive fat frying the slices of “capicola” is devine. 🙂

[Author]

Posts