Does anyone make capicola?

[Trogdor33]

I went to a pizza place for lunch today with some people from work (they went for lunch, I went for reconnaissance). The place had a lunch buffet, so I tried a couple different kinds of pizza. Although I was disappointed with their crust, one of them was topped with banana peppers and capicola. I am now determined to make such a pizza with a proper crust.

Has anybody here made capicola and if so, are you willing to share your recipe/technique? I could only find one place online with instructions, but they are making it out of loins instead of shoulder, so I am not sure if they have any clue what they are doing.

[Bill/SFNM]

I've made dry-cured capicola a few times, not recently. The method is from Rytek Kutas' Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing and it calls for lean boneless pork butts, well-trimmed. Basically, you dry-cure the butts in the cooler for 25 days or more, stuff them into beef bungs, cold-smoke, then air-dry for 20 days. Kutas also has recipe for cooked capicola, but I have never tried that. Dry-curing is not for the beginner. Small mistakes can have big consequences.

[Trogdor33]

So where does a beginner get started?

[Bill/SFNM]

Really depends on what other stuff you like to make. This is the book I usually recommend:

http://www.amazon.com/Charcuterie-Craft-Salting-Smoking-Curing/dp/0393058298/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261140260&sr=8-1

[Pete-zza]

Joe,

California Pizza Kitchen has an interesting thin-crust "Sicilian" pizza that calls for using Capicola ham, as noted at http://www.cpk.com/menu/pdfs/menu.pdf. I once made my version of that pizza but had a devil of a time finding the Capicola ham in the stores near me. I suspect I would have to go into Dallas to find it in one of the few real Italian markets in Dallas.

Peter

[jeff v]

I'll second the "Charcuterie" book that that Bill mentioned, it's a great place to start. There are also some good blogs on the subject as well, this is a favorite of mine- http://curedmeats.blogspot.com/2007/11/coppa-dry-cured.html . I belive jmolinari is a member here as well.

[andreguidon]

its very easy to find it here in Sao Paulo... its also called ''COPPA''... we have a very big Italian community here...

[tdeane]

I make my own cooked coppa/capicola which I think is the best I have had. I've come up with a sort of hybrid recipe from the Charcuterie book previously mentioned and from Len Poli's website (http://lpoli.50webs.com/Sausage%20recipes.htm) which is imo the best site on the internet for this sort of thing.

[Trogdor33]

Thanks for all your responses and guidance guys.

Terry, I never even thought to look on that site although I have looked at a ton of their recipes while loathing the fact that I don't have a meat grinder (yet...).

It might be a while before I get to try this since I am realizing that I am going to need equipment. Either way I will probably have my wife buy the book that Bill and Jeff recommended for my birthday in a couple weeks so I at least have an idea what I am up against.