making capicola

[Nicholas Riccardi]

Hi All, I’m a brand new member and want to make capicola. I have ordered all the tools and I just got the pork butt and now comes the moment of truth! I have 3 questions for the pro’s, #1- I have NO skills cutting meat and wonder if after cutting the coppa muscle can I wrap up the rest of the meat and use it for a second capicola. #2- can I use pork tenderloin for making capicola, #3-I have a foodsaver #2865 and it has a wet button can it be used for the curing and aging process. Thanks to all for any help, all the best NickR

[Ron Pratt]

Nick, here’s your post. To control spamming one of us have to first approve you and your post. I have been gone much of today so I’m just now seeing your original post.

There should be a charcuterie expert along some time. If not and you are on FaceBook there are UMAi Dry® bag experts there though at this moment I do not have the link.
Ron

[Nicholas Riccardi]

Thanks Ron for your reply, I’m an old guy and don’t know much about facebook so I will wait for someone on this forum to reply. Again thanks NickR.

[Ron Pratt]

Well, sir, I’m 75 myself and have never been on FB either! Perhaps somebody you know can take this info and get you the help:

UMAi® Salumi, Charcuterie and Dry Age Meats

[Nicholas Riccardi]

God bless you RRP, keep up the good work. I will turn 91 in a couple of days,I will try to get my daughter or granddaughter to reply on facebook for an answer. Thanks again for your help NickR

[john moran]

You certainly can use the “leftover” part of the butt…I’ve made coppa before and honestly…only one of the 2 butchers I bought from knew what I was even talking about..maybe purists would poo-poo it being an authentic coppa..screw them I say. I’m sure you could get similar results with a port tenderloin but same thing about the purists. I’m not a foodsaver expert..the one thing I do know about them is I’d never buy another (chamber vac snob here and the killer of at least 5 foodsavers). The wet function I believe is their attempt to accommodate a non-chamber-vac’s inability to deal with liquid in the bags. I don’t know if you have access to a real butcher shop..but the one I go to would almost certainly run your projects thru their chamber vac…assuming you are buying product from them. My country butcher will do a lot of things for me. I did a bone-in beef ribber and when it was done and trimmed, they ran it thru their meat saw for me.

My $.02 worth.

[Nicholas Riccardi]

Thanks for your reply, this is a very slow forum you are the only one besides the moderator to respond. I live in Florida and encounter butchers as you have, when asking about dry aging they have that 1000 yard stare, what’s scarry is I havent seen that stare since WWII, I have started a small copa and will continue with hopes that I will luck out. I just don’t do enough dry aging to justify a pro machine, I’ll keep you updated on my fiasco. Thanks for your reply , all the best Nick R.

[john moran]

Ya, I hear you. I only broke down and bought a $1000 Vacmaster VP320 after realizing I had broken over a thousand bucks worth of Foodsavers over the years. I think Foodsavers are engineered for people who won’t use them a lot. We vac a lot of stuff. My wife was giddy the first time she vac’d 6 quarts of soup in 35 seconds with out a single drop of soup being sucked up into the machine. We buy all of our meat, cheese and other things in bulk and break them down and vac them up to the freezer. I have it on a wheeled cart in the utility room. I can throw stuff in the bag, go in there, vac & seal and be out in less than a minute.

Oh, I further justified the purchase by comparing prices of the bags…the chamber bags are ridiculously cheaper. Foodsaver bags can cost over 35 cents each whereas some of the bags I buy are less than a nickel..that adds up over time.

Anyway…good luck with your project.

[Nicholas Riccardi]

I am so new to dry aging that I commited a cardinal sin! Last week I finally broke down and bought a good meat slicer–yea–yea, since I have no way to compare copas my sin!!! I ordered a copa from the Webstaurant store, that will be my bench mark, the only problem was the shipping was as much as the copa.You sound like you have a sweet setup, I could never in a million years justify that. I’m always eager to learn more about dry aging so keep me posted. All my best to you and family. Nick R.

[john moran]

I hear you on that. I should have also mentioned that I’ve been making sausage (fresh, smoked, dry-cured) and charcuterie for 20+ years. I vacuum literally hundreds of bags per year.

You’ll be happy you bought a nice slicer. I was lucky that my wife worked for a major food distributor and for her 25th anniversary she got a commercial slicer and it never gets put away. Nothing better than being able to slice a good sausage like a well aged & cured pepperoni, coppa or sopprasetta…etc. It has so much flavor that it’s a waste to cut a thick slice.

Here is a thread I posted a while ago for some 70mm dry-cure pepperoni I made….SO TASTY….getting ready to start another batch. I was lucky enough to score a Sub-Zero fridge (one door, no freezer and yes it has air circulation)….got it for $75 and it works fine. I open it often enough on account of that’s where I keep my beer.

https://www.drybagsteak.com/forum/17-dry-aging-with-drybags/7116-something-special-from-wisconsin

If there was a way to send you a private message I’d send you my email address but it looks like they have that blocked on this forum. If you want you can communicate directly with me at simonquizno@gmail.com – that’s a throwaway address I use. I’m probably gonna head over and check out the UMAI group on facebook that Ron mentioned. I’m also not “really” on facebook…but Simon is. 🙂

Good luck….John.

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